A few years ago, I started a small business renting out my roadsters. At the time, I had two vehicles to rent, both late-model Mazda MX-5s. Of course, you need to cover the risk of a car being stolen or damaged on a rental, so you need a good rental agreement, and you need the right insurance cover.
To write the agreement, I scoured the internet and brought together the key aspects of other rental car companies into a long document. In the end, I was fortunate to find a lawyer who specialised in car rentals, and he provided one of his standard rental agreements, slightly modified to cover roadster rentals. He was a lovely chap and happy to dish out plenty of advice, for which he didn't charge me.
The insurance cover was a little harder to find. Your standard car insurance won't cover you for renting out your car, and very few insurance companies cover rentals. When I did find some cover, they required at least three cars to be covered, so it came at a premium. After setting up a website, I got quite a few summer bookings.
I thought I might get a lot of local business, but it turned out that my best customer was an interstate or international traveller who wanted to rent a roadster for a few days and travel down the Great Ocean Road.
After the summer, I chose to close down the rentals, I didn't have enough scale to justify continuing. If I lived closer to the Great Ocean Road, I think I could have made it work. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I enjoyed my summer renting out roadsters.
To write the agreement, I scoured the internet and brought together the key aspects of other rental car companies into a long document. In the end, I was fortunate to find a lawyer who specialised in car rentals, and he provided one of his standard rental agreements, slightly modified to cover roadster rentals. He was a lovely chap and happy to dish out plenty of advice, for which he didn't charge me.
The insurance cover was a little harder to find. Your standard car insurance won't cover you for renting out your car, and very few insurance companies cover rentals. When I did find some cover, they required at least three cars to be covered, so it came at a premium. After setting up a website, I got quite a few summer bookings.
I thought I might get a lot of local business, but it turned out that my best customer was an interstate or international traveller who wanted to rent a roadster for a few days and travel down the Great Ocean Road.
After the summer, I chose to close down the rentals, I didn't have enough scale to justify continuing. If I lived closer to the Great Ocean Road, I think I could have made it work. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I enjoyed my summer renting out roadsters.