You can hire out your car, your house and even your caravan
Thanks to Book My Boat, you can now list your boat for hire when it’s not being used.
Matthew Lloyd founder and managing director of Book My Boat says he created the country’s first peer to peer recreational boat hire marketplace because he’s seen first-hand how boats are one of the most expensive - and underused - items you can own.
“Not many people in the cities have a quarter-acre block where they can store a boat in their backyard. Space is a premium, and for most, owning a boat is just not attainable,” says Mr Lloyd.
“The most fun I’ve had with my family is on a boat, so I thought ‘how do we make boating accessible to everyone’.”
Book My Boat charges a 26% commission on bookings and handles the back end for lessors and holidayers including payments, bonds, and hire procedures as well as providing comprehensive insurance to both boat owners and rental customers alike.
“We allow owners to rent their boat out with peace of mind.”
With high upfront and ongoing costs, boat utilisation is incredibly low. The National Maritime Manufacturers Association (NMMA) estimates that owners use their boats a mere 28 days a year.
“The rest of the time they are burning a hole in their owners’ pocket,” says Mr Lloyd.
When Braden Matthew, 23, from Kellyville wants to go out wakeboarding or fishing, he hires one by the day through Book My Boat.
“I’ve owned a boat before, but right now I don’t have anywhere to keep one as I live with my parents,” says Matthew.
“Maintenance is also a pain. I’m only going out every three or four weeks, so it’s not worth owning a boat myself.”
“When I want to go out on the water, I just rent one through Book My Boat. It’s also convenient as I can take out different ones depending on what I’m doing.”
Mr Lloyd who has a 25-year boating background, including several years as an operations manager for Sydney Ferries, saw an opening back in 2017 when the national regulatory framework was introduced opening the door for a responsible operator to offer the peer to peer boat hire model.
The company already has 250 boat owners signed up to the platform, with over 1100 rental customers, and is operating across NSW and Queensland.
“There are 2.5 million boat licence holders in Australia compared to 915,000 registered boats. Over 90% of recreational boats are under 8m in length, which is our target market due to their suitability for Hire and Drive operations”An under-utilisation rate of 90% translates to 308 million days of idle boating capacity that we are hoping to unlock.”
With international borders remaining closed, and holidayers preferring to book experiences that are closer to home, interest has risen dramatically during the last 18 months.
For more information visit www.bookmyboat.com.au
