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Comment by easyname | Hacker News Reader

I had a motorcycle which I had bought for 126K INR. I was not using it much except to commute from home to office. I was going to sell the bike, then suddenly this idea clicked. It took few hours to make and host indiarider.com(people can take the bike on rent). Its been two months now, I have made 15K till now, 7K last week.

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I just rented an Enfield 500 off another company to ride from Delhi for two weeks. While they were polite and friendly, the level of professionalism on their site and systems left a lot to be desired. I emailed to check everything was set for a few months from now and the reply was: "you're picking it up in Goa tomorrow right?"

I'm assured things are organized now but its still a little nerve wracking. I know lots of people that would love to be able to reliably rent bikes in India and have often thought about doing what you have done. Your interface looks very professional and gives confidence to the user.

I live in Mumbai, do you have thoughts on expansion?

How do you compensate for the trust gap? Do you make the renter sign some contract or something? How did you do marketing for this ad?

Most of the time I take decision by talking to customer. There is no contract/form to sign. I am working on it. As of now I ask to submit original Identity card and deposit of 10K. There has been an instance when I gave the bike to a customer without taking any security.

What are your typical users and use cases like? I'm from Bombay originally, and can't think of why people would want to rent a bike. Is it people who don't have vehicles and need one temporarily for long journeys? Or is it for one-off joyrides simply for the excitement?

I don't have much to add but just wanted to say that IMHO, this is an example of hacker mindset at its best. Great Job. Congratulations!

Do you have a special insurance for this (I confess I have no idea how India works)? What are you going to do when someone totals it?

I have insurance like that of any private vehicle. I am not prepared for the other question you have asked, its a risk.

I'm also ignorant of how the legal and insurance system works in India, but that seems like far too large of a liability if someone is injured while using your equipment.

Excellent. Scale it if possible. If you can automate the process for others looking to rent, I think the opportunity is huge.

I was thinking this too, only about jet skis and other RVs (I was hoping that is what I would find when I clicked on the link) - I would think there is a lot of opportunity for something like Airbnb for four wheelers, jet skis, camping trailers.

That's really good returns, 7K a week from a 126K startup capital. The obvious next move would be to scale it.

Wow cool! How do you trust that they will return the bike? How do you ensure no misuse including damages?

How do you market?

That's cool, but how do you deal with speeding fines?

I am based in India. There is not much infrastructure to check the speed. You will find traffic police with such equipment only in cities. That too if you are lucky.

You do realise INR == Indian rupees, right?

They don't have speeding fines in India?

Unless there's actually a cop watching the streets, NO.

That's what he means....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdHkRkwJvww

In India, traffic cops don't usually use tickets, they accept fines or bribes on the spot in a traffic stop.

Same in a lot of south east asia, Indonesia for example. I experienced it as a tourist on a scooter.

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