Possible to start a rental operation with 1 HT?

[andrewhanna]

Hey- I was wondering, Is it possible to start a rental company with only 1 segway? Someone please guide me in the right direction [^]:D and If it is possible, how would I go about it, would I have to get inshurance, or would i require renters make a deposit of $4,000.00? I thought this would be a very good idea to do here in miami to increase the HTs popularuty. You know what they say , start of small and then get big. Who knows, I am a 1 man 1 seg operation today, I could be a 100 man 1000 seg operation tomorro!

Thanks,
andrew

A glide a day, keeps the doctor away....

[Florida Ever-Glides]

Andrew,

There are now several rental/tour operations in your area. Its probably close to saturation point. Also, if you don't do tons of homework first and do it right, your investment and potential legal bills can haunt you for a lifetime. I encourage the vision and the dreaming. Why not think up a totally new and creative commercial use for the HT, and go for it. Be an innovator, its more rewarding than re-inventing the wheel...

Tom Jacobson
http://www.floridaever-glides.com

[opti6600]

Andrew, the Miami area has a number of HT rental agencies currently operating as Tom pointed out. However due to the suburban nature of the city, and perhaps shortsightedness or inability to do so, advertising and PR is at a minimum for them. These include:

- Relay (on Key Biscayne at the Sonesta)
- Electric Rentals (Miami Beach)
- Peppe's folks, who I don't know the name of and seem to be somewhat omnipresent

That's a short list, I'm sure there are others.

Commercial enterprise, particularly entrepreneurship, is a lot of paperwork, effort, and time. If you're really into it - do your research, look up the statutes on liability, incorporation, rental, all that stuff - if you still want to do it, go for it. Otherwise, you just learned a lot of stuff that could come in handy.

-Jordan

[Stewbonz]

Andrew, how about using your Segway for advertising? I have my fleet rented out to DHL for 2 weeks. They have signs annd wheel covers and are showing off around town.
Segways are a great promotional tool. Try it.

JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[Sunday]

Perhaps you could contact advertising and modeling agencies, and offer it for rentals every so often. Charge them $100 per day. Tell them you have the new smaller model, and if they break it, they bought it.


Mark



Segway-more fun than you can stand!

[andrewhanna]

quote:Originally posted by Florida Ever-Glides

Andrew,

There are now several rental/tour operations in your area. Its probably close to saturation point. Also, if you don't do tons of homework first and do it right, your investment and potential legal bills can haunt you for a lifetime. I encourage the vision and the dreaming. Why not think up a totally new and creative commercial use for the HT, and go for it. Be an innovator, its more rewarding than re-inventing the wheel...

Tom Jacobson
http://www.floridaever-glides.com



Hey- I would use my HT for short-tearm rentals, not guied tours like the others in miami. I live about 30-40 mins from the other rental companies. With that being said, do you think I could pull it off? I would rent the HT for 1 week at a time. Thank you so much for your help!

Thanks,
andrew


A glide a day, keeps the doctor away....

[andrewhanna]

quote:Originally posted by Sunday

Perhaps you could contact advertising and modeling agencies, and offer it for rentals every so often. Charge them $100 per day. Tell them you have the new smaller model, and if they break it, they bought it.


Mark



Segway-more fun than you can stand!


How would I go about doign that? Would the companies rent it from me for promotional purposes?

thanks,
andrew

A glide a day, keeps the doctor away....

[Segway City]

A very good idea would be to contact your local SCORE office. SCORE is the Service Corps Of Retired Executives, partners with your local Small Business Administration. Glide in, sit down and talk with a member and you will learn of all kinds of opportunities and requirements for starting and running a small business.

One issue I know will be paramount in your case is the requirement to form a formal business to rent or lease to protect you and your HT. Minors have legal issues regarding formulation and perfection of contracts and liability issues exist that would impact your parents/guardians. SCORE could assist with some of those answers relative to your city and state.

[Florida Ever-Glides]

First of all if this is your only HT and have the least bit of emotional attachment, don't expect the machine will ever be returned EXACTLY as you let it out. The excessive use will show. The liability is the same whether you have one or twenty on machines. With just one, its probably not worth the exposure.

If I remember correctly, are you under 18 years old? If you are you cannot legally contract anyway.
When you rent it out for several days or longer and it comes back not quite right, I promise you that the customer will have no idea what happened and not be willing to pay to make it right.

Tom Jacobson
http://www.floridaever-glides.com

[andrewhanna]

quote:Originally posted by Florida Ever-Glides

First of all if this is your only HT and have the least bit of emotional attachment, don't expect the machine will ever be returned EXACTLY as you let it out. The excessive use will show. The liability is the same whether you have one or twenty on machines. With just one, its probably not worth the exposure.

If I remember correctly, are you under 18 years old? If you are you cannot legally contract anyway.
When you rent it out for several days or longer and it comes back not quite right, I promise you that the customer will have no idea what happened and not be willing to pay to make it right.

Tom Jacobson
http://www.floridaever-glides.com


Hey- Thats very true Tom, I dont think the customer will want to pay for any damges done to the machine. I think its better just to keep my machine to myself for now. I think I will just wait a few more years...lol. Thanks alot for the info Tom.

thank you,
andrew

A glide a day, keeps the doctor away....

[Matt]

I just need to say that I am really glad to see that the community rallies to help young entrepreneurs. Thank you everyone here who took the time to offer Andrew constructive criticism. Nice to see you back in the fray Jordan!

[opti6600]

If this is a fray, what on earth constitutes the rest of my agenda?

Hehe, I'm glad to be back, Matt. All too many other things to attend to lately, I'm afraid - like many others it would seem. Plus I have to admit, my allegiance to Segway's been somewhat split to some Austrians lately...sort of an interesting comparison - 6000 pounds of steel to 83 pounds of aluminum, electronics, and polycarbonates.

[fathertime]

Austrians....6000lbs of steel????? What's that all about then?[:O]

JR

[opti6600]

Ah, cryptic indeed we are, Fathertime. It's a little joke on my transition into the necessity of driving as well as gliding - sort of an unfortunate requirement in suburbia, I've found. That, and it always seems to be a bit challenging loading up a HT with the gear for a weekend sailing to Bimini or Key West : )