Renting Freedom For Your European Vacation [Caravan Salon]
Rent Easy Provides The German Market And Visiting Tourists With An Express System For Renting Motorhomes For Convenience Of Travel
German company rent easy is leading edge when it comes to the market of renting recreational vehicles in Germany, as well as Netherlands & Spain. rent easy is characterised with high-quality rental vehicles of the Erwin Hymer Group brands which never stay in inventory over 2 years. Included in a rent easy motorhome: automatic satellite system, TV and rear view camera! Fleet Manager Lucas Becher for rent easy sat down with the Buzz at Caravan Salon in Dusseldorf, Germany to discuss rental trends of RVs in Europe, the types of caravans they offer, how easy it is to get one from their stations, and the prospect of evolving their business model to meet their customer needs.
The Buzz: Could you start off by telling us what rent easy is?
Lucas Becher: Sure, rent easy is a professional rental company for caravans. We are organizing about 450 vehicles in the fleet. We have 19 stations. We're also placed in Netherlands and Spain. We are looking to expand into Portugal and some other countries. We only keep new vehicles with a maximum life of 2 years in our fleet. We hope to obtain new vehicles from the brands directly. They are well equipped with a satellite dish, with an awning, navigation, bicycle rack, and television. There are 15 stations in Germany. We are only working with the authorized dealers from HYMER, for example, so we can assure quality service, and boast our trained staff. We offer plenty of services for people coming from overseas, such as transport to the airports to get picked up. Customers come to the station and then they can order a bed set or camping set, of course, stuff you don't want to take with you on the plane, and then they can begin their trip.
The Buzz: Okay. Now, with something like a station-- so are the stations centrally located for some people when they're flying in, or how does that work?
LB: We are in our second year of business and plan to develop the stations close to the airport. We have Berlin. We have Hamburg. We have Munich, Mannheim, Stuttgart, so these are the bigger points. Then, we plan to organize this service more adequately for the customers. Some places we still need to do work on, like Frankfurt. There, we are not placed yet. Give me some time [laughing].
The Buzz: Now, people can customize what they want in terms of the different motorhomes, or anything like that, and ask for certain amenities. Can they ask for one way? How does that work?
LB: Well, all over we have 12 categories where we see our focus to get the customer who will be the first time with motorhome on the way and then we say, for example, we have Active Classic. They're all the camper vans, like the HYMERCAR is included, and Active Extra is more compact. HYMER Exsis-t, there is compact half-integrated vehicle and then compact full-integrated, up to the bigger, premium class where you have the HYMER SLs.
The Buzz: Now, the SLs, are they more considered Class-Bs?
LB: Yeah, Class-B. So like Class-B in the dynamic line or the premium line from HYMER. So we have the full range of the Erwin Hymer in our fleet.
The Buzz: We discussed the aspect of insurance because when people come over there, they're concerned if they get into an accident, what they can do to basically be protected on both sides. Can you talk about that because you guys do the collision damage, waivers, and all that kind of stuff?
LB: Yeah. Of course, we have full insurance with cost of €1,500, same time it's also the security deposit, and yeah. You can go all over Europe to surrounding countries, except crisis areas, war areas are forbidden. For collision, €500 to pay for an accident and if you want us to cover this or you want to cover the cancellation fee for yourself, we have a cooperation with Allianz where you can reduce your risk down to €500. Probably, for next year we are going to offer the reduction down to €200. Most people like the rental with a full-coverage package because there you're lowering your risk if you need to cancel it, and you're going down to the self-part of €500 which is probably about 1,000 less than our standard.
The Buzz: But then you give them the reservation number for you, and they connect it?
LB: Yeah, well, they connect it to the booking you have made for us. They need to know how many rental days you are booking because this is how they insure you.
The Buzz: So the mileage in included per se? Or how does that work?
LB: You have the 250 kilometers per day included. You can buy an extra package for 500 kilometers, or if you're going over 14 days, which mostly the people from overseas do, then you have by the 15th rental day, you’ll have all kilometers included.
The Buzz: What is a normal sort of trip for people who come over from overseas versus people in the German market who are testing? Can you talk about those two different kinds of business models?
LB: Okay. Well, of course, you have that client who wants a test model. They are going for five days or one week for us. And then the others in the overseas clients and most of them they want to travel through Europe. I mean if you compare Europe with the United States, we are very small. So, but you can visit a lot of countries. So you start in Hamburg, you're driving through France, down to Spain, maybe out to Portugal. And then there’s the south coast.
The Buzz: Now, people get on the ground, is there sort of English speaking to help them along at your station? Or is that in play?
LB: At the station, all of our station managers can speak English, of course. It is important. That's also, you know, that's why we are working with the authorized dealers from Hymer so that we know that's a good partnership.
The Buzz: Is it something that you guys are working on in terms of campgrounds, knowing where certain campgrounds are or stuff like that?
LB: Yes, of course. I'm very happy that the Oppenheimer Group installed the platform Free On Tour, which is a platform where you can see some advisement for bigger trips, to some large places, where to go. You can see this online.
The Buzz: Can you talk a little bit more about the camping lifestyle here, what people like to do? I mean, Germany has so many different things. Can you talk about that and what you find the German population likes to do here in Germany?
LB: Okay, that's very hard to say because we have a lot of opportunities. Well, you can go for a normal place just where you recharge your modem batteries, and then up to like glamping where you have three swimming pools, 10 restaurants, and more luxurious things like that. That's what I think is a new trend in the last years that people will really say, "Okay, I want to have the luxury and wellness part from hotels." Of course, you have the jacuzzi. You have a five-star restaurant on your campground, and they are well organized from A to Z.
The Buzz: It seems like there's a push to get back to nature I think for a lot of people who like to be connected but to be disconnected as well. Can you talk about that?
LB: Well, it's a big question. But I think you're very structured in the work life. You're traveling a lot through the country, and it's easy to travel to overseas. But more and more it's controlled. So more and more it's programmed. So I think the people like to say, "Okay, I'm going to have my two weeks freedom and my holiday. And I decide where to go." And I agree with you that a lot of people like to go back to nature not having all the big commercial area around them. It's like you're waking up when you want to. You have breakfast like you want to at the time you want. [laughter] I think the biggest thing is freedom.
The Buzz: The big thing is freedom. Can you talk about generally how your online system works? How people can reserve?
LB: Yes, of course. Well, by going to rent-easy.eu, you have English version of our website. You'll see by one view where our locations are. And you have with three clicks, the ability to view all of our vehicles by the station. You can decide first what station for the vehicle, and then the system will tell you what is available. Next step is for you to choose your equipment. Like I said, that's at the beginning process of renting or maybe you want to transfer from the airport, and the next step you are making is your booking. So three steps and you have your holiday set. We take credit card. We only take a deposit of 30% of the rental fee to give you the confirmation, and 40 days in front of the pickup date, the balance is due.
The Buzz: Because things change and plans change, if people need to cancel before the 40 days, is that all right? Or how does that work? Is there a fee or something like that?
LB: Yeah, of course. We have our cancellation fees, but what we always advise is having the extra insurance to cover the cancellation. We have insurance in Germany for the German customers, and we are preparing also to have the extra insurance available for the foreign customers. But some customers also have this insurance included with the credit card. But yeah, we can, of course, do something more there in the future.
The Buzz: One thing I didn't ask was about is service, mechanic work, that's the one big thing that is important in case people break down, if something does happen and they're covered, can they go to certain service areas?
LB: Yes, of course. Well first of all we are very happy that we're working only with new cars, directly bought by the brand, by the producers. And if something happens, we have the Fiat service, so you need to differentiate if you a problem with the engine, so that's Fiat. But we have a cooperation with them, that they have special status that if you are calling them, they know you need roadside service. You can call them 24 hours. And so they will recognize your plates, your registration plate and say, "Okay this is a customer that needs help." And the other way, we are directly connected with all the producers, so we can check and inform where's the next authorized dealer located to help you out.
Tim Wassberg
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School Of The Arts with degrees in Film/TV Production & Film Criticism, Tim has written for magazines such as Moviemaker, Moving Pictures, Conde Nast Traveler UK and Casino Player. He enjoys traveling and distinct craft beers among other things.
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