MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Pecky on October 07, 2015, 10:25:14 PM
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G'day all,
Anyone know anything about Camplify? http://www.camplify.com.au/ (http://www.camplify.com.au/)
It looks like a win-win situation with people being able to hire out their caravan or camper trailer and get a bit of cash for when it is not being used and for the people hiring be able to get something at reasonable rate.
I'm more interested in being able to hire a camper trailer as I don't have room to store one but I would like to know if it works or if there are any problems to look out for.
cheers
Pecky
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Wow, I'd be hesitant to loan mine to family let alone a stranger.
I'd be worried they wouldn't look after it anywhere near as well as we would. Then there's the potential for added wear and tear or damage. Not sure insurance would cover this. Further, the thought of someone else sleeping on our mattress, no thanks.
Not for me. I'm sure others will have a different view. Takes all types I guess.
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Wow, I'd be hesitant to loan mine to family let alone a stranger.
I'd be worried they wouldn't look after it anywhere near as well as we would. Then there's the potential for added wear and tear or damage. Not sure insurance would cover this. Further, the thought of someone else sleeping on our mattress, no thanks.
Not for me. I'm sure others will have a different view. Takes all types I guess.
Yep, I'm with you
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As above, I would be willing to HIRE a CT but not to let someone else use mine.
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Our hire agreement was 12 page document worth $2000 when we had our camper hire business.
You would have to make very sure your arse was covered in the event of a worst case scenario, and you would have a duty of care to provide safety equipment as well as spares ( wheel bearings, seals, 7 pin plugs etc )
We only hired our personal camper out once, i delivered it to the site ( local ) I set it up and returned 7 days later to pack up and bring it home !
If your seriously looking at doing the hire thing make sure your well insured and know the possible pit falls !
Cheers
John K
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Wow, I'd be hesitant to loan mine to family let alone a stranger.
I'd be worried they wouldn't look after it anywhere near as well as we would. Then there's the potential for added wear and tear or damage. Not sure insurance would cover this. Further, the thought of someone else sleeping on our mattress, no thanks.
Not for me. I'm sure others will have a different view. Takes all types I guess.
Bad idea - unless you can get hold of a fist full of old vans or CTs and hire them out; (and self insure; etc)...
If the gear is a bit old and ratty and was peanuts for you to buy - then it doesn't matter that much what the customer does to it - but your beautiful pride and joy - for me, no way!
Also - on my CIL Insurance Policy Document - I am wiped if I am using my van for "commercial gain" / hire...
Maybe UberXCTs 8) :-* >:D ;D ;D
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Thanks guys,
As it stands they don't even have WA listed! You can be in any other state or "international".
cheers
Pecky
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Wow, I'd be hesitant to loan mine to family let alone a stranger.
I'd be worried they wouldn't look after it anywhere near as well as we would. Then there's the potential for added wear and tear or damage. Not sure insurance would cover this. Further, the thought of someone else sleeping on our mattress, no thanks.
Not for me. I'm sure others will have a different view. Takes all types I guess.
Hesitant does not quite cover it- ;D ;D
No chance I would let someone else use our CT...
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Not sure if it was through this, but had some friends that used to hire out their Jayco expanda in a similar deal.
Within a 150k he would go and set it up where the people wanted it, go through how things worked, then pick up when done.
He used to get a lot from people that had guests coming to stay and needed extra space for them to sleep.
Made enough to pay for rego, insurance and their own holidays away.
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I've hired twice from Camplify so can give a hirer's perspective.
The good:
- allowed us to try out a couple of camper styles that we were considering as an upgrade path from our soft floor camper (we hired a Jayco Swan anid a Jayco Expanda on separate occasions)
- both of the blokes we hired from were great, they were friendly and very helpful in explaining how to set up and use
- the campers were both in very good condition
The not so good:
- the campers were both chock full of the owners stuff. This would be a good feature for some (ie. people that have no gear of their own and want to hitch and go) but a pain for us. Definitely something that needs to be checked and arranged with the owner in advance.
- you obviously have to have the right wiring on your vehicle to tow the vans. For us, that meant upgrading our 7-pin flat plug to the 12-pin that Jaycos need as neither owner had any form of converter.
- ditto a brake controller will be needed if not already installed (which we did have). That said I have recently seen that some portable brake controllers are now on the market that are AU-legal, so some owners may now provide these.
- This might seem picky, but neither owner knew what the ball weight or loaded weight was as supplied (with their stuff in it). So I had no idea how much more I could safely load in to the van without breaching my ball weight limit or overall tow limit ... which in turn could have voided my car insurance in the event of an accident.
- Camplify trousers a big fee, which wouldn't bug me so much if they were providing some decent value like insurance coverage (for the renter). We ended up arranging extensions to our rental periods direct with the owner for cash, and one indicated he would be prepared to rent to us directly in future.
The ugly:
- in a word: insurance. Both owners presented a certificate showing the vans had standard residential insurance which was void if hired out. One said they had "added" temporary hire insurance over the phone (but presented no evidence, so we had to take it on good faith). The other said if we damaged it, we would need to pretend to be a friend who had borrowed it (in other words, be party to insurance fraud). Camplify looks after the owner by grabbing a significant bond from the hirer which the owner gets to keep if damaged. They leave the hirer totally high and dry; their terms make the hirer fully liable for any and all damage and state it is up to the hirer to satisfy themselves that the owner has valid (and sufficient) insurance. Utterly ridiculous and very lazy on their part.
Would I use them again? Yes, but I would be insistent up-front on ensuring valid insurance is in place, and I would properly weigh it. I guess many would be fine with a "she'll be right" approach with the insurance but I didn't enjoy having the uncertainty over my head of being in a major accident and having to shell out for the entire value of the van and / or my car.
Hope this helps.
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Hi InnerCityBoy,
I just noticed your comments on here, thank you for mentioning us and providing your feedback :)
FYI the insurance probelm you mentioned was a problem in our early days when we required owners to organise separate hire insurance for hires. Nowadays, we do have an insurance offering which covers all RVs while they are out on hire with Camplify. More info on that here for anybody interested: https://www.camplify.com.au/insurance (https://www.camplify.com.au/insurance)
Thanks again :)
Dave Eddy
Camplify CMO
I've hired twice from Camplify so can give a hirer's perspective.
The good:
- allowed us to try out a couple of camper styles that we were considering as an upgrade path from our soft floor camper (we hired a Jayco Swan anid a Jayco Expanda on separate occasions)
- both of the blokes we hired from were great, they were friendly and very helpful in explaining how to set up and use
- the campers were both in very good condition
The not so good:
- the campers were both chock full of the owners stuff. This would be a good feature for some (ie. people that have no gear of their own and want to hitch and go) but a pain for us. Definitely something that needs to be checked and arranged with the owner in advance.
- you obviously have to have the right wiring on your vehicle to tow the vans. For us, that meant upgrading our 7-pin flat plug to the 12-pin that Jaycos need as neither owner had any form of converter.
- ditto a brake controller will be needed if not already installed (which we did have). That said I have recently seen that some portable brake controllers are now on the market that are AU-legal, so some owners may now provide these.
- This might seem picky, but neither owner knew what the ball weight or loaded weight was as supplied (with their stuff in it). So I had no idea how much more I could safely load in to the van without breaching my ball weight limit or overall tow limit ... which in turn could have voided my car insurance in the event of an accident.
- Camplify trousers a big fee, which wouldn't bug me so much if they were providing some decent value like insurance coverage (for the renter). We ended up arranging extensions to our rental periods direct with the owner for cash, and one indicated he would be prepared to rent to us directly in future.
The ugly:
- in a word: insurance. Both owners presented a certificate showing the vans had standard residential insurance which was void if hired out. One said they had "added" temporary hire insurance over the phone (but presented no evidence, so we had to take it on good faith). The other said if we damaged it, we would need to pretend to be a friend who had borrowed it (in other words, be party to insurance fraud). Camplify looks after the owner by grabbing a significant bond from the hirer which the owner gets to keep if damaged. They leave the hirer totally high and dry; their terms make the hirer fully liable for any and all damage and state it is up to the hirer to satisfy themselves that the owner has valid (and sufficient) insurance. Utterly ridiculous and very lazy on their part.
Would I use them again? Yes, but I would be insistent up-front on ensuring valid insurance is in place, and I would properly weigh it. I guess many would be fine with a "she'll be right" approach with the insurance but I didn't enjoy having the uncertainty over my head of being in a major accident and having to shell out for the entire value of the van and / or my car.
Hope this helps.
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No chance I would let someone else use our CT...
x eleventy
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Nowadays, we do have an insurance offering which covers all RVs while they are out on hire with Camplify.
Hey Dave - thanks for the response - that only helps if the owner takes up your insurance offering (and there's no way as a hirer you know whether they have or not). IMO you should offer some form of insurance coverage guarantee (like Uber), so it takes the guesswork out of it.
I hope you take this as constructive feedback because I like the service and seeing great Aussie innovation. Hiring a couple of different camper styles through Camplify actually helped us to settle on our own recent camper purchase ;D
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After having a rental fleet of campers for 5 years ..........Never again . i turned them over every 12 months .
Yes , there is an opening in the market for this type of 'millinneals business " a'la uber or airbnb etc , but not for me again .
In saying that it was profitable - just - and did lend itself to potential customers becoming purchasers - but also opened up to people who were perpetual renters and some who refferred to the camper as " our camper " and got snaky if it wasnt available ........
Would i rent my camper . No