Archive for the ‘What We Rent’ Category

iRent2u World Wide - June 23rd, 2009

iRent2u World Wide

iRent2u is growing rapidly, and is truly international. Within a year we expanded into more than 50 countries. Our website is accessible worldwide, it offers the same rental process and functionalities everywhere, supports all major currencies, and offers a mapping system for every country. So people can lend and rent from and to each other within each country. But for a lot of items, lending and renting makes even sense across borderlines. Vacation homes, cars, boats, airplanes, helicopters, RVs, golf clubs, surf boards, and snowboards are rental items that make sense to rent out at your travel destination.

iRent2u World Map

Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Grenada, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, St Lucia, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks and Caicos, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands.

Popularity: 32% [?]

4 Rent on iRent2u - May 24th, 2009

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: 29% [?]

Rent Golf Clubs - May 31st, 2008

Rent Golf Clubs

Rent Golf ClubsIn 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: 37% [?]

Rent a Truck - May 19th, 2008

Rent a Truck vs. Buy a Truck

1997 Chevrolet 1500Today’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: 38% [?]

What We Rent – Cars - March 7th, 2008

“What We Rent – Cars”Rent a Car on iRent2u

This is our third installment in our “What We Rent” series, and today’s topic is cars and automobiles. Of course vehicles are nothing new to rent, and most people have rented previously for a variety of reasons. Often people rent vehicles when they fly somewhere and need a way to get around. Other times they’re making a long driving trip and don’t want to put the extra miles on their car. Some people will rent a bigger car for when family is visiting, or if they need to move something large that their present vehicle won’t handle. Finally, some people will rent luxury cars for a special occasion, like a wedding or an anniversary.

Whatever the reason you want to rent a vehicle, rest assured you can find one on iRent2u.

How to Rent with iRent2u
The first place to go the next time you need a vehicle rental is iRent2u. Here is the direct link. http://irent2u.com/Browse/cat/4/Cars-Trucks This takes you to the Cars & Trucks rental category. You will see a number of different options, including any vehicles that private owners in your area are offering for rent. One of the first options you will see is the “Worldwide Car Rental Service” http://irent2u.com/Item/view/206890/Worldwide-Car-Rental-Service. This is a booking engine that allows you to rent a car from one of 22 major car rental companies. That includes such big names as Enterprise, Hertz, and Alamo, plus some smaller ones that aren’t as widely known where you can find some real savings! These cars are all in great condition, with many of them less than one year old. Click on “Rent it Now”, enter the details of your request, and compare the different options. You will be impressed with the prices. I have quite often found better prices here than on Expedia!

Why iRent2u for Cars
The first thing you may notice after performing a search for a vehicle in your area is the added benefit of being able to choose between professional car rental companies, and private citizens. Rental companies have good cars, but it is hard to compete with the prices that you will find from private citizens. Additionally, in busy vacation or holiday seasons the big rental companies will either sell out or jack up their rates considerably. Avoid their price gouging maneuvers by renting from the guy down the street who is happy to get the extra money for Christmas.

Rent Your Car To Others
Do you have an extra vehicle that you hardly use? Put it online and start getting something back out of it. Instead of it just sitting there and rusting, let someone use it by renting it to them. You make a bit of money, your vehicle stops gathering dust for at least a couple of days, and you save someone else money at the same time. It’s a virtual Karma jackpot!

Popularity: 10% [?]

What We Rent – Party Supplies - December 7th, 2007

Party Supplies - Party Rentals

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: 13% [?]

What We Rent – Audiobooks - December 3rd, 2007

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: 15% [?]