How to Start a Utility Trailer Rental Business

Utility trailers are in high demand in urban and rural areas, given that everyone needs them to move their heavy stuff. And the most crucial part is that renting utility trailers is far cheaper than hiring a moving company. It means an excellent opportunity for you!

Start with a Solid Business Plan

We need a plan in everything we do to achieve the desired results. Proper planning guides us in the right direction, improves our coordination and focus, and makes it easier to start our business with confidence and high preparation.

What to consider in the business plan for utility trailer rentals?

Budget. You need a designated budget for the trailer rental business to procure utility trailers and cover storage rentals, utility bills, and maintenance fees. You also need a budget for operational activities and emergency funds to ensure no interruptions in your business.
Business Model: You need to plan how you would rent your utility trailers and how much you will charge for individual rental units. Concisely, the following questions will guide to develop a suitable business model:

Will you rent trailers hourly or daily? And will there be any discounts if a client rents for extended periods?
Will you charge security deposits (highly recommended) for each rental, and how will you collect them?
What are the penalties for late returns and damages?
Will you offer add-on services and products with your utility trailers?

The list is incomplete, but it will give you an idea of how to develop a business model.

Technologies and Resources to get started and achieve optimal growth. Your business plan should include these because technology makes it easier to kickstart your business. There are many rental solutions, but we recommend Reservety’s All-in-One Trailer Rental Software as it helps you streamline your utility trailer business with a virtual rental store and 200+ automated tools and integration options.

Pros and Cons

8 Reasons Why Utility Trailers Rental is a Good Idea.

Lower Startup Cost. You can start with only a few utility trailers, and they do not have to be new.
High profit margin. Utility trailers rent for exceptionally high prices, producing a stable income that you can use to scale your business to generate even higher profits in the future.
Minimal risk of damage. Utility trailers are heavy-duty items and can withstand the force compared to delicate items prone to breakdowns.
Easy to maintain. Utility trailers require minimal maintenance costs because you just need to oil the parts and just change the tires when needed.
Easy to Store. Depending on the type of trailers, they do not need a costly storage area because they can be parked outside.
Possibility to track the trailers. You can install specific tracking devices on your trailers to pinpoint their location in real-time. We have already written an article about it here.
Chance to offer add-ons with trailers. You can offer moving service, a truck to pull the trailers, and hitches and other accessories with your utility trailers.
Opportunities for partnership with moving companies. You can affiliate with moving companies and refer your clients to each other for mutual benefits.

3 Risks Associate with Utility Trailer Rental Business.

Risk of theft. Some people may rent your trailers to move their home appliances to their new location and fail to return them. But you can quickly remedy those situations with a reliable tracking device and taking a security deposit, both of which are possible with Reservety’s Trailer Rental Software.
Higher transportation costs if a client fails to return the trailer, it becomes a continuation of the first issue. If a client decides not to replace the trailer, you may need to go and get it yours, which is a costly option considering the travel time and fuel expenses.
Risk of collision. Most of the time, utility trailers are on the road, and we all know collisions are possible. Accidents can damage your trailers and may cause liability issues. To avoid the unfavorable impacts of such instances, you can get proper insurance and have customers sign waivers; you can do that with Reservety as well.

4 Vital Things to Start a Utility Trailer Rental Business

1. Utility Trailers and a budget to cover your expenses.

Without utility trailers or a sufficient budget, you will not be able to start your business. However, the good thing about utility trailers is that used trailers can do the same job as new ones. So, you can start with used ones by buying them from local classified sites or friends and family for lower prices.

Budget is another vital thing for the success of your future business. Because you need funds for:

– Storage space to park your trailers.

– Utility bills such as electricity, water, etc.

– Staff to get help with rental processes.

– Maintaining and fixing trailers

– Insurance to avoid losses and liability issue

license and permit for a utility trailer rental

2. Business License and Permit.

Depending on your country or state, you must have a business license and permit to operate legally. You can get that essential licenses by visiting your local commerce department. The process is usually straightforward, and you can do it online in some countries.

Once you get your business license and register a proper name for your business, you are ready to move on to the next.

3. Storage space and office.

It would be best to have a secure place to park your trailers and office space to serve walk-in customers. Office space should be furnished with all essentials such as tables and chairs, laptops & printers, and stationeries.

However, you can replace a physical office space with Reservety because it lets your customers:

Book utility trailers from your website for specific rental periods.
Pay for the bookings, deposits, and even make payments in installments based on your business model.
Sign rental agreements and waivers digitally.
Receive invoices and notifications electronically.

Those are just a few features. Reservety is the best tool to create a virtual rental office for your utility trailer rental business.

4. A website with Booking System.

Nowadays, everyone books rental items online in the comfort of their homes. Therefore, you need a website to display your utility trailers and a booking system to accept online bookings automatically.

Several software solutions offer booking systems, but Reservety should be the first choice because it is developed by the industry’s experts, who understand the rental industry more than any other software developer.

10 Reasons why Reservety is the best software for a Utility Trailer Business.

It helps to build a professional rental store quickly. Because its web-building processes primarily include drag-and-drop style and have several ready designs that suit your utility trailer business.

Gives customers to choose and book utility trailers anytime from any location because Reservety has a 24/7 Booking System that lets customers pick trailers from your inventory and book them for specific periods independently.

Allows you to connect with thousands of potential customers.Reservety has a marketing package with various social media tools, integration options, and features to create banners, newsletters, and email & SMS marketing campaigns. All of which will help you to grab attention online.

Let you manage & track inventories.Reservety lets you label all your utility trailers with serial numbers, add them to a digital warehouse, and update their availability status on the centralized calendar based on the rentals and returns. It also lets you price your utility trailers with customizable pricing and post them to your website with attractive galleries.

Automates deposits and payment collections. Reservety enables you to accept electronic payments from credit cards and e-wallets through simple checkout pages. Additionally, you can create professional invoices and installment payment plans with Reservety and automate the collection process easily. You can also require deposits and pre-authorized payment from customers to ensure the safety of your inventory.

Helps you establish a strong connection with your customers. Reservety accomplishes this by implementing loyalty programs such as affiliate marketing, awarding systems (e.g., giving out points for most active renters), customer accounts, and memberships so customers will have their own space with records on your website. Plus, Reservety equips your business with a notification system to notify customers about crucial events, deadlines, and other important information. Reservety’s Live Chat system is also handy for establishing real-time communication with live website visitors.

Makes your utility trailer business stand out in the search results. You may wonder how. Reservety has a built-in SEO tool allows you to enter meta titles, tags, and descriptions to all pages through simple input fields. Those actions allow search engine crawlers to find your pages more efficiently and boost your ranking on the search engine results. For instance, if someone searches “utility trailer rentals” in your area, your website will appear at the higher spots.

Helps you to protect your trailers from damages and your business from liabilities and losses. Reservety has a document management system that allows you to create customizable contracts and agreements, and professional liability waivers for your customers to sign. With Reservety, you can now accept and store digital signatures for contracts and waivers in the centralized database.

Lets you track your business’s performance. Precise reports about a business’s progress help us determine our strengths and weaknesses. Reservety integrated outstanding tracking tools, including Google Analytics, to track the growth of your business and recognize your audience and their behaviors so you can take an effective strategy based on those reports.

Makes it easier to serve walk-in customers and manage all orders in one place. Reservety’s Trailer Rental Software can be used as Point-of-Sale (POS) system, which you can install and input orders at your office computer. The best part is that both online and offline bookings are integrated, and the system lets you manage bookings from both locations at the same dashboard and integrally updates the calendar system as well.

What is next?

Once you register your business with local authorities and select a suitable name and logo, you can start building your business with Reservety.

Head to Reservety.com, sign up for 14-day free trials or select a suitable plan.

Connect your domain. If you already have a domain, you can easily connect that. If you already have a functional website, Reservety’s team of experts will help you to migrate it to their reliable cloud-based servers quickly.

Select a design or request a dedicated template. There are several ready-design templates you can choose from for free. Or you can customize them based on your taste. If you are still not satisfied, our support team will build a new dedicated design for your website.

Add business details and inventories to your new rental store. And change the template information with your business information (e.g., business name, address, contacts, logo, about us page, etc.). Then add all your inventories with pictures and descriptions, assigning them prices with hourly, daily, weekly, or customizable rates.

Activate Booking Features and other essential functions (e.g., social media sharing, live chat system, multimedia features, awarding system, etc.).

Integrate your website with external sites to achieve optimal growth. There are so many integration options. For instance, you can connect your website with social media platforms to share your content and rental trailers across all those platforms with a single click. You can also connect with Google Maps to get featured in the local business maps, search engines to appear at the top results of search results, QuickBooks and Xero for convenient accounting, and Google Analytics to get precise visitor reports and recognize your customers.

Start managing all your bookings from a single point. Some businesses still use paper-based booking management strategies. Those methods are neither outdated nor convenient for you and your customers. Reservety lets you approve and cancel orders, manage customer accounts and balances, create and automatically send invoices and messages to customers before or after specific actions, and manage all other administrative tasks efficiently without going through stacks of paperwork and lengthy paperwork processes.