Would your loan out your egg?

[MyronL]

When I first brought Burro home I got a feeling the general consensus of my relatives was, "Oh, boy, what's he done this time?!" On trial again. Even my wife, but fortunately she's learned patience from being with me all these years. But the others? Best I could hope for was bemused pity from a disapproving jury.

Now, a few months later when the thing has begun to look good, I am getting a different vibe. Already, three relatives have expressed, out loud, a presumption that THEY could actually borrow Burro to go camping! One, out of the blue, asked me what size hitch he should get for his car.

Well, I have not responded to any of this. Of course my first thought is to tell them all to go fry ice. But it does raise a question. In the first place, given the liabilities, etc., is it an ethical request?

Has anyone any experience with loaning out your travel trailer? I'd like to hear the story.
Would you rent it out?

[Bill Hamilton]

When I first brought Burro home I got a feeling the general consensus of my relatives was, "Oh, boy, what's he done this time?!" On trial again. Even my wife, but fortunately she's learned patience from being with me all these years. But the others? Best I could hope for was bemused pity from a disapproving jury.

Now, a few months later when the thing has begun to look good, I am getting a different vibe. Already, three relatives have expressed, out loud, a presumption that THEY could actually borrow Burro to go camping! One, out of the blue, asked me what size hitch he should get for his car.

Well, I have not responded to any of this. Of course my first thought is to tell them all to go fry ice. But it does raise a question. In the first place, given the liabilities, etc., is it an ethical request?

Has anyone any experience with loaning out your travel trailer? I'd like to hear the story.
Would you rent it out?

[b]Absolutly NO WAY would I loan out my trailer to anyone (including my children) There are too many dangers and liablities for someone not familiar with towing, backing, and propane just to name a few.

[Roger H]

Generally, I would not rent or loan mine. I did, last year, sell a weekend in the Airstream at the Rotary Auction fundraiser here. A friend of mine and his wife bought the weekend, and everything went just fine (I towed it out, set it up, and brought it back myself), but I chose not to offer it again this year. My biggest problem wasn't them using the trailer, but taking all of the personal 'stuff' out, cleaning it to like-new condition twice, and then having to haul everything back out and re-stock it. It was just a pain, and took three times as long as I'd anticipated.

I dont' think there's any ethical or legal ramifications provided that the 'borrower' has car insurance. Core competencies to maneuver a trailer may be a different issue, and you should be prepared for the eventuality that your trailer may not come back in the condition in which you lent it...


Roger

[Chester Taje]

[Frederick L. Simson]

Of course my first thought is to tell them all to go fry ice.

GOOD ANSWER! After the trials & errors and repairs [b]I have inflicted upon myself in learning how to be a trailerite, I am uncomfortable with the idea of just handing it over to anyone else.

Would you rent it out?

That just psychologically lets them off the hook for whatever damage is caused.

[Byron Kinnaman]

NO WAY, NO HOW!!!!!!!
There's a few things I won't loan to anybody. The Scamp is one, my little boat is another. In fact any recreational equipment except what I have kept when upgrading is not going to be loaned out.

To have a person just out of the blue ask what kind of hitch he should buy is very rude in my way of thinking. If asked again here's a response that I would use. "Oh! What kind of trailer are buying?"

[Frederick L. Simson]

OK, I see that us guys get low marks for sharing our toys.

I wonder what the Ladies think?

[Per Walthinsen]

Renting to a stranger, absolutely not. To a friend or relative that presents a whole new problem: relationships. If there is damage it can also damage a friendship.
I consider the Burro the trailer I'll keep until I check out: where would I get another one? and if I could find one I'd have to start the modifications all over again. I have other things to do, like CAMPING.
Besides, by the time I'm through explaining the strange devices and quirks the borrower's time to camp would be long since gone.
I prefer my friendships unencumbered by these potential disasters. Better offer to take him with me camping (this has happened).

[Dan Meyer]

I can't find it now, but I seem to recall someone from this site who rebuilt a couple old fiberglass trailers and started a business renting them out.

-- Dan Meyer

P.S. I wouldn't have too much of a problem lending our trailer to close family members, but my wife wouldn't hear of it.

[Donna D.]

I can't find it now, but I seem to recall someone from this site who rebuilt a couple old fiberglass trailers and started a business renting them out.

Dan, It’s Brenda Novakovski and husband who rent the molded fiberglass wonders. They’re located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Here’s her profile if someone wants to send her a message: Brenda's Profile

And NO, no, NO would I ever loan/rent my trailer. The Scamp and I are joined at the hitch Well okay, maybe to my Mom and Dad after all they gave birth to me, but at 81 and 91 y/o I don't think that's a worry

Accidents happen, even if not the borrowers fault. It's not worth the chance for either party.

The rub is if you do it ONE time (even if it works out), you're kinda stuck to do it again. Don't do it the first time...no problem.

I really like Bryon's answer

"Oh! What kind of trailer are buying?"

[Chris C]

I realize I'm not among the "have one" population yet, but I'd like to add my 2 cents worth. 21 years ago my parents purchased a Prevost Private Coach. When they drove it over to my brother's house, and then mine, the very first words out of their mouths were "don't even ask to turn the key in the ignition". I never have, to this day. I can understand exactly why. I wouldn't loan my Casita (if I every get one) to anyone, even a family member. My Grandad once told me................never loan money to relatives or friends. Said it is a guarantee to ruin the relationship. I agree. Good advice.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Myron,
My wife and I agree, the complexities and lengthy learning curve to operating our TT and necessities for proper tug equipment preclude allowing anyone else from using "Nuestra Casita". One son owns his own motor home, and the other sold his stick-built TT. Our daughter and son-in-law pull their Sea-Do whenever they vacation. Our TT is too heavy for their tug.
It's kind of like inviting someone to borrow your bedroom if they had to move it somewhere else and had to follow extensive specific instructions to make the bed function correctly.
Nope, I don't lend out my wife, my car, my chainsaw, or my Casita.
Kurt & Ann K.

[CarolnJim]

We would never loan or rent our trailer to anyone. No one will ever sleep in our little home but us. We don't even use it for our guests.

We love our little trailer and take good care of her.. ... it's hard to find someone that would feel the same way we do. It's not worth the aggrevation that might come after loaning the trailer out.

[BAMA & Pachyderm Posse]

And NO, no, NO would I ever loan/rent my trailer.

[BOBSMITH]

There's no way I would loan out my Casita. Not to anyone. Not a relative, and certainly not a friend.

I might allow someone to stay in it if I had it parked somewhere for a time and wasn't using it myself. But I doubt I'd even do that.

[Christi V.]

I wouldnt rent mine out either. i have had a few people ask me... I just say No.. sorry.. If i had overnite guests I would let them sleep in it , as my house is small and i dont have any room for overnite guests....

[Joe MacDonald]

I also would never loan or rent our trailer. We have had many people borrow other things from us and somehow they just never come back quite the same. It's much easier to say no in the first place, than to try and keep a friendship going when something comes back damaged, and the person who borrowed it doesn't seem to think it's their problem.

I seldom borrow anything either, because I feel awful if it gets damaged, and I know that wether it was my fault; or it was ready to break, if it worked when I borrowed it, it's got to work when I take it back.
This has been expensive in a few cases, annoying in a few others, and only one person ever realized that I had actually done something, (I re-wired the trailer (box trailer) to factory lighting, and replaced the tires, even though they were starting to go when I got it(previous borrower had bent the axle and returned it damaged)) about a month later this friend actually gave me the trailer, he was tired of people asking to borrow it, and told me that since I cared enough to fix it when I was using it, he thought I should have it.This was a wonderfull gesture,
But I could see from the frustration level he also had, It just doesn't make sense to loan or rent stuff out, unless you're in business and have no friends who need what you rent.

[Donald Stahl]

Would I loan out our Casita?? Please note that I did use the word 'our'. That should tell you who worked for the money to buy it, who owns it. What I maybe could do is give you the bucks to buy a Casita for you to use. How would that work? Loan mine to you? No way Jose. But, I could be flexible I suppose. When our son finally left home and moved out to be on his own, he once returned for a visit and asked if he could move back in with us. I told him this - yes you may, but there are a couple of things I have to do first. First, I will pour cement from floor to ceiling in your room. Next I will fill the entire refrigerator with cement as well. Then you may move in. How much will I need for the inside of a 17 ft.SD??

[Brenda Novakovski]

Hi everyone,

I feel compelled to respond to this post, as my husband and myself renovate/refurbish fiberglass trailers....mostly Trills at present and have started a small rental business called Vintage RV Rentals.

We started this venture because we wanted other people to experience the joys of camping and what better way to do it but in a vintage fiberglass trailer. Our most memorable vacations have been traveling with the trailer to various locations (Prairie Bolerama being one of them), being able to take our pooch along and meeting great people along the way. We enjoy fishing as well (which only started about a year ago) and for now we are quite satisfied to pack up the trailer, boat and doggie and head out and get away from it all.

Our first summer of the business was last year (four rentals total). We both work full time and wanted a feel of what it was going to be like to do this or if we should continue in 2006. We developed a rental contract with the help of our lawyer and found an insurance guy who helped us. It was tons of work and some $$$ later, but I wanted to make sure we were covered for anything and everything. We started out by renting to folks that we knew. Three rentals were the folks towing the trailer and one was a delivery to a nearby site. If people are going to tow they have to have the proper equipment to do so and all of those tidbits are stipulated in our contract. With all of the customers who towed when they arrived to pick up the trailer, we inspected the hitch set-up, made sure the lights were working and in a few cases had to re-do wiring, gave them an extensive orientation (and manual to take along) to the whole trailer and even supplied them with mirrors and tips on driving with the trailer. As well, our trailer is fully outfitted from the lawn chairs, BBQ to cookware and utensils. All the customer would have to bring is their food, bedding and personal supplies. When they left we felt assured that we had done everything in our power to make sure their trip was going to be a happy and safe one. We experienced no problems whatsoever and in one case the trailer came back so clean I didn't recognize it.

I did have anxiety with our first rental so I know exactly how you folks feel. At first I couldn't even think of someone else using our trailer. I had a big lump in my throat, my palms were sweating and had many anxious moments when our first renters hauled her away. I wouldn't hesitate to rent to family members, but they would be treated as all our customers would be and just because people own a fiberglass trailer it shouldn't be presumed that it is an open invitation to take it on the road.

Summer of 2006 promises to be great. With the help of our very good friends we will have the Green Grape available for rentals in Prince Albert National Park. The trailer will be stored there and hauled to the site of choice, ready to enjoy. If bookings are good, we wouldn't hesitate to haul another trailer there (just don't know which one at this time). There is no way we could have done this on our own without their help because we just can't take off and set up and take down a trailer being about 2.5 hours away. Our very first advertisement will appear in the Prince Albert National Park Visitor's Guide.

I guess we have the best of both worlds. We get to enjoy all our trailers (don't have the heart to sell them...yet) and others get to enjoy them as well. We feel like we are ambassadors of fiberglass trailers and are always eager to share our restoration knowledge and encourge others who are interested in obtaining a unit of their own.

All the best to everyone over this holiday season,

Brenda and Nolan Novakovski

[MKohlman]

Has anyone any experience with loaning out your travel trailer? I'd like to hear the story.
Would you rent it out?

I've learned in life to never say never but someone would have to be exceptionally convincing before I would do so. Right now I could think of maybe two relatives that I'd feel are skillfull enough towing something that under the right circumstances -- maybe.

I don't believe any of them read this board so hopefully I'm still safe.

Regardless personally I'd be offended if anyone (relative or not) simply ASSUMED that it was theirs for the asking... Even my kids were taught (and it seems to have stuck) that politely asking is always the right behaviour and backing off immediately if the person is obviously not comfortable is better than pursuing it.

- Michael