Hi all,
has anyone ever set up or been part of an ownership cooperative for modified specialty vehicles. I was thinking recently it would be good to own say a quad, microlight, boat, go kart or even a motorbike like a Can-Am spyder. They would have minimum modifications done, for paraplegics perhaps so a group of disabled people could use them on a rostered basis. It would reduce costs of ownership and servicing, repair and insurance costs could be shared. If say ten people got involved, they could have five weekends per year each of use for ten percent of the cost. Not sure if anyone has seen anything like this but would it interest anyone if it were available? Obviously I am from New Zealand so if I were to set one up I would need other people and they would need to based in the same geographical region.
Anyone have any ideas
Slowlegs

I'm quite amazed nobody is interested in something like this. Do people here buy their own, get some sort of recreational funding or just large insurance payouts? I have seen some pictures of pretty amazing stuff on here and thought it would be a good idea for people to get into some interesting stuff at a reasonable outlay. AB people set up cooperatives for anything from yachts to sportscars to holiday homes. If anyone has seen something like this in any country I would be interested in how things like this work.

Yes. That's one of the reasons I work full time, to be able to afford more toys.

Joe

Yes I work full time then some (up to 70 hours some weeks but on salary unfortunately) and run my own busines as well. There are so many things I want to do but with saving for the future (which I need to do as my health isn't getting better) and tring to get into my first house most of those things are proving out of reach right now. Unfortunately all the things I would like (rather than need) to do or own are originally priced new in US dollars and ours is barely buying 50 cents US at the moment, down from 80. On top of that there's modifications. You don't get much change from $2500 for a set of legal hand controls for a car. A Canam Spyder is $32000 here and you need an extra $2000 to $3000 to modify it. A cooperative would allow a group of ten to pay around $3500 for a tenth share in the same vehicle and running costs would be greatly reduced.

The closest I can come is when myself and three friends decided to buy a hunting camp,,,,, The money part worked out pretty well,,,, at first,,, but deteriorated rather quickly.

If we hadn't started that process we might still be friends,,,,,,but we did, and we aren't.

For friendship sake and piece of mind,,, if you want it,, buy it or rent it.

Just my experience,,maybe you'll be luckier.
ed

Hi Ed,
yes, I have had the same thing happen in the past and have learnt my lessons (it's only a mistake if you learn nothing from it I reckon), this time there would be a proper contract written out which all involved would have to sign, not just a handshake deal which is where I (and perhaps you too) went wrong. If I were to start something up like it I'd probably start off with AB people first then move on from there looking at the disabled community if I could get the interest in it as due to the size of the disability market and the level of interest it sounds like there wouldn't be much call at the moment. When you think of it now is the ideal time as sellers are offering things drastically discounted and people still have a yearning for fun but perhaps don't have all the cash to do a sole ownership. As for the renting, New Zealand is such a small market that just renting a modified car is a hassle even through an agency and my dream of excitement isn't really renting a four door Camry which is all Avis here will rent. This is the total opposite to the USA where I rented a Mustang convertible with hand controls and walked in off the street and fired a machine gun at a gun club. The only question they asked was had I ever experienced mental illness. Of course I said no.