Is "Riders Share" Motorcycle Rental Worth It? 

Great info! Thanks so much for taking the time to post you experience. I've debated using Ride Share to rent my bike and I still may. You're right that the most important thing is how the company handles things post-accident. My biggest fear is if someone renting my bike crashes and gets injured badly. Is there a possibility someone could come after me with a lawsuit for having a faulty bike if my brake pads or tires or something were not quite brand new? I'm not sure the gains outweigh the possible losses.

Hey there, Riders Share CEO here. We just changed to a new claims adjusting service that takes 4 days on average to solve a claim and 8 days max per the contract. The prior one was terrible! That said: Sometimes shops behave unethically (made up damage, insane hourly rates, slow work) and that delays the process; we have to give owners the choice of shop by law, so we can’t control that aspect of the experience.

Being an owner, rider, master mechanic & a logistics director: In your circumstance, I would have recommended to just go ahead & paid the extra $250 (in addition to the $500) and purchased the parts & did the repair yourself. Why you ask? - the accident doesn't go on your bikes historical records - the repair is completed quickly & you know it's done right And #1 - you don't have to get hassled by "the bureaucracies" (ie the insurance Co's, rental company, police, etc) and all their BS excuses! I learned when I was young how these systems don't work & will never fall for it again. Remember, the only way you know it's done right - is if you do & plan it yourself! 👍

Steve thank you for taking the time to share this. If only there were more of this going on in the world.

I have a $53K Ducati V4 Speciale listed and I rent it for $189 a day... so far only 3 renters in 5 months but they are always 2 or 3 days.. worth it.

Thank you for some an awesomely thorough recap!

Great video! Thinking about renting a bike when down in Tucson next week. This was a great perspective in whether to rent through RS or not. Thanks!

Mahalo Steven for providing an honest long term explanation of the challenges and process. This was an awesome video.

Exact info I was looking for. Thanks!

Hey Steve, thank you so much for this long term review. I’m new to riding (don’t even have a license yet) and am considering using riders share to be able to afford a bike. I’m a broke college student so this seems like the best option to not break the bank. This video clears up a lot of questions I had.

Yo, I really appreciate this video. Very very informative.

We tried launching a similar concept in 2015, not riders renting out their own bike, but members purchasing an annual membership entitling them to 'X' annual days on the latest premium motorcycles owned by the Rental Club. The idea being to give riders the opportunity to try bikes they may admire, but would not necessarily want to purchase. Although the rates were substantially cheaper than from existing bike rental companies - and our range was bigger - there was no interest, the rates were still too high for local motorcyclists.

Thinking about listing my 954rr in Lake Tahoe 🤔🤷🏾‍♂️ I have two and they’re very special bikes. You also can’t go wrong with a lakeside ride.

Thanks my friend for this video. Excelllent!!

I came across this video because I was looking for information on Rider Share and found your story to be very valuable. I signed up with Ryder share as a renter in 2021 and had a good experience with my one and only rental. Rideshare is now pressing for crowd funding to grow the business. Experiences like this, if they persist Will make future RS growth questionable. Understanding the motorcycles in general are inherently risky insurance propositions. Nice to say that lengthy delays in repairs due to insurance negotiations do not bode well poor people wanting to rent their equipment with this company

Steve! What a video!! Thanks for putting this together, I just got started on renting out my motorcycle and I'm thinking about expanding, reminders like these are very helpful when calculating the risk. Thanks and hope you're well!

Thank you so much for the video.

Thanks for posting your experience. It seems a good idea but navigating the insurance and all the possible abuses, that 's a tough sell.

Absolutely love how you put this video together. Extremely informative and easy to watch. I do have a question. Could you have just added a rider to your insurance policy so that any rider would be insured? And then you could handle the insurance claim directly with your insurance provider instead of going through rideshare. Because it sounds like rideshare was trying to be frugal by going to a small shop that wasn't even reputable just to cut costs.

Thanks, great video 👍

Awesome awesome video! Very informational.

Thanks for the info!!!!

Thanks for sharing. From my experience dealing with insurance claims... Your experience sounds very very typical.

What do you think about putting a protective frame on a rental bike in anticipation of it being laid down frequently?

Thank you.

Did the insurance company compensate for the time that the bike was down? I’m asking cause auto insurance companies frequently pay for the cost of a rental car so the claimant can get to work while insurance settlement/ repairs are in progress. Also were you able to asked for a diminished value settlement? This is when you’re compensated for the however much the value of the bike is finished due to its newly ‘rebuilt’ title?

Thanks for the info. I have two deposits on RE Himalayas and hope to ride share one to close friends. February I have to decide.

I’m looking into this but I definitely want to start off with a few bikes just in case one goes down

thanks for the info steve

Hi, Steve! Thank you for sharing your experience! Take care and stay safe 🙌🏼

how much did your insurance company offer you as a pay out if you could have work on the bike yourself

Riding in this area (where I live) near dusk and dawn is risky. During the rut which includes hunting season is a no go for me. Hell some one in the family hits a 🦌 every year on average likely every 100k miles.

Thanks, just bought a canam ryker to rent.

After speaking with my insurance company about the prospect of renting out my motorcycle (commercially) I was told they would drop my policy if I did so, and they found that they were insuring my bike in parallel with a 3rd party's insurance. Therefore I'm still confused how to approach operating the business without acquiring commercial insurance, which would require originating a business, EIN, and all the other norms of business operations, tax compliance, etc. I suspect this service operates in the "grey area" of hope, that the risk of insurance claim (or death) won't happen, and if it does the asset owner isn't held liable for essentially conducting a negligent business. I think the hustle is a great concept, and not particularly expensive in the context of starting a business, to operate a small (hopefully growing) fleet of rental motorcycles, but based on all the information I've collected there seems to be too much risk, especially if an individual owns the motorcycle and not a company. That's literally 100% personal liability, potential life changing lawsuit nightmare.

Thank you

Thanks 👍

Goodday, I'm trying to start a rental motorbike but with the avenger cruise 220 from Kawasaki/Bajaj here in Philippines. I just want to ask from a tourist's experience and perspective, should I go with small cruisers? or stick with the scooters?

Thanks for the explanation in detail. Personally I am looking to rent a couple of bikes next month. Do I have to buy the insurance through ridershare ? I spoke to State Farm and they said my motorcycle insurance will cover. No different than me borrowing a friends bike and damaging it. Ridershare would just hold a huge deposit. ?

Can you rent out your bike if you bought it on payments/hire purchase?

You look so much different from your time on Saturday Night Live!

Do they have to come to your house and pick up the bike for rental?. I’m surprise the rider didnt get severely hurt dropping the bike

Great video

Skyline Drive! That's my neck of the woods

Me personally, would I put my beautiful 2021 Kawasaki Z900 RS Café, my baby out for rent? Hell to the no. I would actually buy a bike specifically for the purpose. I would buy a used bike that’s in high demand just for the purpose of renting it to people. I think that’s the way to go and I’m actually considering it. I’m thinking of something like a royal Enfield 650 interceptor or a ninja 400 or maybe an ADV bike, used but high demand motorcycle to try out and see how I like the service. I would never put my personal bike that I bought brand new for rent for this exact reason and other reasons. Nobody’s gonna baby my brand-new dream bike the way I would. and for that reason, I would purchase a motorcycle just for the purpose of renting it to other people

I don't think this rental program is for peeps with one bike. Or no maintenance and repair skills. If you can do the routine maintenance and lite repairs it makes more sense. And you need more than one bike if you don't want to be out in a case where the bike is out of action.

Thanks for sharing. You said it could "make the payment on the bike" but doesn't someone already have to own said bike and have the title before putting it up for rent?

How did you verify riders experience? And also riders insurance is relevant? Because your insurance will need notice about this.

Do you have to get commercial insurance or extra insurance if you rent your bike out?

Being out a bike to rent out for over a month while the insurance company navigates its own burocracy makes it hard to accept

So how do you make up for all the time you couldn't rent/ride your bike? Living in New England I can tell you you may lose half riding season with this shit

Number one never take money from the individual. You could be breach of contract. you want to let the insurance company handle it in a situation like that

How long did they took to pay the entire amount?

Biggest problem for me is beyond just the insurance coverage of the damages. The issue is the damages that can incurred in the transmission or the engine you would not be able to see. They could wheelie the bike and money shift it and half way destroy the motor, you would never be able to get that back via insurance.

I don’t understand why you paid the deductible. He wrecked the bike. Should he not pay it?

Steve do you cut your own facial hairs. It hasn’t changed threw all these videos. Nice! Thanks for the review!

I wonder how much harder this will be to go after a renter when they decline the insurance. I’m planning to rent a bike this week and will pay the $49 insurance fee. I have two bikes that I would rent out, but I’m concerned of how long it would take during COVID if there was any accident.

Sounds like a lot of trouble I hate people renting out my bike and then crashing it that’s the worst good video though

Was this during covid year ?

It sounds like you had issues because you insisted on using some specific "local" (aka "friends") shop that happens to want bill way more than what the repairs are worth. Every insurance company on the face of the earth is going to give you a hard time. That doesn't have anything to do with rider share.

Is this Dave Ramseys younger brother?

why is this video 15 minutes

Read “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”. Would have reduced your hassles.

Good video but I'd consider ditching the hand over the camera thing. It's distracting and doesn't really add anything.

I’ll pass I don’t need the hassle of wrecking my road glide not worth it

Let’s begin with the clutch for example, no accident at all, just a good old clutch and the guy who doesn’t have a clue how to use one.... what would be the price of a new clutch vs earned money?😂😂😂 I would never ever share/rent any of my bikes

I always go to dealer to do things.....NOT

I rent a bike on that platform and I got a bad break, almost crash and when I rent the owner wants me to pay for the repair.man I am not renting from da website again

Sounds like it’s not worth it