Quote Originally Posted by Simon T. View Post

I've sort of worked on a damage agreement but don't know how to do it properly. I listed out prices for things damaged with an overall price if the car is completely totaled in a wreck.
I'm not sure how you do this ahead of time. Having a wad-up price is one thing, but I don't know how you can pre-price damage. Even failure stuff. My suggestion would be to talk off-line w/ Kirk about setting up a contract that includes a damage agreement. He's been doing this for a few years now, and his it pretty well down. Having worked with him, I can't say enough good things about how the operation is run. I'm sure he will bring up things that you probably haven't considered.

Something I haven't seen in any of your costs, is what it's going to cost for your crew. You have to provide food and accommodations for them.

I'll also add something that another guy that I know that runs an enduro rental program had set up. Mind you, this is something that all of the drivers have to agree on. You take the total # of drivers and add 1 (e.g. 4 drivers + 1 = 5). In the event of damage, each driver pays 1/(#drivers + 1), and the person that was in the car at the time pays 2/(#drivers + 1). In the 4 driver example, each driver would pay 20% (1/5) of the damage bill, and the person in the car at the time would pay the extra share, or 40% (2/5). I'm not saying that this is a better or worse way to do it, just another option that I've seen used.

Then there are things like mechanical failures. Some are the result of use/abuse, and some are the result of defective parts. You need to have how you are going to handle those things spelled out up front, and make sure everyone involved understands. It's not so much about what is the best way to handle it, but more to the point about having it covered up front and making sure everyone understands and signs-off on it. The last thing you want is to create a situation that you didn't address. For example, lets say you have a hub failure that was the result of a defective part (and the forensics can be inconclusive). This hub failure causes a wheel to leave the car at a very inopportune time (can't imagine when it would be a good time for a wheel to leave the car), and the car ends up getting wadded up into a ball. I can tell you, there will be a lot of unhappy people if you have not already addressed how you will handle a case like that. A driver sure isn't going to want to eat the cost of the car if it was related to a defective part, and the car owner is not going to be happy if the driver feels no obligation to pay. Like I said, how you handle it is up to you, but you need to get it taken care of ahead of time, and everyone has to understand and agree to it. If you don't treat this like a business deal, and something goes south, it has the potential to get really ugly.