Rent out your own car
When Elly and I met in 1998 Adrem Car Rental started in Maastricht, we only had 2 cars to rent out. Banks just don't line up to finance a bunch of vehicles for you when you're just starting a car rental business…
Soon we regularly had too few cars to rent out. And disappointing customers is of course the last thing you want when you have just started a company. So why not rent out your own car?
Old Golf
We drove privately in an old Golf diesel automatic from 1983. When our 2 cars were rented out, and someone called us for another car, I offered it. We couldn't leave anyway.
I honestly told them that the Golf was an old beast and that I was fine with the customer looking for another rental company. But to my surprise, our old Golf was regularly used by customers who thought it was funny to drive such an old Golf.
In fact, one customer drove it for weeks – he thought it was a wonderful car.
Father from Brazil
Around 2001 we had a visit from a friendly man. He told us that he was a priest in Brazil, and that he was in the Netherlands for 2 months. When he was on leave in the Netherlands before that, he would get an old car from a garage for a small fee to get around. The garage just didn't exist anymore.
He asked me if we could do something similar for him.
We had already rented out our regular rental cars. They would have been too expensive for him anyway.
I still had an old Duck standing around. I had bought it with the intention of converting it into an open sports car – Le Patron, which is still available for rent from us. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.
The Duck was no longer in a great condition – I would take the bodywork off and throw it away (the photo next to it is of another Duck, in much better condition). But the priest actually thought it was a good idea to drive around in the Duck for 2 months. In Brazil he didn't even have a car.
Maybe you saw him driving between Maastricht and Tongeren – he had to go there every day. TV Maastricht did an interview with him at the time, I remember. Fortunately the priest didn’t tell him that he was driving an Adrem car…
Tailgate gone
A little later I came across an old Citroën AX, you may remember the model. I had traded in that car when selling an ex-rental car.
I got a call. If we had a car left for tonight.
And yes: again we were short of rental cars.
And again I said honestly: it is an old cake, but you can rent it from me.
The next day the tenant returned.
He was deeply ashamed.
The car no longer had a tailgate. As you can see in the picture above, the AX has a rear window. At the bottom, the rest of the tailgate was mounted. A nice idea from Citroën.
The tenant had slammed the tailgate a little too hard after grocery shopping, causing the window to shatter into thousands of pieces. The rest of the tailgate had fallen onto the parking lot.
Car sharing
For us it was not difficult to share our cars with other people. They were cheap cars, and we were not attached to our cars anyway – we preferred to rent them out as often as possible. I find it fascinating to see that car sharing is now on the rise.
Would you dare/want to share your car with others? I'm curious about your reaction! I'd rather have one with us rent a car in the Stein region? That's possible at Adrem!
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Dear Frits, what wonderful stories. No, I do not want to rent out my own car, it is too precious to me for that. I also fear the upcoming speeding fines because I ask for some nuance in the treatment of the gas pedal…????????
Haha Jean Pierre,
I can well imagine that you don't want to rent out your car if it is too precious to you. Then I would rather keep it for myself. But if your car is just a utility object (like our old cars were) then you do that more easily.
The problem is that with most people you don't have to worry about anything happening to your car, but with a small group of renters unfortunately you do. And it's that small group of troublemakers and speeders who make it difficult to just lend out your car...
Dear Serge, thank you for your response!
The more you drive a car, the sooner the tires are worn out and the sooner the car needs maintenance again. Of course, you have to take these costs into account in your rental price.
You should only want to rent out your car if you get all the costs reimbursed – I know all about that. Of course I have an entrepreneurial risk, but you should always keep in mind that you get more from the rent than the car costs. Good point!
Kind regards, Frits Pieper
Hey Frits and Elly, even though my old car is dear to me, I still want to share it with others, but I think that nowadays few people are waiting for a car without power assistance???? But if it results in something nice, let me know!
Haha Suzanne,
When we are rented out we will refer interested parties to your classic Volvo! I am sure there are enthusiasts for that, even without power steering. That will surely result in something fun!