Renting Toys

[RetireAge50]

Was thinking about joining a recreation club which would get me full use of boats, jet skis, snowmobiles, motorcycles, ATV's etc. For a joining fee of $1,400 and $300/mo I could use one ski boat or two of any of the other toys as much as I want all year long.

I'm familiar how to operate all of these things. The company is small but appears to be well-run and I've rented from them in the past. To hedge my risk I would get a ski boat for a couple weeks the day I join.

I'm thinking this might be a good option in lieu of spending a similar amount of money for a typical two week vacation. What do you all think?

[Ronstar]

I like the idea. Especially if it's close to your house and you have time to play with all of the toys. And as long as they have what you want when you want it.


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[Walt34]

Location would be important, I probably wouldn't go for it here because it'd be hard to write that $300 check when there's a foot of snow on the ground. But in a better climate for year-round use or nearly so I might go for it for at least a year and then see if the novelty had worn off.

[harley]

I looked into a boat club in FL. It sounded great but the member/boat ratio was pretty high, and you had to reserve them fairly far in advance. In the end I decided not to. Your club sounds smaller and better equipped, but will it stay that way?

[Lakewood90712]

1. Is this a new service ( club) they are rolling out in addition to the existing rental operation ? I would be concerned with the place folding , and the $1400 is gone.

2. Liability insurance covering you, not the rental club ?

[RetireAge50]

Turns out they are at their cap of members. There is a long waiting list and nobody has left in over a year. I guess this must be a good business model.

[sengsational]

Another option for you might be to find someone who teaches, say, water skiing or whatever. Even though you know how to do this stuff, you can always move up to the next level, and by taking the class, you wouldn't have to buy the next level of equipment unless you fell head first into something to concentrate on.

[gauss]

Many general aviation flying clubs have a somewhat similar model.

-gauss

[Derslickmeister]

I have never heard of these types of clubs. On the surface it sounds like a really good idea. I would do the due diligence (which you are doing by inquiring here) and then go from there. I used to belong to a private water fishing club that gave me access to hundreds of small bass lakes in Texas and OK. It was fantastic and saved me from buying that $25k Ranger that all the big boys have Sounds like this could scratch your itch and save big money...

[sdtech]

I own my own plane. Annually, it would be much better to rent planes from flying clubs. Many pilots are able to do that and it is the smart financial way to fly. A large number of pilots quit flying who try that however because the decision to go up in a plane today "costs so much" and they realize that each minute the propeller turns cost more money.

I try very hard not to add up how much it costs, and because I always have the tanks full of fuel, I can always go to the airport anytime and go flying for "free" today. Nice to delude myself.

[Texas Proud]

One of my BIL and sister had a nice boat... he used to ski all the time... would get off work early and go out and ski...

Slowly he started to go to a ski club.... a man made lake specifically for skiing... used the boat less and less...

Sister calculated the cost of the boat and determined that with repair, gas, storage etc. etc. that it was over $100 per hour of use to own the boat... now they just rent a boat for 2 to 4 hours and have fun... as she said, the time savings is well worth it to her.... just drive up, get the key, go boating... come back and give the key back...

Have another BIL who has a 24 ft boat... has to pay a couple of hundred dollars a month to store... he now cannot take it out by himself... I think it has been over a year since he has taken it out.... money down the drain...

I have a small boat that I store in my garage... so my costs are probably closer to $40 per hour of use.... but when we go to the lake it is a benefit to have the boat at any time we are there for the long weekend... or even the few day trips we take.... since I do not have any storage cost I am not as concerned with having it sit if we cannot go out....


So, for my family... we have all made difference decisions... but unless you can get access to the 'toy' enough to justify $3,600 per year cost (let us just throw out that $1400 as sunk cost).... I would not do it... from my calculation, that is more then 48 hours of use for the year (at the rate you can rent a boat here).... and even more time if you do early bird or during the week...