Van Hired Out - Just come back in bit of a state. Advice?

[Minxy]

Not 100%, but think he said it was £1k. On top of that there was no hand back as van was dumped on the road with keys posted through door, and when he called the hire company he hadn't noticed half the problems, so unlikely he will get anywhere near the £1k I think.

It kind of got worse all day, with more things noticed. Mainly because neither of us could walk into the van without reaching earlier. Thankfully, Claira has a stronger stomach than us and has been cleaning the hell out of it for hours, and after finding a few more delights (a brand new duvet soaked through with coffee, blood and urine all over, fore instance), is getting somewhere.

Tomorrow I'll fix the bathroom door etc and have a crack at the bodywork. Hopefully we'll get it back to how it was in a few days.

Not excusing the state of the van at all but has the hire company contacted the customers to see if they are okay in case there was an accident/illness etc which is why it was left as it was?

 

[Wissel]

Not excusing the state of the van at all but has the hire company contacted the customers to see if they are okay in case there was an accident/illness etc which is why it was left as it was?

Yep, they did that this morning. They were talking about holding onto around £750 of her deposit (this was before a lot of the damage was seen) and apparently she hit the roof about it. I'm pretty sure that figure was lowered

She said she left the van on the road and put the key through the door because of Covid19.

 

[gus-lopez]

Not 100%, but think he said it was £1k. On top of that there was no hand back as van was dumped on the road with keys posted through door, and when he called the hire company he hadn't noticed half the problems, so unlikely he will get anywhere near the £1k I think.

It kind of got worse all day, with more things noticed. Mainly because neither of us could walk into the van without reaching earlier. Thankfully, Claira has a stronger stomach than us and has been cleaning the hell out of it for hours, and after finding a few more delights (a brand new duvet soaked through with coffee, blood and urine all over, fore instance), is getting somewhere.

Tomorrow I'll fix the bathroom door etc and have a crack at the bodywork. Hopefully we'll get it back to how it was in a few days.

I'd tell the hire company you want the full1k + any additions & the name address for a small claims court application for any outstanding amounts + loss of earnings

 

[gus-lopez]

& to my knowledge no hire company refunds anything until the complete appraisal of the vehcle has been done.

 

[chaser]

Don't hire firms have any insurance for this sort of thing?

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[donnkim]

We have 3 Campervans which are on their second year of hire. Thankfully we have not had anywhere near the problem of your first hire. If you hired through a company they will probably charged you a daily hire charge. Tell them you want to claim on this. We have ours Ona yearly insurance which is not cheap and follows similar ‘no claims’ deductions. So we are always reluctant to claim.
Finally, our Campervans are kept in perfect condition with any defect corrected.

 

[Lenny HB]

Yep, they did that this morning. They were talking about holding onto around £750 of her deposit (this was before a lot of the damage was seen) and apparently she hit the roof about it. I'm pretty sure that figure was lowered

She said she left the van on the road and put the key through the door because of Covid19.

Sounds like your mate needs to get stroppy with them and make sure they keep the full deposit for him.

 

[DBK]

This might seem a minor suggestion but if you convert any more I recommend piano hinges on every door and cupboard. It's more time consuming to fit but I doubt the renter will pull them off easily.

If you did use piano hinges then I guess the van was rented to a family of gorillas.

 

[Wissel]

This might seem a minor suggestion but if you convert any more I recommend piano hinges on every door and cupboard. It's more time consuming to fit but I doubt the renter will pull them off easily.

If you did use piano hinges then I guess the van was rented to a family of gorillas.

I agree. Thing is, this van was going to be sold, so I built it to be as nice as it could be. It was in the final stages when I was told it was going to be rented. I toughened it as much as I could at that point.

The door that was broken was a tambour on the bathroom though. And it was solid
I'll fix it

 

[Brains]

I'd tell the hire company you want the full1k + any additions & the name address for a small claims court application for any outstanding amounts + loss of earnings

I'm with this option as well

(40 years of personal experience with renting property)

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[Petrol_headz]

We have seen vans that have been hired out out on the WRGB parked up on forrest roads caked in mud some parked half way down ditches etc so i would never hire out our van as iv seen what people do to them when they hire them. :-( .

 

[Clipgate]

As a business model on a small scale I deduced it was unsustainable, I do not have the time to into the wider issues unfortunately. However a few have been aired here, breakdowns and replacement vehicles, damage on return and the next hirer waiting, depreciation and upfront price increases, later returns, etc.etc.
Very easy to decry any business model, however some have a larger challenge then other with regards to the risk to reward ratio. In my view this one where scale is key to success, and as like rental property have not emotional connection merely a business with its consequential assessed risks etc.

 

[Nanniemate]

Not 100%, but think he said it was £1k. On top of that there was no hand back as van was dumped on the road with keys posted through door, and when he called the hire company he hadn't noticed half the problems, so unlikely he will get anywhere near the £1k I think.

It kind of got worse all day, with more things noticed. Mainly because neither of us could walk into the van without reaching earlier. Thankfully, Claira has a stronger stomach than us and has been cleaning the hell out of it for hours, and after finding a few more delights (a brand new duvet soaked through with coffee, blood and urine all over, fore instance), is getting somewhere.

Tomorrow I'll fix the bathroom door etc and have a crack at the bodywork. Hopefully we'll get it back to how it was in a few days.

As hard as it is try to keep emotionally detached it's a business, a tool of work, I hope that the next one comes back cleaned to within an inch of its life smelling lovely and a bunch of flowers thanking you for a great time.

 

[Janp]

Hi Not quite the same but I have rented out properties for over 40 yrs and it never fails to surprise me how people leave them ...keep the deposit and get in a good valeting service . With the properties I just don't get attached to them and think well so be it. Even with house guests who I know and would have trusted things happen, one set of" very good " friends broken the bed and cracked the wc pan in the week they were housesitting. We came back from our hols and no note etc was left so no mention of the damage ,,,,what can I say never left them alone in the house again !!!
Good Luck

 

[two]

The data tagged info is not viable on the pic but contained in a file in the pic it shows correct time and date regardless of any date set on your camera this is the forensic info used every day by police and insurance investigators

I don't think so. That data can be changed, so it's not inviolate.
As for what's in the picture, Photoshop can do anything.

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[Bluemanc100]

That's true, I have a digital camera that stores all the picture info but no date at all, nowadays though it would be unlikely to be able to buy a new one without this embedded info.

Its always been there hasn't it? It's stored in the EXIF data

 

[wiljoy]

Hey All,

I posted a few weeks ago that I had the opportunity to build a few vans to rent out and tag onto a friends new rental business.

Well I finished building his first van for this purpose last week:
View attachment 421092

It was added to a well known rental site and went out this weekend. Its just come back.

It's a state. The van was left on the road overnight around the corner from the business premises, it's covered in dog hair (I mean covered, no mention of dogs being in van), the bathroom door is hanging off and the whole van is vile inside. Actually struggling to work out how it could be so trashed in 3 days

Anyway, I could do with a bit of advice with how to proceed. There's obviously a deposit, but is this just normal?

Thanks, David

I've been there and done that. Its not worth the hassle. Pig pens are adequate for most renters.
In my first six months I was losing money at a rapid rate. The idea sounds good at £800 per week but the reality kicks in when your first return is like yours.

 

[2CVer]

The data tagged info is not viable on the pic but contained in a file in the pic it shows correct time and date regardless of any date set on your camera this is the forensic info used every day by police and insurance investigators

There are many utilities that can edit the EXIF data in the image files that come from any camera. Here are a few. Unfortunately it can't be considered 'forensic' data.

 

[MotorHomeJeff]

It's called EXIF data and looks like this with a map showing where it was took

View attachment 421113

and the EXIF data is changeable. You can edit the EXIF to whatever you like - just in case you ever have the need ;-)

 

[Chris-n-Leeka]

Takes lots of pics, get a sub contractor to clean it, deduct money from deposit and anything owed to you claim it in the small claims court as well as loss of income for not being able to rehire the van.

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[Geo]

and the EXIF data is changeable. You can edit the EXIF to whatever you like - just in case you ever have the need ;-)

And you think your changes can not be detected you need to research it more

 

[Momac]

Some years ago my OH returned a works van to a hire company and was surprised to notice them checking the engine number. They explained that they had actually had a van returned after a weekend hire with the engine changed for an old one! It was some time before this became evident, but after that they always made a note of the engine number. They also said, they check wheels and tyres for the same reason!

 

[EMS]

A few years ago a local van hire company had a van returned in a dire state, the users had been abroad and the police were searching for the van when it returned to UK (he did not say why, possibly import of drugs), so as to prevent it being found on the road when being used again, the hirers put a gallon of diesel into the water tank!
Thus the owner had to fit all new water pipe work and tank before he could hire it again. He repaired it and then decided to stop the hire business as the cost was too high.

 

[chaser]

Some years ago my OH returned a works van to a hire company and was surprised to notice them checking the engine number. They explained that they had actually had a van returned after a weekend hire with the engine changed for an old one! It was some time before this became evident, but after that they always made a note of the engine number. They also said, they check wheels and tyres for the same reason!

Quite common with washing machines and the like, folks with a non working washer go to Currys and buy another one get it home swap the innards and then take it back saying it doesn't work and get a refund, new washer free

 

[GAVLAD]

Sorry to read this. must be soul destroying.
For that reason, I wouldn't ever lend or rent out my motorhome. I've had loads of requests and workmates make a weekly comment about a cycling holiday but at the end of the day, it's not theres so if it comes back knackered, they're not bothered.
Although I appreciate that yours reads as if it is a business venture.
I would certainly withhold the deposit.
Maybe you should take a deposit for the vehicle and and also a pre-authorised security deposit for the damage. That way, you can refund the deposit and then charge or not charge the pre-authorisation security deposit.
My dad once told me that he was on a site in Spain and a big family pulled up in a car with caravan.
They'd all been using the caravan toilet on the journey down but didn't know that someone needed to empty the cassette.
When they pulled up on the pitch, sh*te was flowing out of the external cassette locker and streaming down the side of the van. Inside, the bathroom floor was covered.
They'd borrowed the caravan from a family member and this was their maiden voyage.
Accidents do happen but pride seems to be lacking with some.

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[Barclaybasher]

My advice to someone thinking of converting 3 VW T6s to rent next year was to not fit a toilet/shower or any gas appliances. That way renters would have to use hookup and site toilets.

My first advice was to forget it !

 

[Otter Spotter]

Not if the time and date is wrong in your camera, mine still puts a date in 2016.

Don’t use your camera then

 

[Brains]

Some years ago my OH returned a works van to a hire company and was surprised to notice them checking the engine number. They explained that they had actually had a van returned after a weekend hire with the engine changed for an old one! It was some time before this became evident, but after that they always made a note of the engine number. They also said, they check wheels and tyres for the same reason!

I had an ex colleague who had a works car, 2-3 years old with about 20k on the clock
He got made redundant on a Friday and was asked to bring the car back on Monday.

Over the weekend he and his flat mate (who had an ex rep's car, same model, but with over 100,0000 miles on the clock) swapped over the engine, the gearbox, the seats, the tyres, the headlights, the radio etc.
The 'low mileage' car was duly returned to the company.

 

[Langtoftlad]

I had an ex colleague who had a works car, 2-3 years old with about 20k on the clock
He got made redundant on a Friday and was asked to bring the car back on Monday.

Over the weekend he and his flat mate (who had an ex rep's car, same model, but with over 100,0000 miles on the clock) swapped over the engine, the gearbox, the seats, the tyres, the headlights, the radio etc.
The 'low mileage' car was duly returned to the company.

You're not condoning criminal behaviour are you?

 

[Mike Rivers]

I would make enquiries on an established Motorhome rental site and be looking to see what they stipulate in the small print to safeguard themselves against misuse. I’d certainly be looking for some security (deposit or credit card authorisation) for events like this. Sadly, I’m not surprised by anything these days which is why if you design the business model on the basis of what could go wrong will go wrong you’re on the right lines. Good luck and please keep us posted on this.

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