Thai gov. to tax (remitted) income from abroad for tax residents starting 2024 - Part II

[bangkokStranger]

Hello,

was thinking of setting up a small motorbike rental business somewhere in Thailand just to make a few extra bob on the side. Would be running it all through a thai friend but im only at the 1st stage of researching if it would be viable or not so i was hoping you good folk could add your suggestion or comments.

I would only be starting off with 2 bikes or so and after they show a reasonable history of making a profit then increase. At this stage i dont plan to get into the position of having 20-30 bikes, just want to keep it small and uncomplicated (if thats possible).

My thinking would be that as i have a small amount of bikes it would be in my interest to have them rented out as much as possible and with this in mind i think my best market would be the Thais themselves because the seem to see bikes as a neccessity yet alot cant afford to buy one upfront so they would be more likely to rent for a longer period until they are in a position to buy one.

On the other hand a farang is more likely to either be there on holiday and so only a short rental period or staying longterm and more likely to have the funds to afford to buy one.

Just to make it clear i am willing to lose everything i put in, i know it may take time to regain the money and make a profit and am not in a hurry and trust the Thai person that would be running this. I would see this as an investment and would not get involved in the running of this but would make sure that important things like insurance etc were looked after that i wouldnt lose my insurance uneccessarily.

My questions are:

1) Would it be best to buy new or 2nd hand for renting

Assuming im looking for something reliable without being too expensive and that will suit my targetmarket then:

1a) How much is the rough price of a reasonably good condition 2nd hand motorbike.

1b) How much is the rough price of new motorbike.

1c) How much roughly to rent a new bike

1d) How much roughly to rent an older bike

2) For someone renting just 1 or 2 bikes would they need some sort of license

3) Would they need and would it be expensive for insurance to cover theft, damage etc considering more than one person may be using the bike and would we be responsible that the person renting the bike also has their own license and insurance?

4) How long could i be without a bike if an accident occured, is the insurance process quick or would i be waiting months for the insurance money?

5) Would the thai running it be required to pay protection money to anyone and or would it be advisible to do this in case their was a dispute.

6) Is there anything else i would need to consider.

Also as the bike devalues with age i assume the rental price would. Could someone give an example so i could work out a rough estimateof how long it would take to pay off a bike, for ex i buy a 2005 honda its worth 35,000 at purchase price and rents for 1,500 per week and i rent it out 40 weeks of the year totalling 60,000 so i would profit 25,000.

The 2nd year the bike only rents for 1,000 per week because its older so i only rent it 30 weeks and make 30,000.

I just want to work out how quickly or not the bikes age causes the rental price to drop to decide wheter its better to buy 3-4 older bikes or 1-2 new bikes. Again i dont mind being patient to see a return.

Hope someone can help me with some of the questions and thanks for reading.

I have a few questions that i hope some people can help with.

[bino]

My thinking would be that as i have a small amount of bikes it would be in my interest to have them rented out as much as possible and with this in mind i think my best market would be the Thais themselves because the seem to see bikes as a neccessity yet alot cant afford to buy one upfront so they would be more likely to rent for a longer period until they are in a position to buy one.

I can't see a Thai spending 1500 (or even 1000) per week to rent a motorcycle. I drive past countless motorcycle shops every day who offer amounts like this as downpayment with big signs on top of the bikes in the front row of their shop. Furthermore, the monthly repayments would surely be less than 6000 per month.

[brianbrain]

Hello,

was thinking of setting up a small motorbike rental business somewhere in Thailand just to make a few extra bob on the side. Would be running it all through a thai friend but im only at the 1st stage of researching if it would be viable or not so i was hoping you good folk could add your suggestion or comments.

I would only be starting off with 2 bikes or so and after they show a reasonable history of making a profit then increase. At this stage i dont plan to get into the position of having 20-30 bikes, just want to keep it small and uncomplicated (if thats possible).

My thinking would be that as i have a small amount of bikes it would be in my interest to have them rented out as much as possible and with this in mind i think my best market would be the Thais themselves because the seem to see bikes as a neccessity yet alot cant afford to buy one upfront so they would be more likely to rent for a longer period until they are in a position to buy one.

On the other hand a farang is more likely to either be there on holiday and so only a short rental period or staying longterm and more likely to have the funds to afford to buy one.

Just to make it clear i am willing to lose everything i put in, i know it may take time to regain the money and make a profit and am not in a hurry and trust the Thai person that would be running this. I would see this as an investment and would not get involved in the running of this but would make sure that important things like insurance etc were looked after that i wouldnt lose my insurance uneccessarily.

My questions are:

1) Would it be best to buy new or 2nd hand for renting

Assuming im looking for something reliable without being too expensive and that will suit my targetmarket then:

1a) How much is the rough price of a reasonably good condition 2nd hand motorbike.

1b) How much is the rough price of new motorbike.

1c) How much roughly to rent a new bike

1d) How much roughly to rent an older bike

2) For someone renting just 1 or 2 bikes would they need some sort of license

3) Would they need and would it be expensive for insurance to cover theft, damage etc considering more than one person may be using the bike and would we be responsible that the person renting the bike also has their own license and insurance?

4) How long could i be without a bike if an accident occured, is the insurance process quick or would i be waiting months for the insurance money?

5) Would the thai running it be required to pay protection money to anyone and or would it be advisible to do this in case their was a dispute.

6) Is there anything else i would need to consider.

Also as the bike devalues with age i assume the rental price would. Could someone give an example so i could work out a rough estimateof how long it would take to pay off a bike, for ex i buy a 2005 honda its worth 35,000 at purchase price and rents for 1,500 per week and i rent it out 40 weeks of the year totalling 60,000 so i would profit 25,000.

The 2nd year the bike only rents for 1,000 per week because its older so i only rent it 30 weeks and make 30,000.

I just want to work out how quickly or not the bikes age causes the rental price to drop to decide wheter its better to buy 3-4 older bikes or 1-2 new bikes. Again i dont mind being patient to see a return.

Hope someone can help me with some of the questions and thanks for reading.

I have a few questions that i hope some people can help with.

I reckon you are highly optimistic on your rental income. Outside of Bangkok, I've hired 125cc bikes for 100 baht per day. The most I've ever paid is about 160 baht. In some places, older bikes can be rented for 80 baht per day if you know how to bargain. Insurance in these places is nearly always "optional", with a contract (not sure how enforcable) that says the hirer must pay for damages or replace the bike in the case of a write-off. Personally, I see too little income and far too many headaches for this to be viable.

[poorfarang]

Thais can finance a new Honda for 900 baht (around there I think) a month so I dont think they will pay 1000 a week from you.

EDIT: The only way to make money renting bikes is to rent them out to farang. Then when they return the bike you charge them for all the damage on it. If they wreck the bike you charge them 50,000 baht.

Edited June 22, 2006 by poorfarang

[EVO]

Rental income of a motorcycle to a farang in a holiday destination is between 100-150/day. 2 months of the year (high season) you will get 100% rental = 3750/month. Another 4 months of the year, you may get 75% rental = 2812/month. For the low season, the remaining 6 months you will be lucky to achieve 30% rental on that motorcycle, which will equal 1250/month.

Total estimated yearly rental = 26,248 THB.

Cost of a new bike is around 45,000 THB, depending on model, but this is a good ballpark figure. Add to this your premises rental, and a salary for the staff renting the bike, call it 8,000THb/month for both. That gives you overhead of 96,000THB/year, not including any utilities that you may have.

Now, you will need to service those bikes regularly as rentals are severely abused. Factor 600THB/service every couple of months if you want them to last. Thats another 3600THB/year.

That takes your startup costs of two bikes, plus 1 years running costs to a total of 190,000THB, not including any accounting and legal stuff that you may need to do.

With your 2 bikes bringing in a combined total of approx 52,000/year, you are gonna take almost 5 years just to break even.

Your only market is the farang tourist as Thais are able to buy the motorbike of their dreams, (generally a souped up Honda RS 125) for a down payment of 1000THb, and then pay it of in a million monthly installments of next to nothing.

I have a Thai friend in Phuket who owns over 40 motorbikes that he rents out, and he stilll doesnt eearn anything noteworthy.

If i were you, i would think of another way to get a bit of income.

I hope this helps.

Regards

[ThaiPauly]

Rental income of a motorcycle to a farang in a holiday destination is between 100-150/day. 2 months of the year (high season) you will get 100% rental = 3750/month. Another 4 months of the year, you may get 75% rental = 2812/month. For the low season, the remaining 6 months you will be lucky to achieve 30% rental on that motorcycle, which will equal 1250/month.

Total estimated yearly rental = 26,248 THB.

Cost of a new bike is around 45,000 THB, depending on model, but this is a good ballpark figure. Add to this your premises rental, and a salary for the staff renting the bike, call it 8,000THb/month for both. That gives you overhead of 96,000THB/year, not including any utilities that you may have.

Now, you will need to service those bikes regularly as rentals are severely abused. Factor 600THB/service every couple of months if you want them to last. Thats another 3600THB/year.

That takes your startup costs of two bikes, plus 1 years running costs to a total of 190,000THB, not including any accounting and legal stuff that you may need to do.

With your 2 bikes bringing in a combined total of approx 52,000/year, you are gonna take almost 5 years just to break even.

Your only market is the farang tourist as Thais are able to buy the motorbike of their dreams, (generally a souped up Honda RS 125) for a down payment of 1000THb, and then pay it of in a million monthly installments of next to nothing.

I have a Thai friend in Phuket who owns over 40 motorbikes that he rents out, and he stilll doesnt eearn anything noteworthy.

If i were you, i would think of another way to get a bit of income.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Excellent and well thought out post. even though the OP won't really want to hear what you have said, you are spot on the money..or lack of it

[Phil Conners]

I think you're too pessimistic with this view. I have no idea how often a bike will rent out or for how much but I'm happy to take your figures, i.e. a "newish" bike earning an avg. of around 25,000 baht/year.

I would be pointless buying brand new bikes for this. Buy a "newish", i.e. about one year old, bike and keep it for a year. The cost of having the bike for a year, i.e. the difference between what you buy and sell it for, should be around 10,000 baht. (This is one area I am quite sure of as this is how I usually keep a bike for myself in Pattaya.)

Disregard costs for staff and rental. I'm guessing this is a side job to keep the GF busy, most likely the idea is to rent a handful of bikes from home or from an existing shop/guesthouse/restaurant etc. As such I think it could be a profitable addition. Of course if you're well established with 40 bikes it's a different story - overhead, administration, need for a place to potentially store all those bikes which will start eating into the profit, still without earning much money.

Keep in mind that there will be some loss, the will be an occationally written off bike that you will not be paid for. There will most likely be headaches with competitors protecting their turf. And many other troubles that I haven't even started thinking about. At the end of the day you gotta ask yourself if it's worth the hassle.

[bino]

3) Would they need and would it be expensive for insurance to cover theft, damage etc considering more than one person may be using the bike and would we be responsible that the person renting the bike also has their own license and insurance?

4) How long could i be without a bike if an accident occured, is the insurance process quick or would i be waiting months for the insurance money?

I think that insurance of this nature - if it is even available- would be prohibitively expensive, and drive your rental rate out of the competitive market.

Most Thai rental companies seemingly have no insurance and cleverly word their contracts to make the renter liable for damages under all circumstances, whether an insurance company (lessor's or lessee's) pays or not. They hold your passport for security while you are in possession of the bike, and return the passport to you after a thorough inspection of the bike when it is returned.

If the motorcycle is damaged, the renter also has to keep on paying the daily rate until the repairs are complete and the motorcycle is returned to service, or the motorcycle is replaced in the event of a total loss.

In light of this- the Thai companies are quite willing to rent to anyone... with / without licence or insurance as all risk lies with the renter in any circumstance. In fact they probably make out on accidents because they keep a bike rented for a protracted period. So- in this regard, if your contract is similar to this, then you can probably make money in the similar fashion suggested by poorfarang.

Imagine telling a tourist he can not have his passport back and fly home as planned because he has damaged your motorcycle and has to cough up. It would surely turn into a tense situation involving police, embassies, etc. Especially so if the unthinkable / impossible happens and your renter accidentally hurts or kills someone. (Or himself) Impossible as it seems, it is happening every minute every day somewhere in the world.

Your Thai partner would have to be very well connected to the police department and / or pay regular (large amounts) tea money to ensure that any problems are worked out in your favour instead of the tourist's.

All of this add up to sounding like a huge expensive nightmare in my mind! Like madsere says- would it really be worth the hassle?

Edited June 22, 2006 by bino

[EVO]

I think you're too pessimistic with this view. I have no idea how often a bike will rent out or for how much but I'm happy to take your figures, i.e. a "newish" bike earning an avg. of around 25,000 baht/year.

I would be pointless buying brand new bikes for this. Buy a "newish", i.e. about one year old, bike and keep it for a year. The cost of having the bike for a year, i.e. the difference between what you buy and sell it for, should be around 10,000 baht. (This is one area I am quite sure of as this is how I usually keep a bike for myself in Pattaya.)

Disregard costs for staff and rental. I'm guessing this is a side job to keep the GF busy, most likely the idea is to rent a handful of bikes from home or from an existing shop/guesthouse/restaurant etc. As such I think it could be a profitable addition. Of course if you're well established with 40 bikes it's a different story - overhead, administration, need for a place to potentially store all those bikes which will start eating into the profit, still without earning much money.

Keep in mind that there will be some loss, the will be an occationally written off bike that you will not be paid for. There will most likely be headaches with competitors protecting their turf. And many other troubles that I haven't even started thinking about. At the end of the day you gotta ask yourself if it's worth the hassle.

Madsere, you are probably right in disregarding costs for rental and staff. No problem, replace them with costs for insurance to a level of aobut 20% and then do the math again.

Any way you look at it, the figures are a nightmare. When you are offering a service that takes peoples lives into account, you cannot enter into that business without looking at all the angles.

Simply saying that we are gonna rent some bikes out from home to earn a little doesnt suffice. Would you get away with it back home? Would you be willing to take that risk there, both financially and physically? No, i doubt it.

With regard to pessimistic figures, maybe, maybe not. I actually speak from experience having owned a small hotel in Phuket where i sub contracted motorcycles to the friend i mention above. But the bottom line is, you allways use the most pessimistic but realistic figures when putting together a business plan, dont you?

Edited June 22, 2006 by EVO

[Phil Conners]

EVO, tax and insurance is only a couple hundrede a year. In fact you don't even need the insurance cuz it most likely won't cover anyway (rental bike, farang driver without license, often tourists DUI) - but you need it to be able to pay the tax, and without that your customers would be hassled by the heat at every checkpoint.

I won't even start to get into the moral question, I think if you checked you'd find 0% of the rental bikes have any kind of usable insurance regardless of what the owner says.

Would you do this at home? Of course not, stuff like this is regulated anywhere else. It might be here too, but you know,...

Anyway, I wouldn't touch it but I'm sure many others will (and do).

Edited June 22, 2006 by madsere

[bangkokStranger]

Thanks everyone, i have to say Madsere's response was spot on, he read my question and anwered all which i cant say about others because for someone to suggest that i would hire staff and rent a premises to rent 2 motorbikes obviously means they glanced at the question and made a quick assumption, however most if not all people made good comments and made me realise this is not viable and i thank you all, once again thai visa comes good but not what i want to hear but im glad ive not waasted money and hope this helps someone else thinking on these lines. I have to wonder though how the bike rental companies make any money considering your response about how cheap rental is

Thanks Folks

[poorfarang]

You cant make money renting out 2 motorbikes.

Anyways, most places are also a travel agency or have some other business that helps bring in cash. ( But still not Much )

[smartecosse]

You cant make money renting out 2 motorbikes.

Anyways, most places are also a travel agency or have some other business that helps bring in cash. ( But still not Much )

i think if you were purely looking for incremental income then 2 bikes or so is an ideal way to get your "beer" money or whatever. If you wanted it to be your main business then it would not generate nearly enough.

obviously people do make money out of small numbers of bikes ,otherwise why does every second shop along the road where I live have bikes for rent?? its just that it tends to be additional to the main business

[cmcarrent]

Thanks everyone, i have to say Madsere's response was spot on, he read my question and anwered all which i cant say about others because for someone to suggest that i would hire staff and rent a premises to rent 2 motorbikes obviously means they glanced at the question and made a quick assumption, however most if not all people made good comments and made me realise this is not viable and i thank you all, once again thai visa comes good but not what i want to hear but im glad ive not waasted money and hope this helps someone else thinking on these lines. I have to wonder though how the bike rental companies make any money considering your response about how cheap rental is

Thanks Folks

Wise Decision.

[poorfarang]

2 motorbikes will rent for about 150 baht each per day. Are you really going to take the time to set something up that will only make 300 baht a day?

[LivinLOS]

My mates missus doies this and I have to say here in Patong Phuket I think its been a gold mine (considering its beer money investment and the options for his missus working a real job top out at 15k a month for a lot of hours)..

He started with a couple of bikes.. made the downpayment and opted for paying off as fast as possible over 12 months.. Personally I looked at the costs of buying v buying on drip and I see the drip money as being a waste.. You going to buy the ###### things in the end anyway but I guess it teaches some discipline to the GF).. Also personally I would buy some good condition second hand bikes (near new) at 25 - 35k range which averages oput at about half of new on drip price.

She is a well known phuket girl who grew up here and has family here.. she knows a lot of girls and rents nearly always long long term, monthly rents.. The bikes tend to break even over year one (on drip) and then are pure profit..

Shes now built up to 6 or 8 bikes with at least 4 or so fully paid off and is looking at another 2 each 6 months.

Low season she charges 3600 for a new nuovo per month and 3000 for a new mio.. She rarely has a bike spare !! High season more farang rentors take them and its higher..

For the sake of argument lets say she has 5 bikes fully paid off now a year later.. Shes making >15000 for chasing a few payments and washing a couple of bikes and getting their oil changed.. If she keeps building and in another while more bikes get paid then its simply more build but it does take time to get known.. We are residents so she gets a lot of farang referals and she covers the sponsored BG's..

Of course bikes get old and become worth less but as the bikes get to not new standard she then puts them out for 3000 a month on tick to BG's to pay after use (not for farang to attamept and shes a hard ass).. Still keeps her margin but more work.

I can see in another year or so she may be up to the 30k a month inward before maintenace costs.. Low work hours and no one is going to be paying her that to work a job (and she has kids so thats not realistic / possible).. Sure 15 or even 30k is beer money to us but it gives her independance and pays the housekeeping.

[LivinLOS]

Forgot to say..

Farang wrote a bike off.. Had to pay the full new price to replace it (on a used rental bike) and she paid off the drip money, made a couple of daownpayments on new ones with the windfall and had the 'written off' bike patched up to usable quality and was then free !!

I have heard of jeep rental guys having insurance (10 - 12k per year on a big jeep, I had any driver rental also insurance on mine) and when damaged the farang pays cash, and the insurance pays.. They get 2x the damage and make the farang pay for its 'not rented time'..

[bangkokStranger]

Forgot to say..

Farang wrote a bike off.. Had to pay the full new price to replace it (on a used rental bike) and she paid off the drip money, made a couple of daownpayments on new ones with the windfall and had the 'written off' bike patched up to usable quality and was then free !!

I have heard of jeep rental guys having insurance (10 - 12k per year on a big jeep, I had any driver rental also insurance on mine) and when damaged the farang pays cash, and the insurance pays.. They get 2x the damage and make the farang pay for its 'not rented time'..

Interesting LivingLOS, well as i said i wasnt looking to make a fortune and i was willing to be patient so waiting a year to have the bike paid of would be ok. But what are the other costs involved i.e maintenance etc

Also what are the insurance, registration costs per bike and does she come across many issues like someone not returning the bike.

[LivinLOS]

She doesnt do the insurance that I mentioned the jeep boys do.. I dont know how cost effective or even possible it is on rental bikes.. Only stated that to show that having a bike written off by a farang is not necessarily a downside she got paid.. Got 2 new bikes on fresh drip and fixed the old one (at unknown cost)..

Maintenance is dismal the occasional oil change when a bike comes back and it shows.. they have some bikes only 1 - 2 years old and the engine power is really low.. She gave out brand new 0 km bike to a buddy who then kept it and rode for 3 months, no oil change, no initial service, no anything !! basically women and maintenance !! However my buddy has a total hands off 'nothing to do with me' policy on the business.. He started it to give her something to do and some pin money and if her bikes dont last more than a couple of years he couldnt care less.. He makes big money working away and this interests him not one bit.

As I said if it was my missus I would buy the bikes outright second hand.. and it would be all profit then used to 'reinvest' in more stock.. But he wanted low outlay etc.

Of course it has to be said Patong is Thailand benedorm so this isnt applicable to areas without a major tourist boom. She also has things like BG's bringing n00b tourists in and getting a 50 baht slice out of a 250 baht daily rental (high season) saying 'this good plice.. she fliend me' etc.. I dont think your going to get people paying 250 baht per day on bikes much in other areas..

Personally I think as a farang it needs to be something for the missus as you would get the run around and lack of police help.. I also think the return is too low for the work but then I am lazy.. As a pin money job for the missus its something to think about.

[travelskr]

I don't know if anyone is following this thread anymore, but I was wondering if it's a possible business for foreigners....I know the OP said he had a Thai partner, but I wanted to know if an American can start up a bike rental business or not....hope someone sees this! Thanks!

[fletchsmile]

Edit: Just realised this is a resurrected old thread.

Two good posts from EVO and Livinlos were good tho. I think EVO is a bit pessimistic though if you target the foreign market and particularly tourist. As Livinlos says, I think there is some money to be made on this, although I wouldn't want to be relying on it for my entire income for the year, which isn't OPs intention I don't think, so just extra money. They seem to have a pretty good set up.

I'm no expert on bikes, but think there is a market esp with tourists, just as a user.

We usually have a long weekend from time to time up in Chiang Mai, where a group of 8-10 us go for a ride round the provinces on a boys weekend, Pai, Mae Hong Son, Chinag Rai and all that. We pay a couple of hundred baht for the low end models mainly like Fino as the driving skills vary and it's only a means of getting around for a few hundred kms, rather than hiring a high performance bike for the riding pleasure in itself. Maybe we overpay, but as a foreigner, a couple of hundred baht per day (can't even remember the exact figure so just goes to show) never seems like much, and isn't anyway in the context of what we spend on drinks, food, hotels, flights up there etc. Think we also give 1,000 deposit too - which is usually given back

The maintenance of the bikes vary, and is generally poor. To be honest I'd pay more if there was some concept of quality behind it, eg with a foreigner's input. On a few hundred km journey in small provinces you soon find out that some don't change the air filter, oil filter, have fixed up the inner tubes etc. We seem to change shop each year, as each year we find at least one person with a dud bike that needs fixing along the way.

So my view would be: yes there's a market and it could turn a profit. Think foreigner + tourist + location (again foreign tourists, eg Hua Hin, Phuket, Chiang Mai etc). For price, I don't think it matters too much the age of the bike in pricing, but the power of it and how much it is worth based on new.

Sell off the old bikes to Thais once they start to look run down - there's always Thais want to buy a bike. That so many Thais already have a bike according to their means, is why it wouldn't be a great market. They're fine driving round on poor quality cheap bikes costing a few thousand second hand or brand new (maybe on credit) if they have cash.

Might use as a marketing point charging a bit extra for a "new" bike for a few weeks.

Get yourself a good reputation in the foreign community for service, maintenance and looking after the bikes. eg link into hotels or travel agents and give them a small kickback if necessary - passed on in the price of course Most foreigners would rather pay a few dollars, pounds, euros etc if they're getting a decent service on holiday, and if they won't then they're probably not your target market

Edit: As the resurrection was by an American, I'd suggest it's the type of business you really want to run mainly thru Thais. Otherwise you'll be paying extra at every part in the service, maintenance and purchase part of the chain, plus hassles of doing so.

Edited December 16, 2011 by fletchsmile

[theblether]

Edit: Just realised this is a resurrected old thread.

Two good posts from EVO and Livinlos were good tho. I think EVO is a bit pessimistic though if you target the foreign market and particularly tourist. As Livinlos says, I think there is some money to be made on this, although I wouldn't want to be relying on it for my entire income for the year, which isn't OPs intention I don't think, so just extra money. They seem to have a pretty good set up.

I'm no expert on bikes, but think there is a market esp with tourists, just as a user.

We usually have a long weekend from time to time up in Chiang Mai, where a group of 8-10 us go for a ride round the provinces on a boys weekend, Pai, Mae Hong Son, Chinag Rai and all that. We pay a couple of hundred baht for the low end models mainly like Fino as the driving skills vary and it's only a means of getting around for a few hundred kms, rather than hiring a high performance bike for the riding pleasure in itself. Maybe we overpay, but as a foreigner, a couple of hundred baht per day (can't even remember the exact figure so just goes to show) never seems like much, and isn't anyway in the context of what we spend on drinks, food, hotels, flights up there etc. Think we also give 1,000 deposit too - which is usually given back

The maintenance of the bikes vary, and is generally poor. To be honest I'd pay more if there was some concept of quality behind it, eg with a foreigner's input. On a few hundred km journey in small provinces you soon find out that some don't change the air filter, oil filter, have fixed up the inner tubes etc. We seem to change shop each year, as each year we find at least one person with a dud bike that needs fixing along the way.

So my view would be: yes there's a market and it could turn a profit. Think foreigner + tourist + location (again foreign tourists, eg Hua Hin, Phuket, Chiang Mai etc). For price, I don't think it matters too much the age of the bike in pricing, but the power of it and how much it is worth based on new.

Sell off the old bikes to Thais once they start to look run down - there's always Thais want to buy a bike. That so many Thais already have a bike according to their means, is why it wouldn't be a great market. They're fine driving round on poor quality cheap bikes costing a few thousand second hand or brand new (maybe on credit) if they have cash.

Might use as a marketing point charging a bit extra for a "new" bike for a few weeks.

Get yourself a good reputation in the foreign community for service, maintenance and looking after the bikes. eg link into hotels or travel agents and give them a small kickback if necessary - passed on in the price of course Most foreigners would rather pay a few dollars, pounds, euros etc if they're getting a decent service on holiday, and if they won't then they're probably not your target market

Edit: As the resurrection was by an American, I'd suggest it's the type of business you really want to run mainly thru Thais. Otherwise you'll be paying extra at every part in the service, maintenance and purchase part of the chain, plus hassles of doing so.

The 7 day rate from the Motorcycle rental shop near Smiths Residence at Chiang Mai Gate is 1000 baht for a decent, sometimes new Honda Glide, and if you negotiate you can get it down to 700 weekly.P

The OP is looking for a wee bit extra money, he should have a look at cycle rental........I've seen relatively basic cycles renting at 50 baht a day, they must cost a lot less than Motorcycles, and the risk factor of loss and damage must be a lot less than motorcycles too.

You'll never be a millionaire from renting cycles but it could bring in a nice little bit extra every month without risking the house.

than motorc

[fletchsmile]

The 7 day rate from the Motorcycle rental shop near Smiths Residence at Chiang Mai Gate is 1000 baht for a decent, sometimes new Honda Glide, and if you negotiate you can get it down to 700 weekly.P

The OP is looking for a wee bit extra money, he should have a look at cycle rental........I've seen relatively basic cycles renting at 50 baht a day, they must cost a lot less than Motorcycles, and the risk factor of loss and damage must be a lot less than motorcycles too.

You'll never be a millionaire from renting cycles but it could bring in a nice little bit extra every month without risking the house.

than motorc

Do you know what they charge daily or for a long weekend 2-3 days? TBH am more interested in the quality, but always good to remember places people recommend. Have you used them?

Cheers

Fletch