Archive for the ‘Rent’ Category

4 Rent on iRent2u

When people hear that we are the rental site that facilitates people to lend and rent anything to and from anyone, and that they can make or save money respectively, they sometimes ask us: “How is that possible? What could I lend or rent? I would not lend my toothbrush, and I would not get much for it anyways, nor would I rent one.” Of course some items in private possession are only for private use, or have sentimental value, and these items might be less suitable for lending. But people have in fact alot of other items, which they seldom use, and which are suitable for lending. And more and more people are actually joining the rental trend, realizing that they can make some decent money from lending, or saving some money through renting, especially in times of crisis.

On iRent2u, you can find more than 200,000 items of all sorts to rent. Hot rental items are items that cost a lot and are seldom used such as RVs and caravans, video equipment & beamers, garden equipment like leaf blowers & lawn mowers, tools and all sorts of special equipment, house appliances & vacuum cleaners. Books are excellent rental items, because after people have read them they are stored in shelves and only collect dust without serving anyone. Especially textbooks for education are very expensive to buy and only serve for one school year. Cars & trucks are already well established as rental items. Luxury items such as luxury cars, limousines, jewelry, and designer handbags, can be rented for special occasions. iRent2u offers vacation homes all over the globe. Everything around party rentals such as catering equipment, tents & canopies, jumpers, costumes & tuxedos work very well. Anything for leisure like golf clubs, bikes, surfboards, snowboards, etc. are these kinds of items that spend most of the time in attics or garages and are perfect for rental. Wireless connections, parking spaces, or swimming pools can be shared. And also big-ticket items such as motorboats, sailboats, yachts, business jets & helicopters can be rented on iRent2u.

So join the rental trend, start lending and renting.

Popularity: 14% [?]

The Problem

Today, we can buy just about anything we want, which to some extent is a great thing, but let’s not ignore the downside.  Buying new means piling up all sorts of things, filling up garages and homes, potentially having to pay credit card interest and insurance.  Buying new prevents that money from being used for something else, and, as often is the case, we don’t even use what we bought sufficiently to have justified the purchase in the first place.  Buying new can also push us deeper into debt and contribute to waste and pollution.  Is there a need to have 10 lawn mowers on one street so each can mow 200 square feet of lawn, if one lawnmower can do the job for all?  Does it make sense to drive to stores on the other side of town, when these items are already available right in your neighborhood?

The iRent2u Advantage

When we focus on utility rather then on ownership, and rent rather then buy, we oftentimes get more bang for our buck.  We can save money through renting and gain flexibility in the process.  We can use more space to live rather than using it to store things, or we can live in smaller and more affordable homes if there is less need for storage space.  We can spend money only when we need to and can thus always rent the latest and most trendy stuff, instead of being stuck with stuff we bought ten years ago.  We can also use items wherever we need them. For example we can have rental golf clubs shipped to our hotel or country club so we don’t have to carry them around when we go on a trip.  Or we can rent RVs in remote areas to explore new regions instead of being limited to our own area.  We can also rent items for special occasions, which we normally could not afford to buy, such as a Ferrari, expensive jewelry, or a designer hand-bag.  Lastly, if we don’t blow our cash or sink further into debt to buy what we could easily rent, we will be in a better position to get through the current economic crisis.

The iRent2u Solution

iRent2u offers a powerful and easy to use search engine, where you can browse by keywords, categories, or location, to find items for rent, any time of the day or night. You can sort search results by price and distance, visualize them on a map, compare them with our compare tool to find the best deal, and use our rental cart to start “shopping around” for rentals.  You can save searches, and subscribe to RSS feeds to get updates about the latest items in your area of interest.  The rental process is very easy to use, and carries you through a few simple steps.  The rental terms and logistics can be negotiated with lenders directly,the rental contract is pre-filled with information about the renter, the lender, the item, and respective terms and conditions.  An inventory management system provides complete visibility on every item you have rented.  A communication system helps to discuss and clarify any question you might have for the lender.  A dashboard lists all available rental history and advises you what to do next.  And with iRent2u, all that is for free.

Popularity: 14% [?]

As of March 24, 2009, iRent2u will no longer charge a transaction fee to lend items. That’s right, it is absolutely FREE to list and lend items on iRent2u.

Remember last week when we said we would lead the way in the effort to build a world with environmental, ethical and financial sustainability at it’s core. Well, this is just one more step down that path. Just as many of our friends and family are suffering, we know many of our customers are as well. As result of prudent financial management, we are in a very strong position to not only weather the storm, but also to extend a hand to the fast growing iRent2u community.

We’ll keep this policy in affect throughout the economic downturn. Here at iRent2u we want to do our part to build a better world and we encourage each of you to do so as well, by taking this opportunity to make more money from what you already have and to save money through renting on iRent2u.

Thanks,

Your iRent2u Team

How to change the world? Start in your garage! ☺

Popularity: 15% [?]

iRent2u Rental Cart

We are proud to announce the introduction of a new functionality on our website, the iRent2u Rental Cart, another step towards making renting easier.

The Need

If you have discovered for yourself that renting is a smart alternative to buying (Why rent?), you may want to organize some of your occasions or events through the renting of several items. For example, maybe you want to organize a wedding ceremony, a Halloween, birthday or any party, and need Tents & Canopies, Tables, Chairs, and Tableware, or you go on a ski trip, and need a Snowboard and a Snowmobile, or you have some major home Improvement to do and need a Drill, a Ladder, and Painting Equipment.

The Problem

You might want to rent several items from one lender, or even from several lenders. Normally you would have to rent each item one by one and for each item you would have to specify the rental period, delivery method, and payment method, again and again, even though all that information is most likely to remain the same, as all items serve the one occasion or event that you are about to plan.

The Solution

The iRent2u Cart allows you to bundle all your rental items and to checkout in one swoop, and thus reduce the amount of information you need to provide to make all rental transactions happen. You only need to enter information once. It is then used for all other transaction, and all you need to do is to verify if the information provided applies to other rental items, too. This makes the rental process a lot shorter, transparent, and more convenient for you to use.

How it Works

You can search our database, browse by category, or browse by location, filter, sort, and compare items, to find the item you’ve been looking for. You can then add it to the cart, and continue to look around for your other items. You can save your cart and reload it, if you want to continue looking around in a later session. You can view the cart at all time, and add or delete items as you go. Once you are ready for checkout, you will be carried through the Checkout Wizard where you have to enter and verify all rental information. You can review all contracts in one place, and agree to them in bulk. There you go …

iRent2u - The smart way to rent.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Rent Golf Clubs

In this episode of the “What We Rent” series, we want to tell you about some very fun sport rentals that are available anywhere in the US. Those rentals are top of the line golf club rentals, available through the mail to anywhere in the contiguous 48 states.

Hassle Free Traveling

For many of you across the US as Summer approaches, it is time yet again to thing about your Golf game. Unlike Winter, where the most popular locations to golf are Florida, South Carolina, and Southern California, the US is great for golfing just about everywhere in the Summer. So what is the biggest problem with traveling to a distant location to go golfing? Well one big annoyance is taking your clubs on the plane! You have to lug them through the airport, sometimes pay additional fees to take them, and worry that they are going to get lost. Maybe you are just traveling on a business trip, and now you have to explain to your wife and co-workers how you are planning to “work the entire time” while bringing a huge bag of irons. Traveling has already gotten difficult enough. You have to arrive at the airport two hours early, practically strip to your underwear to make it through security, carry your bags, find a taxi or rent a car – and the last thing you need is one more thing to carry and try to cram into your rental car along with your luggage. 


Try It, Before You Buy It!

Or maybe you are considering buying a set of golf clubs. Then you might want to check out and test what’s out there, before buying it.

Want To Be Flexible & Trendy?

Or maybe you just want to always use the latest technology on the green, every time you play golf, instead of hanging on to the same set of Golf Clubs over many years.

The Solution

Through iRent2u, you have an easy way to rent golf clubs for corporate outings and tournaments, for business travelers, or individuals, throughout the United States. This is better than just going to a course and renting some beaten up old clubs. This is a full service where you get to pick from top line pro golf clubs, and have them delivered right to your hotel, resort or golf course. And when you are done, you just stick them back in the box they came in, give them back to the concierge in your hotel or drop them at a nearby package place like federal express or UPS, and forget about them.

One of our Lenders offers whole set collections, where one set includes a driver, a complete set of irons, a putter, and the bag itself. The complete sets of clubs are rented by the single day, or the weekend. Daily rentals are delivered as early as the day before your outing, and are picked up after your outing is complete. Weekend rentals are available for two full days throughout the week. Check out the listings here.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Rent a Truck vs. Buy a Truck

Today’s topic is the comparison between the benefits that come from renting a truck as opposed to buying one. Many people love their trucks. This is great, and we are not saying that you need to go out and sell one if you have it, or that you should never buy one. This post is for those people who think it would be nice to have an extra truck to haul things occasionally, and are trying to determine if it is worth it to buy one. It is our conclusion that in most cases it makes sense to just stick with the car you have, save money on gas & insurance, and help the environment by renting a truck when you need it (hopefully through this site). To bring up a specific example, we will discuss Tim’s sister and her decision three years ago to buy an extra truck. They needed to haul things from time to time, and wanted the ease of just having a truck always available. They planned to do a lot of work on their yard over the coming years, and found a good deal on a truck. But did it make sense to buy it? That’s what we will analyze here.

Cost of Owning a Truck

So let’s look at what she bought. She bought a 1997 Chevy Silverado 1500. At that time she spent about $12,000. Today that same truck is worth about $7,000. So in the last three years she has lost about $5,000 on the value of the truck. So the first cost we will list to own this truck for three years is $5,000.Cost 1 - $5,000

But what other costs has she had? Well the next most obvious one is insurance. We called her and asked what she paid in insurance every month, and she told us $40 a month, which comes out to $480 a year. Multiply that by three years and you have another $1,440 in insurance payments. That will be cost number two.
Cost 2 - $1,440

Besides these costs, let’s assume they did the recommended oil changes every 3 months or 3,000 miles. An oil change every three months over three years comes to 12 oil changes. At JiffyLube that is about $35 a pop, so at 12 times over 3 years that makes another $420. That will be cost number three.
Cost 3 - $210

Of course you need to maintain your truck, but as Tim’s sister didn’t drive it around much let’s just say she ended up spending $1,000 over three years. That is the cost to replace the tires, get new windshield wipers, replace a headlight or two, fix a couple parts, and just basically keep it in running condition. That will be cost number four, basic maintenance.
Cost 4 - $1,000

There are other costs that we will not add on, but need to be considered. How about the annoyance of having a truck sitting in your driveway for three years gathering dust & moss? The fact that you need to wash it probably once a month. The fact that you have to move it every now and then to get beneath it. Maybe it drips oil in your driveway? There is a real annoyance factor to having this truck, but since it is hard to quantify we will leave that off the cost.
So let’s add this all up.

Cost 1 - $5,000
Cost 2 - $1,440
Cost 3 - $420
Cost 4 - $1,000
Total = $7, 870 over three years.

So that is the true cost of the truck. And how much did she use it? Well the first year they used it a lot she said, as they were doing yard work. She estimated it at about 20 times. Then the next year it was used a lot less, but they let some friends use it to move a couple times, so we will say it was used 10 times. This last year they have probably used it twice, so their usage has really tapered off. That is a total of 32 uses over 3 years. I rounded it up to 36 trips to make it an even once a month. That is approximately $218 per use of the truck!

Cost of Renting a Truck

So how much does it cost to rent a truck? We checked on U-Haul and it was $19.95 a day plus mileage. So let’s say you spend another $40 in mileage (which is a lot more than normal). We left the gas out because you would be paying it either way. Adding those costs it totals $60 a day to rent a truck from U-Haul. That means that Tim’s sister paid about $180 more per trip by buying a truck than she would have spent on U-Haul! Yikes!

So let’s see what this would have cost Tim’s sister over the course of three years if she had rented every time, and this includes lending it to her friends. Again we rounded up the number of trips to 36 to make it an even once a month for three years.
Cost Per Day - $60
Total Number of Trips – 36
Total Cost = $60 * 36 = $2160 or let’s just say ~ $2200

Over the course of three years that comes to a total difference of about $5,500 that she spent to have a truck sitting in her driveway 365 days of the year. That is a steep price to pay for convenience.
But maybe she is a bad example? How about if you planned to use the truck two times per month? Ignoring the facts that this may increase the amount you have to maintain the truck, let’s see what the difference would be.
Cost Per Day - $60
Total Number of Trips – 62
Total Cost = $60 * 62 = $3720

It still costs almost $4000 more to own the truck than to rent it. So at what point do you reach a breakeven? You would need to rent a truck 127 times to equal the cost of owning it. That is almost once a week, every week, for three years. That is a lot of truck rentals!

So what if you want to have truck instead of a car, and drive it all the time? Maybe you are thinking, “Hey, I like trucks. I want to drive my truck every day.” Well if this is true then great. Don’t let us stop you from getting and driving what you like. But let’s continue to do the comparison so that we can quantify what the difference is between owning and driving a truck and owning and driving a car.

The first cost difference that comes to mind is gas mileage. There are many different models of cars and trucks with different gas mileage, but just for comparisons sake let’s say that a typical truck gets 20 miles per gallon, and a typical car gets 30. The standard that Americans are supposed to be driving each year is 12,000 miles. So our typical truck would need 600 gallons of gas over the course of the year, and the typical car would need 400 gallons of gas for the same amount of miles. At $4 a gallon that is a difference of $800 for the year. For that price you could rent a truck more than 13 times within the year and still break even.
Of course, if you do have a truck, and you use it as often as Tim’s sister – list it on this site! That way you can start making back some of the money you are losing from owning it.

Popularity: 23% [?]

What We Rent – Party Supplies

This is our second installment in our “What We Rent” series. Considering what time of year it is, it is very appropriate. New listings continue to pour in to iRent2u. It is great to see so much happening so quickly – and look for even more soon. It looks like we may be adding construction equipment, those big inflatable jumpers that kids love so much, and other great stuff such as pinball machines and antique jukeboxes. Who ever knew there was so much cool stuff to rent?

Party Supplies
Today’s topic is party supplies, something that you see a lot of over the holidays. Party Supplies is a pretty broad category, and includes some of the most commonly rented items in the country. You’ll find everything from tables and chairs, to disco balls and lighting equipment, to dunk tanks! Apparently, people all around the US like to party, and when they do they like to do it in style.

Throwing parties is fun, but can require a lot of equipment to do it right. There sure is no reason to go out and buy 20 tables and 100 chairs - when renting is so easy. Most of the party rental companies will deliver everything to your location, and even set it up for you. If you can think of it, there is a company that will rent it to you. Plan on having a lot of people and don’t want them all walking through your house to use the bathroom? Rent out portable toilets! Planning a party in the winter and don’t want to get all your guests sick from the cold? Rent out some propane heaters! Want to make the party a real treat? Get costumes and party props - to fit any theme. You can have an Egyptian party right where you live - and think of how much money you just saved on plane tickets!

Wedding Supplies
For those of you in the Inland Empire, we already have over 1,300 items in our “Events & Parties” category, with much more on the way. You can rent plates, glasses & tableware. You can find barbecues, generators, and all sorts of lighting equipment. Planning a winter wedding? Make sure to get one or two of the nice tents or canopies in case the weather isn’t perfect. Our providers will not only take care of the equipment rentals, but they also provide access to all sorts of services to make the occasion easier and more successful.

Party Planning
Planning a big event can be quite challenging, so when you look through the inventory don’t get overloaded. Probably you don’t really know what you need, but there is help! Submit a request to one of the rental providers and they will get back to you and help you through it. Often times working with a professional will give you a lot of ideas and save you money at the same time, as they will assist you with planning your event.

Have Something to Rent Out?
While we already have a large number of items, there is a lot more that we are looking for. Do you have some neat things that you think others would enjoy having at a party? List them on the site, you could really make someone’s day! I know I plan on listing my karaoke machine – but then again maybe that is just my way of trying to get it out of the house so no one makes me sing. =^)

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Popularity: 12% [?]

What We Rent – Audiobooks

iRent2u has now launched and is in full swing. We have successfully added a very large inventory, and new items keep pouring in every day. We hope that very soon you will come to rely on iRent2u as your single source for all rentals, and list your own items as well. Remember, by helping others you help yourself – as they save money by renting you earn money – a win win situation!

Today we begin a series we are calling “What We Rent”. This will be an ongoing series where we highlight items listed on our site, which ones are new, and which situations rentals are the best solution.

Our first category we will cover is “Audiobooks”. One reason we are covering them first is that we have a lot of audiobooks to choose from. Presently we are hosting an inventory of over 9,000 different titles. Audiobooks are great for people who commute, people who exercise with a personal listening device like and iPod, and for people who are vision impaired but still love the joy of a good book.

I personally love audiobooks, and have listened to many. This is originally because I commuted for two to four hours a day for the last couple of years. After a couple of weeks I got bored listening to the radio and knew I had to find something different. My father who has had a long commute for almost 20 years recommended that I try listening to audiobooks. He gave me a few of his, and I immediately fell in love with the concept. Now instead of dreading the long commute to and from school, I actually looked forward to it! Sometimes I even found myself sitting in the car after I had arrived at my destination waiting anxiously to hear some conclusion or pivotal point in the story.

After a while I discovered that there is much more to audiobooks than just exciting stories. Think of all the incredible non-fiction books there are in the world, that hold incredibly valuable knowledge on anything from how to succeed in work to how to be happy in life. I found days where I learned more in my commute back and forth to school than I did in the classroom!

Beyond the commute I found audiobooks to make exercising more enjoyable. Instead of focusing on the treadmill, I could become engrossed in some story or concept. The time would fly by and before I knew it my exercise was over. And when my grandparents began to lose their vision, they turned to audiobooks so that they could continue to enjoy reading. This has been a great solution for everyone!

There is one problem with audiobooks though, once you listen to them you don’t have much need to listen to them again. That is why my father was able to send me two boxes full of audiobooks, with over 50 titles. Obviously he was spending a lot of money to buy these books, yet listen to them only once. That sounds like a perfect situation for iRent2u, and now we are happy to help audiobook lovers all over the US.

Do you have audiobooks that you have already listened to?
If so, great! List them on our site and let others borrow them – share the joy of a good book and recover some of your investment. My father has already listed 5 of his books and is ready to list a bunch more.
Click here to list your items on a site, and make a free account if you haven’t already.

Do you want to find and listen to good audiobooks?
Well you are in the right place then also! We have thousands of books to choose from, with new listings coming every day. Try either renting individual books one at a time. Or sign up with one of the services listed and get a subscription – keeping the books coming on a regular basis.
Click here to browse our thousands of audiobooks that are available right now!

Do you know someone with a long commute, who likes to exercise, or is vision impaired?
If so, consider giving them this Christmas a subscription to a service like Jiggerbug – one of our premier partners – so that they can share in the joy of audiobooks for a long time.
Click here to learn more about JiggerBug, see or leave a user review, or see which titles they list

Either way iRent2u is the place for audiobooks.

Know of other ways that audiobooks are better than regular books?
If so, click “comment” and let us hear about it. We are always interested to hear good ideas from our readers.

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Popularity: 14% [?]

Here is the text from the press release we posted this morning.

You can view it on the wire here.

iRent2u Launches Online Rental Marketplace in the $85 billion Rental Industry

Launching with over 1 million items in over 10 categories, iRent2u is the preeminent destination for all online rentals

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–iRent2u, LLC, the online rental marketplace, today launches www.iRent2u.com where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have. Users can either lend their assets to make money, or borrow from others to save money. The company provides 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservations system. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

According to First Research, the current rental marketplace in the U.S. is in excess of $85 billion and is trending towards consolidation with about 65,000 small companies, each with one to three small stores. Rentals are the most efficient way to fill temporary needs, yet until iRent2u renters faced many obstacles. Items have been hard to find, over priced and inconveniently located. A highly fragmented industry, many rentals are handled by small stores. Often these small rental companies don’t have the expertise or desire to manage a website. In fact most stores do not list the items they lend, show their availability, or accept reservations online. Up until now, the industry has been lagging and inefficient.

iRent2u was founded by three entrepreneurs as they studied for their MBA’s: Roy Bacharach, Tim McCormack and Nils von Bothmer, who then went on to win the 2007 Pepperdine Business Plan Competition. Von Bothmer conceived the idea when he moved to Los Angeles, California and needed a drill to assemble his new furniture. Not wanting to purchase one for single use when there had to be ten within a one mile radius, he knew there had to be a better way.

The company bridges problems like this with a simple, innovative solution, the website www.iRent2u.com, where everyone can get more from what they already have. With 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping, and a built in reservations system. iRent2u makes renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste. iRent2u is eco-friendly, helps prevent over consumption and facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

“Ours is a simple solution that resolves serious problems. iRent2u is where everyone can get more from what they already have,” said von Bothmer, the company’s chief operations officer. “Users can either lend their assets to make money or borrow from others to save money. We make renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient.”

Product Benefits, Features and Pricing

iRent2u provides easy 24/7 access for customers to go to the site, browse or search for what they want and view user’s rental listings. Users can stay in control of the entire process — publish prices, or keep them secret; allow discounts for frequent customers or charge everyone the same rate; deliver to them, or have them pick it up.

Users can make reservations, read and approve rental contracts, leave their deposits, and even refer friends from within iRent2u. With a rapidly growing customer list of lenders, iRent2u is a no risk, online listing of rental items including the following features:

• • Inventory management and scheduling – provides an easy system to control assets online which is accessible virtually anywhere.
  • Customer comments and ratings – offers advice from other customers.
  • Reservations – provide an easy way to reserve an item for a future date.
  • Online contract system – allows users to reduce work and save time by managing contracts online.
  • Built in directions and mapping – helps people find each other quickly and easily.
  • Free to try, and no upfront listing fees – users are free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps a small percentage of each customer’s transaction fee.

The iRent2u service is absolutely free to create an account and list items for rent. Once a customer completes a transaction, iRent2u keeps only 10 percent (10%) of each customer’s transaction fee plus a $1.00 service fee. Lenders can even reduce their transaction fees to five percent (5%) by referring their friends to the site. Transaction fees drop one percentage point (up to five) for every referral that creates an iRent2u account.

Benefit to Rental Companies

As an online aggregator for rentals, iRent2u provides rental outlets with a way to succeed in a fast changing market, giving small businesses the same tools as larger companies. By gaining more exposure on iRent2u, these companies can increase both rentals and revenues with no additional risk. Rental companies simply pay a small transaction fee once a sale is complete.

iRent2u envisions existing rental companies as resellers, partners or advertisers. Early inventory for the company has been provided by a broad range of companies including BookRenter (textbook rentals for students), Ridester (ride sharing), Amadeus (20+ major car rental companies), and Stratos Jets (private jet charter service).

About iRent2u LLC (www.iRent2u.com)

The online rental marketplace where you can rent anything from anyone. iRent2u offers 24/7 online access to goods, clear inventory lists, easy comparison shopping and a built in reservation system, making renting accessible. People can choose to spend less money and buy fewer products, thus reducing environmental waste and making the world more efficient. iRent2u facilitates the entire process by building a community of people who enjoy helping each other.

Contacts

iRent2u, LLC
805-617-4654
info@iRent2u.com
or
Media Contact:
pr@iRent2u.com

Popularity: 100% [?]

We are looking for about ten volunteers in the Inland Empire to try our site, by renting out things you own.

We are looking for volunteers who will let us go with them through their home and choose things to lend out. Anyone willing to videotape the process could be featured on our website. This should be great fun, while also giving you a new way to make money & help people.

To volunteer you need:
1) A computer & Internet connection.
2) Own things you don’t need everyday, that you would be willing to lend to other people for money.
3) You must be at least 18 years of age & have a credit card to use the site.

Please contact us at (805) 617-4654 to volunteer. Ask for Tim.

Popularity: 11% [?]