Rental Consignment Advice

[Steve Sherrick]

Unless you are planning to become a rental house, I don't see this as competition. A lot of people on here will be owner/DP types, some will be owner/DIT types, and others may just want a camera to do personal projects with and make a rental here and there. If you establish a good relationship with rental houses and make them aware what it is you are offering, you become a resource for them. If they decide to own 2 cameras and both those cameras are rented and in walks customer 3 who would like to rent one, well they can either turn down the business (which will mean losing supporting gear rental) or they can give a call to those who have cameras and are willing to rent them out under agreed upon terms. Now everyone wins.

The terms will have to work for both you and the rental house. They will also differ depending on which market you are in. I'd also say, it's probably good to look at this as a way to generate an additional revenue stream, not a way to get rich. Make sure you get a fair deal and then everything could work out well.

This all works much better when you have an established relationship with your rental houses, i.e. years of doing business with them. If you don't have those kind of relationships then you will have to do some extra work to get one going so everyone is comfortable. Trust needs to work both ways. If they don't know you, it's asking a lot for them to instantly put a lot of faith you will come through when they need you.

Steve

 

[Bret Weeks]

Thor-

Me = General Manager of Nicely Sized Really Good Rental Company.

If your guys won't do the 60/40 with you pulling the lions share, call me and I'll put it in my inventory - no joke -

They should also be covering the cost of insurance on the camera or any time it's in their possession (not rented). If it is rented and out of their care and control, their producer renting the camera needs to carry the coverage, or: NO RENTAL. Period.

Far too much at stake, my friend.

"Whoops, I dropped it really hard, but there is no damage to the outside so I'm not telling you; Here's your camera back Thor, something's wrong with it, and it wasn't us, it just didn't turn back on..." Happens twice a day-

Consider it a sub-rental (hire) from one company to another. If it's in their care and control, it should be their responsibility.

As an aside, they should also be taking care of you when you rent from them, like a 40% off on rentals- kind of what you're giving them-

I'm getting ready to pull 2-3 bodies in from outsiders to add to our 2 reservations. They all have very low serial #'s, and should benefit from helping us to continue to build our business by bringing their cameras to the table before ours arrive.
We'll carry the insurance.

The marquee value of having early Reds around will certainly turn into other opportunities for us as a rental house and service provider, and these guys should be taken care of.

We're thinking better to to team up and align with others than to try to fight them off and just rent accessories, grip trucks and lights.

When it comes to which one camera goes out first after ours come, they'll go out #1-5 and then back to the top- everyone's camera gets rented, everyone benefits.

That's the only way I would get involved if I was an owner/op, and that's what we offer our friends-

Now your rental house hates me... sorry.

Let me know if you need my fed ex #-:biggrin:

bw

www.griptruck.com

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

SNIP BRET'S POST

Man that's good advice! :matrix:

 

[REDHKSC]

To current Red owners that are renting your cameras, I need your advice.

I have been talking with a local rental house about doing a rental consignment.

As it sits, the offer is this:

60% of the profit goes to them, 40% to me.

The camera stays at their facitilty, so they can demo it for potential clients.

They will monitor and service the camera as needed during the check-in, check-out process (no major repairs, just the minor stuff).

If anything major goes wrong with the camera that is not covered by a warranty or an insurance policy, I'm responsible for it. Example: This company has flown VariCams on commercial flights. When image sensors are at high altitudes, they are more susceptible to radiation, and in one particular case, a pixel sensor got knocked out by a stray particle during a flight. Now, this is very rare. But it does happen. The company had to replace the sensor block at their cost (it wasn't covered under warranty, and apparently not by insurance either). Panasonic charfed them about $6,000. This is the sort of thing they would expect me to cover if it were to happen.

So, please give me input. Is this a good deal?

Two problems I see... 1) If the camera is always at their facility, how do I know for sure that it isn't being rented more than what they are reporting? (They are about 40 miles away, so I could check in from time to time, but it's still easy to "adjust" the numbers just before checks get cut.) 2) I don't like the idea that the camera may come back broken, and I end up being repsonsible for it.

It seems like I should be in the driver's seat on this one. The agreement should be more in my favor, because I'm the one that took the risk and got an early reservation (as far as I know, they still don't have a reservation).

Now, they are a reputable rental house. I've heard nothing but good about them, but my instinct is to negotiate a better deal.

Redusers, please chime in.

-Thor Wixom

Hello Thor,
In China ( SO BIG ) , we normally will send our GUY as a keeper / Security of the equipment, just One guy to report the status of the usage.

If anything go wrong, he or she or Gay can call us or Police there.

Cheers,

STEW

 

[Craig Meadows]

In regards to useage. Many partnerships allow for the financial auditing of said equipment or service agreements - monthly, quarterly, or annually. Basically you or someone you trust looks at their books. If they are a legit business and keep proper records this shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Thor Wixom]

Thor-

Me = General Manager of Nicely Sized Really Good Rental Company.

If your guys won't do the 60/40 with you pulling the lions share, call me and I'll put it in my inventory - no joke -

They should also be covering the cost of insurance on the camera or any time it's in their possession (not rented). If it is rented and out of their care and control, their producer renting the camera needs to carry the coverage, or: NO RENTAL. Period.

Far too much at stake, my friend.

"Whoops, I dropped it really hard, but there is no damage to the outside so I'm not telling you; Here's your camera back Thor, something's wrong with it, and it wasn't us, it just didn't turn back on..." Happens twice a day-

Consider it a sub-rental (hire) from one company to another. If it's in their care and control, it should be their responsibility.

As an aside, they should also be taking care of you when you rent from them, like a 40% off on rentals- kind of what you're giving them-

I'm getting ready to pull 2-3 bodies in from outsiders to add to our 2 reservations. They all have very low serial #'s, and should benefit from helping us to continue to build our business by bringing their cameras to the table before ours arrive.
We'll carry the insurance.

The marquee value of having early Reds around will certainly turn into other opportunities for us as a rental house and service provider, and these guys should be taken care of.

We're thinking better to to team up and align with others than to try to fight them off and just rent accessories, grip trucks and lights.

When it comes to which one camera goes out first after ours come, they'll go out #1-5 and then back to the top- everyone's camera gets rented, everyone benefits.

That's the only way I would get involved if I was an owner/op, and that's what we offer our friends-

Now your rental house hates me... sorry.

Let me know if you need my fed ex #-:biggrin:

bw

www.griptruck.com

Bret,

Thank you for the advice. I am considering all options and offers, your's included now. :turned:

There is one benefit in working with a rental house in my local area... I have quick access to my Red One. This is nice when an unexpected project pops up, or when I just want to experiment with the camera when it isn't rented, or maybe run down to Southern Utah and shoot some footage that I could license to a stock agency.

It's a tough decision. The nice thing is that all the options are good ones. It's just a matter of finding the one that best suits my needs.

Thanks again for the advice.

-Thor