renting gear and liability

[WillYanni]

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions, but first a little back story.

I am the president of the Dive Club at UCF (which is one of the largest universities in the world, 2nd in the USA with 56,000 people). Our dive club has around 50 active divers (20 of which I will call extremely active) and 250 members on the books. The problem is school and scuba are both expensive, (in an effort to attract more members and provide to our old members) as a club we were talking about purchasing gear/finding gear to rent to our members at either no cost or a low cost.

Question one, renting gear leads to liability, how much, and what can be done to lower it?

So here to my second question, not being a dive shop I was wondering what type of
insurance we would need to rent/loan gear? I have been looking around online, and this information really is not readily accessed.

And my second question involves the physical purchase of gear, would it be better for me to directly ask dealers for prices (do you think they would even work with me) or should I striven to make deals with a close LDS? Orginally we were planning on working out a "deal" between our club and dive shops (this may still be what happens) the only problem is the dive shops that have actually been helpful are 30-40 mins away from campus (pending on traffic).

Thanks for your help.
-Will

 

[ronbeau]

Hey guys, I have a couple of questions, but first a little back story.

I am the president of the Dive Club at UCF (which is one of the largest universities in the world, 2nd in the USA with 56,000 people). Our dive club has around 50 active divers (20 of which I will call extremely active) and 250 members on the books. The problem is school and scuba are both expensive, (in an effort to attract more members and provide to our old members) as a club we were talking about purchasing gear/finding gear to rent to our members at either no cost or a low cost.

Question one, renting gear leads to liability, how much, and what can be done to lower it?

So here to my second question, not being a dive shop I was wondering what type of
insurance we would need to rent/loan gear? I have been looking around on-line, and this information really is not readily accessed.

And my second question involves the physical purchase of gear, would it be better for me to directly ask dealers for prices (do you think they would even work with me) or should I striven to make deals with a close LDS? Originally we were planning on working out a "deal" between our club and dive shops (this may still be what happens) the only problem is the dive shops that have actually been helpful are 30-40 mins away from campus (pending on traffic).

Thanks for your help.
-Will

Why would the fact that the helpful dive shops are 30 - 40 minutes away be an issue?

I travel that far every day just to go to work. My LDS is is the same city in western Massachusetts where I live (population 25K - 30K) and it takes me twenty minutes on a good day and thirty minutes on other days to get there. In my case the ocean is 2.5 hours away.

If the LDS is willing to be extremely helpful I don't see where a distance of 30 - 40 minutes should be an issue.

 

[theduckguru]

Too many variables to advise on your insurance needs. If the club is sanctioned by the university, I'd speak with them to see if the club officers are insured .

 

[triggerman365]

Zeagle is located in Florida and they make great gear, maybe they'd give you a deal.

 

[scubamarketing]

I'm with ronbeau, 30-40 minutes shouldn't be a huge issue. Have someone with a larger vehicle or truck go grab the gear for everybody, everyone chips in on gas and buys a coffee for their time and let the dive center worry about storage, maintenance and liability.