flatout->

Just wondering. I've often thought it would be kind of cool if I could hire an r/c for the week just to try one for a fraction of the cost of buying?

breezerboat

Do you mean "rent" out an RC?

flatout->

yeah, would you consider renting out an r/c? I wonder if it could be turned into a business?

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

Itd be a fairly small customer base.  If one cant afford the cost of purchasing an r/c, I doubt if theyd have the money to waste on renting.  There are several inexpensive r/c's.  Of course "inexpensive" is in the eyes of the beholder. 

flatout->

Aye maybe your right

robpe

it wouldn't be practical, as it seems the first thing a new RC user does is wreck it. then when you factor in that it seems that people don't take care of things they don't own and any accompanying repair costs and/or the requirement of the "renter" to pay any damages from said use would eventually end up killing the whole endeavor

flatout->

well, one could require a deposit from the renter to cover the purchase value of the r/c which one could give back provided the truck was returned undamagedjust a thought

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

My hobby shop rents slashes to run on their track... $25 for the day, plus $5 for each freshly charged battery. They are NEVER rented... I have only seen one person rent one in the past year, and the kid managed to break both front a arms and bend a shock shaft (which he didn't have enough cash to pay for), so the shop owner had to foot the bill on that one.

robpe

lol - funny

suburban_hooligan

id be tempted to rent one for a few days just to get some hands on experience with a vehicle before i went out and purchased one.  if the price was right!

like say im looking at buying a RC10T4 or a kyosho RT5.  id rent both trucks for a weekend, put them through the paces.  see which truck works best for me.

flatout->

Yeah that's what I'm talking about, there's no need to make the commitment to buy the car just to try it out and get a feel for it.

robpe

you are a perfect example of the type of person in which the rental price would be so high, for "putting themthrough the paces" which for you includes "6 to 8 feet of air max" you mentioned in another discussion, that you wouldn't be able to afford it lol

flatout->

Well if it were me that was renting the car out to him, I would just take the money out of his deposit for the parts that got damaged and forget about the labour costs

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Put yourself in the shoes of the shop owner... even if you dont break a car and have to give up your deposit, you are still wearing out the car (bearings, diff, etc)... "putting a car though its paces" is translated into "beating the crap out of it". Once the box is opened, an rc car loses a quarter of its value, after the first run it loses another quarter. After a few "rentals", the cars are not worth trying to sell. So he is stuck with a few used cars that were worth full price a couple days earlier. You would probably not buy one of them either... you would opt for a new boxed one.

robpe

in most all rental situations, deposit money equates to 10-25%of the retail cost of the item. so just how long do you plan on losing money on the deal? lol

suburban_hooligan

naw, im so crazy about the condition i keep my cars in you would probably get them back in better shape than you rented them to me in. i take very good care of my equipment

robpe

rofl - really funny

Ttam Says Blarg

Would never work because you would let someone use it and they would steal or break it.

flatout->

thats why one would take a deposit to cover the purchase cost

robpe

iknow that if the "deposit" price of a regular full-size car rental was that of what the replacement cost of the car was I would have never rented a car.
so it seems to me that would be the same case here as well.

nitrosportsandrunner

well what would be the point of renting an rc if you had to pay for anything that broke while you were using it!
the "perk" to renting an rc for the day would be not having to maintain it.
the $25 for a day aint bad, but $5 per charged pack is pretty crazy. who wants to pay $5 for 10 minutes of fun?
but i cant see it being worth the hobby shops time to rent for any less. a slash costs $180, plus batts plus any parts that break(renters will likely not be as careful drivers) so, even at your hobby shops high renting price it would still take 8-10 renters just to break even.

Bluethunder3320

my hobby store does that, but u can only use them there, not take them home.

Shenanigans

My Feedback: (12)

Would also have to factor in liability insurance overhead.  Slash on 3s lipo tearin through the streets at 70 mph can cause some damage.  If you figure for the most part inexperienced drivers will tend to rent before they buy one....your sure to have some "accidents"   You being the owner of the r/c would be liable for it, unless of course a release form was signed, but in  law suits...release form or not the deepest pockets tend to pay.

FieroMan121

My Feedback: (2)

yeah, a number of tracks here in the us do track rentals and such. my track has an old rustler xl1 they loan out to newbies for the novice class

Access

The volume just isn't there to make such a thing work. This isn't like some of the other sports where money can be made from renting gear. For rental to work, there needs to be a 'common' or 'normal' interest in the sport/hobby/game and RC just doesn't have it. The specifics are also too hard to manage, just not worth the cost. The potential for damage is simply too high, having to collect a full deposit (or a credit card and signed contract) for loss or non-return, etc. it is just too much work for a meager payment. A shop ends up competing with the low-end used market as well as it's own repair services (which can be very lucrative), it's just bad business.

Now instead of straight rental where the customer takes possession of the item for a period, there may be something to be said for, say, use at an amusement park in an enclosed race area. For instance where a contender pays a fee to participate in a race at a fair or amusement park, never actually touches the truck, only takes possession of the controller for the duration of the race (the controller is probably secured to the booth anyways). And the winner of the race gets some credits or some prize typical of those 'fairs'. Not unlike the other games offered at fairs. But again, this would need to be a new type of event, something that was built up no differently from the ring toss or gun shoot, axe/dart throw, or other events you typically have at those fairs.