Caravan investors on the rise

While earning some extra money from your RV by listing it on a peer-to-peer share website is not new, the use of such sites by RV investor-owners with a fleet of RVs to rent appears to be growing.

According to Justin Hales, founder and CEO of leading peer-to-peer RV website Camplify, the number of hirers with multiple RVs on the platform is increasing.

“We have about 400 owners who have more than one RV on the site," Hales told caravancampingsales. "There’s those who come onto our platform and start out with one van and then go out and buy additional vans because they can see the great return and build themselves a bit of a fleet.

“We’re seeing an increase of that — every month we see more and more owners going out and purchasing another van to grow their rental fleet.

"It’s not only those who started out with their own RV who have built up a fleet of rentals — there appears to be a number of owners who are simply investors.

“We are also seeing people who are listing vans on our platform but giving the vans to other owners who’ve already had success on the platform to manage on their behalf, because they’re just looking for an investment. We’re starting to see that more regularly,” he said.

An example of this type of owner/manager is Queensland couple Richard Turberville and Steph Keys, who last year started a caravan rental business, Leisure Caravans, after listing their caravan on Camplify following a three-month family caravanning trip.

The rental income they’ve made from Camplify has allowed them to invest in another three caravans so far, as Keys explained.

“Some of our vans are turning over $15,000 a year, some of them $20,000 a year. For example, the Expanda I have on the website I’m getting a $20,000 return, and I paid $35,000 for the van. So it paid for itself in just over a year,” she said.

Keys cautioned that while returns are good, investing in rental RVs requires some business acumen.

“You need to be smart about it, and you need to keep your costs low to start with. We’re always conscious of our costs. A big part of it is that you need to buy the vans well.”

Keys said that she and her partner see growth for the business not just in renting to those making the most of holiday periods.

“The peak side for our income is school holidays. We’re now looking at areas that are not so tied to the school holiday periods, such as horse-riding clubs, people who home school.”

Leisure Caravans also makes an income by managing five vans on behalf of other owners.

“The owner pays insurance, servicing, those sorts of things. We do the handover of the vans, do all the cleaning and take 20 per cent of the hire fee for that,” she explained.

There are income tax concessions with renting out an RV, as the ATO permits 100 per cent deductions for expenses incurred under the terms of the contract with a peer-to-peer platform, such as membership or listing fees and commission.

Storage fees, lease or interest payments and depreciation, insurance, registration and cleaning fees can also be claimed, but only the percentage related to hire use (not private use).

According to Hales there are plenty of hirers on Camplify trying before they buy -- with some returning to the site as owners hiring out.

“We are seeing more and more people who will try different models," he said. "Probably the best examples are in the camper-trailer space. There are so many brands and models available, and it's quite confusing as to which one is the right one for you as a consumer.

"We see it all the time where people are interested in buying a camper trailer and try out different ones on our site. They’ll pick the best one for them as a result of trying ones on our site.”

“One of the platform users tried a few different camper trailers on the site and decided to buy an Air Opus. He justified the purchase by saying that if he can get a certain number of nights renting it out on the Camplify platform, it’ll help pay it off.”

The peer-to-peer RV online hire industry, started in 2014 with Camplify, has expanded to include many similar platforms such as SHAREaCamper, MyCaravan, Hire My Caravan, Private Caravan Hire and Camptoo.

Camplify claims to be the largest such enterprise, with more than 3000 RVs listed locally and about 500 RVs on its UK site.

The industry also appears to be garnering more consumer interest, if figures just-released by the Caravan Industry Association of Australia (CIAA) are anything to go by.

The CCIA’s Consumer Survey: 2018 showed 74 per cent of people surveyed who intended to buy an RV would consider hiring first to see if they enjoyed the experience.

The survey also found that 47 per cent of all non-RV owners would consider hiring a RV for travel in Australia.

RV ownership is high in Australia - close to 680,000 vehicles were registered in 2018, which amounts to one in every 13 households.

Yet the CCIA’s survey indicates that most RVs are used infrequently, with the average owner only able to use them for up to 40 nights a year.

More than 25 per cent of owners who have sold their RVs within the last four years cited their lack of use as a reason for selling and a further 25 per cent referenced economic reasons, including high maintenance costs.