Rentals cut way down on joyrides.

 

Because they bought the gun and took it out of their sales inventory for the express purpose of being used. When you test drive a new car and don't buy it, they don't have to move it over to the used car lot and reduce the price. Same with couches in a store. They can still sell those items as new.

 

Because they bought the gun and took it out of their sales inventory for the express purpose of being used. When you test drive a new car and don't buy it, they don't have to move it over to the used car lot and reduce the price. Same with couches in a store. They can still sell those items as new.

True, but they should disclose that is was used as a demo and adjust the price in some manner.

 

Vaild comparisons, especially cars.

A related thought, why do the car repair places add on a fee for "shop supplies"? (I hate crap like that, just charge what you gotta charge up front)
It would be like McDonalds adding a fee to their posted prices for "kitchen supplies".

 

Auto shops charge shop fees to cover the things that it is nearly impossible to charge for outright, IE:
Paper towels, shop rags, wire, cleaners, the plastic they put on your seats and floor, nuts and bolts, tape, rubber gloves, dust masks, etc etc. All of that stuff costs money and a lot of it is not cheap. They have to make the cost up in some fashion, and charging a flat fee is easier than itemizing your repair bill for rubber gloves and paper towels. Also, things like oil and tire changes cost them money because they have to pay someone to come and dispose of it. Now.... back to the regularly scheduled thread.

I would rather pay 20 bucks to rent a gun and find out i dont like than drop 500 bucks on it to find out I dont like it. Once you buy it, its used.

 

I agree with the 'joyrides' statement above...:yup:

 

The average car sale mark-up is a couple thousand dollars, there are few dealers in an area that carry the same cars, the average firearm markup is about 30 -50 dollars,
The car taken for a test drive is usually resellable with little to no depriciation, the gun, not so much.

 

I'm betting the markup on new guns is more than 30-50 dollars. Retail prices are often "keystoned," meaing twice the wholesale cost. $30-50 per firearm would never cover overhead.

 

Sorry sir, you lose this bet.

While many things like clothes, electronics, greeting cards and such, DO operate with a huge margin, guns do not. There is about a 20% difference between dealer cost and MSRP on most popular handguns. Most reasonable shops give you about 10% off of MSRP, leaving them about 10% for profit. Your local shop doesn't make a lot of money selling new guns. They make the vast majority of their money selling ammo and accessories.

My LGS has a fairly unique program. If you are serious about wanting to buy a particular gun that is for sale, you can pay $50 to "test drive" it. If you decide to buy that gun, the $50 gets taken off the price.

 

Several ranges I have been to will put your rental cost toward the price of a firearm if you purchase the same day. Otherwise, as the others have said, cuts down on joyrides and defrays the cost of the firearm and maintenance.

 

I thought I wanted an LC9 but had never shot one. I liked it, bought it and the LGS waived the rental and sold it at a used price. I won all around and keep it in my pocket all the time around the house. It ALWAYS pays to cultivate relationships at your LGS. I do all I can with them before I buy online.
Cherokee Slim

 

How much of a fee are we talking?

The range I frequent charges $6 and you can try as many as you would like.

 

Pep Boys doesn't have shop fees for oil changes, standard brake jobs, and a couple other smaller things. But, it's a percentage of the total ticket up to $35 to cover lift maintenance, cleaning supplies, cleaning shop rags, floor mats, seat covers, keeping the scan tool and alignment machines computers updated, servicing air compressors... Nobody likes them, but without shop fees a lot of shops would really just suck because nothing would actually work.

With a range gun, they have to cover the cost of the gun coming out of inventory somehow. After that, it's all extra income- and who would turn that down?

 

I think it's more like renting a canoe at the lake. Some people rent so they can shoot several different guns. Like noway2 said the rental at the local range/gun store I go to the rent is cheap and you can shoot as many different guns as you desire. Some just want to shoot and don't own a gun. Not that big a deal.

 

It costs more than 6 bucks to clean the gun... solvents, someone doing it, clean rags...

 

I would say that you rent a firearm more like you rent a power washer or a carpet steam cleaner.
Because most folks rent a firearm just to shoot it and not specifically to buy one.

 

If you rent and then buy there, if the store does not automatically deduct it, I would negotiate the rental fee in to the price of the purchase. Remember, as with buying automobiles, everything is negotiable!

My LGS will not only throw in the cost of the rental but will even credit the range fee. That's pretty generous, in my opinion.

 

you want to try out as many guns as you want for fwee? Are we posting from the Planet Naive?

 

Because it's a business, not a charity.

We could make a lot of comparisons between that and different types of businesses. If we are going to do that, I guess I'd lead off with this question: Do you always remember to tip the RO and guy behind the counter?

 

I've driven a new vehicle at an auto dealer before and then told them afterwards I'd take the same thing in a different color. Some things you have the luxury to try before buy at no costs; some things you don't.

 

Lots ah good points here.

Keep in mind too that the renter has to clean the gun, inspect it, & keep it in good working order that the rentees has rented.

Yes they did remove it from their sales cabinet but it still has a used-resale’s value like < since the car parallel has been brought up > a demo has for car dealers. Car dealers get dealer incentives to cover their tryouts too, which demo`sales are all but 101% profit.

Ever seen a new car your interested in have say . . . 50-miles or so on the dash? When brand new cars hit the dealer`lot`s they only have maybe 2-miles to 8-miles tops on umm. I do believe that they can be sold as new or at least as a “Demo” with anything under about 4,999-miles on umm. Sometimes when it`s lunchtime the sales crew will tack ah dealers plate on the back & take ah brand~new car to Wendy's for ah snack. Or the sales personal may drive one "to-&-from" home for their personal usage too. "oh yes they can!"

I guess it's like electronics < tv's and the like > which they do give you a discount if you buy the demo/floor model.

And what`s not to say these said rental guns didn’t coming in as a used-firearm to begin with? Maybe not all of them but maybe some have?

Someone brought up being charged a fee for out of pocket shop expenses, which have always been apart of doing business in the service/repairs trade. Now these expenses have become a fee of norm and service venues are passing them onto the consumer; as their way`s of generating more profits.

Before you know it, they will be adding on ah over~head supplement`s fee to cover such things as; rent, electricity, tool`s depression, advertising, WC insurance, licensing, and those cushie waiting rooms too as “someone has to cover the out-of-pocket cost for those little screen tv`s and free coffee”.

I wish I could have tried it out, before I had to pay for, some of the "Crappie~Food" that I’ve eaten that I’ve had to pay for at some of the restaurants I’ve eaten in . . . . . yuck :dead:

 

If you put yourself in your LGS's shoes I think you'd understand.

What I don't understand is one LGS in town that "changed their insurance policy" that they're now requiring at least two people be in a booth before renting out guns. That's stupid.

 

Why do we pay to rent a firearm at the LGS?

It seems a little wrong that we pay to try out a potential new firearm at the range.

Having a product on the shelves seems a requirement, in order to have a customer buy it. Though, some are willing to buy sight-unseen.

But having a series of products able to be used, abused and put through their paces on a range costs money. It requires the purchase price of those guns (which will never see their full value recouped), staff to clean them.

On the one hand, it could be argued they can be effective tools to boost sales, potentially. But it's additional costs that must be borne by the business, and that's hard to get around.

Best solution I've seen, so far: have a "rental" counter; allow receipts for X number of rentals to be applied toward the purchase of a new gun from the shop. Everyone's happy.

 

I could go with the test drive analogy if you were going to buy the specific gun you were trying out. Seems to me this is more like renting demo skis to see if you like 'em. I rented an M&P .40 just to see how it compared to my M&P9, but never had any intention of buying. I did rent a Nano once their too and wasn't impressed.

 

That's why many LGS charge $25 - $40 for a transfer fee. That way they make a little money if they have to handle a firearm.

One of my LGS (a bunch of nice guys) inadvertently let me see his wholesaler page when we were checking to see if a gun was in stock at any of his wholesalers. His retail price on the gun I wanted is $884, and his wholesale price is $841. When the gun finally comes in, he'll make $43 on an $884 gun.

 

It seems a little wrong that we pay to try out a potential new firearm at the range. We don't pay a fee to test drive a car or to sit on a couch at a furniture store. So why pay to test fire a firearm. I understand the range fee and needing to use in-store ammo, but it seems like that should be it. I was just mulling this over yesterday and thought I'd throw it out there for comments.

I guess you have never heard of Hertz, Avis, Enterprise or any of the other companies that rent cars and I guess you never heard of companies that rent furniture like Rent-A-Center.

Have you ever heard of renting a boat, a jet ski, scuba equipment, skis, bicycles, mopeds, or anything else for recreational use like renting a firearm for target shooting?

 

As for car profits...days of $1000+ are LONG gone. Some dealers (new car) make only the "hb" on the invoice (holdback aka "discount from manufacturer"). This can be under $400! Internet has hurt the car biz too...

 

Why do you pay to rent a firearm if you think it "a little wrong?"

I don't think it's wrong, so I pay.

 

Man, this simple little question really ruffled some feathers. lol My LGS charges $25 for the gun + $15 for the lane + ammo. So, for each gun I want to test out it's costing a minimum of $65ish. For those of us who don't have guns factored in to their budget and need to save up for quite a while just to buy one, a single rental can really set that timeline back. I understand better after reading the responses why it's necessary, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. On the bright side, I'm in Huntsville, AL on business and stopped by Larry's Pistol and Pawn after work today. For $10 and ammo, I was able to test out two pistols I'm considering but have not been able to track down until now, G26 and 19! Great deal and a great store!

 

Now I get it. I will say $25 is a bit steep from what I've seen (and in my opinion). Several ranges I go to have a price of $10 bucks. I don't think it's wrong for your range to charge that much, but I'm very very very doubtful I would rent a gun at $25 a pop.

 

Because the GS is in the business of selling guns and ammo.
The GS that have ranges and rent, are doing what a car rental agency does.
Rents something someone wants to use, just like when you go to the bowling alley and rent shoes cause you don't have any.