Anyone tried renting out their enclosed trailer? Any lessons learned or tips? My dad and I do HPDEs about 4 times per year, both with street legal cars, but traveling to the track with family when we do weekends near Laguna Seca (about 3 hours away) can be difficult (car seats don’t fit very well in 911s or other coupes!).
We borrowed a friends trailer last year and it worked great, so we are thinking of buying one. We thought that since we don’t use it year round we might be able to rent it to fellow enthusiasts a few times a year to defray costs. Thoughts?
Careful, you’re treading very close to a commercial trailer. There is a difference between loaning to a friend once or twice and exchanging money. I’m thinking about your liability if they change lanes into someone.
imgon
Reader
5/6/18 4:39 p.m.
I let a friend borrow my open trailer a few times a season, no money directly changes hands, so not really renting it. If something needs fixing/maintenance he usually takes care of it. I don't know that I would let anyone I didn't know use my enclosed trailer, more effort to drive and more potential to damage something/someone. If you decide to rent out, I'll second glueguy's comment, definitely look into additional insurance and see if you need commercial coverage due to charging a fee.
Jaynen
UltraDork
5/6/18 4:52 p.m.
If it could be classified as an RV you could then rent it out via outdoorsy or RVshare and take advantage of their insurance. Otherwise technically you would need commercial insurance which would not be worth it for a few times a year
Thanks all that’s what I figured. I think in general we’d just make it available to members of our track club but liability insurance is probably still a good call.
People do stupid things to trailers. I wouldn't rent mine out.
I'd even be careful loaning it to friends - a buddy of mine had one bent up pretty good from a well-meaning guy with overstated trailer-towing skills...
DaveEstey said:
People do stupid things to trailers. I wouldn't rent mine out.
This. If you have the money to do HPDEs and have nice cars useful for HPDEs, and want an enclosed trailer, just buy an enclosed trailer. They won't put you in the poor house.
93gsxturbo said:
DaveEstey said:
People do stupid things to trailers. I wouldn't rent mine out.
This. If you have the money to do HPDEs and have nice cars useful for HPDEs, and want an enclosed trailer, just buy an enclosed trailer. They won't put you in the poor house.
That depends a lot on where you live. Around here, if you don't have space at your house (and most houses don't have "RV parking") you're looking at $150+/month to store an enclosed trailer. I had a relatively cheap storage place for my open trailer (they wouldn't taken enclosed) at $85/month, and it was an hour round-trip to go get it. In the 6 years I owned that trailer, I spent over twice as much on storage fees as I did on the trailer itself.
That said, no way would I rent my trailer. If I don't know someone well enough to loan it to him for free, then I don't know him well enough to let him use it at all.
