Atv park owners....

[jsmay]

Anyone on here own an atv park/trails? I'm seriously researching this because I'd love to open one. There isn't much riding around my area but there is a lot of undeveloped land for sale... I need some input on insurance for this venture. I'm hoping someone on here has some experience in this field. Thanks!

[dcreel]

The neighbors are the problem with any opening like that. Billy knows all about that first hand.

[jsmay]

Well I thought about that but I got approval from the town that one of the plots of land is in. Basically it's all farms around it so it would be ok. Just insurance is whatvim worried about.

[dcreel]

I'm curious..how much land are you talking about? How many acres would make it worthwhile? Can you get by without insurance, making people sign a waiver or something?

[jsmay]

I'm looking at 2 different plots.. (1) is 23 acres with woods and open fields. (2) is 41 acres with basically all woods. I talked to my family's attorney.. He said even with a waiver you can still get screwed for gross negligence. So in our sue happy society, I will still need insurance. Even if I get sued I'd want insurance to pay my legal fees. It sucks because the first company quoted me $7500 a year! To me that's probably kills my plan. I figure $15-$20 bucks per person for a day or figure something like $150 for a year pass per person.. Then even a family pass for like $250. I want to have someplace that families like myself(3 boys and a wife), can go to have a blast riding. A place that is nice and clean. And still be affordable. Im not trying to get rich, I just want to have a safe place to ride.

[250Eddie]

I personally would just break the law and ride where i want to for that price lol, but thats just me =)

[Bretmd94]

It is kind of an all in, or nothing type deal. In order to pay the insurance you will have to have it open on the weekends for riding and it will need to be manned. Also what is the water situation? Watering the track is a necessity in the summer.

Oregon Trail and myself are talking about the same thing in pm's at the moment. My parents have 49 acres of woods land but its not zoned correctly.

The area I am in has one MX track, and it sucks to be honest... We have a huge dirt bike community and a sizable quad riding community. Opening up a decent sized track here with a MX course and a GP style quad/trike/beginner mx course would easily bring in numbers. Just need the money to find the right property and start.

All it takes is money.

[jsmay]

yeah... money.... who's got that. i'm gonna keep diggin. I have the people to help with it being manned... i was thinking 4-8pm mon-thurs.. then 12-8 fri and 8-8pm sat and sun... my dad and father inlaw are both retired and are looking to get outta the house. I would also pull the 8-8 shift... I'm thinking maybe so storage area to help off set costs...

[Billy Golightly]

I've been down this road. Everytime I get the itch for it again I find a door and slam my manhood in it as a reminder. Thats about the same kind of fun it is to run a track.

$7500 a year sounds on the cheaper end. NMI (National Motorsports Insurance) was $8k for the actual track policy and than another 5k for the "trails" policy from what I recall and it woulda been more but the track policy was already with them. Figure out all your expenses you can possibly imagine, and then add about another 40% onto it in unseen lawyer fees and permits and other unforseen bullshit.

Sorry to be a buzzkill.

[Oregon Trail]

Have you looked into anything with your local Parks & Rec or county? We have a county sportspark up here that they have set of dirt bikes and quads, granted not the best area, but one none the less.

I forgot to tell Bretmd94 they are planning on revamping that area, putting rock crawlers and 4x4's on the old OHV area, then moving the ATV's and bikes to another spot, where there's some small hills on the other end that has more of a woods feeling and maybe put a track in.

Just another angle to try.

[HuffieVA]

Well I thought about that but I got approval from the town that one of the plots of land is in. Basically it's all farms around it so it would be ok. Just insurance is whatvim worried about.

We belong to a club here in VA (of course all state laws are different) but the way around the insurance problem is that it is members only, the membership agreement is written like a lease, in VA you cannot sue yourself as a landowner, leasing technically makes you a "landowner" the draw back is you have to be a member with "NO exceptions" but its nice, about 100 acres with pee wee / mid range / big boy MX tracks as well as single track (about 10 miles of it) plus a kids single track

Seeing as your from NY, good luck, I used to live in the Corning area, NY is tuff on anything you want to do...

[riverrat]

I've been thinking about this too. We have no where to ride around here. Literally have to travel 3 hours to find anything decent and legal to ride at. I was thinking to get some acres in PA within 2 hours of here, at least I would be able to use it. The way I thought about doing it is to make a club, and make all the members equal owners. This way they would have to sue themselves if they got hurt.

[falloutboy]

It is kind of an all in, or nothing type deal. In order to pay the insurance you will have to have it open on the weekends for riding and it will need to be manned. Also what is the water situation? Watering the track is a necessity in the summer.

Oregon Trail and myself are talking about the same thing in pm's at the moment. My parents have 49 acres of woods land but its not zoned correctly.

The area I am in has one MX track, and it sucks to be honest... We have a huge dirt bike community and a sizable quad riding community. Opening up a decent sized track here with a MX course and a GP style quad/trike/beginner mx course would easily bring in numbers. Just need the money to find the right property and start.

All it takes is money.

Bret, If you move forward with this, contact Temporary Insandity. They are based in the Rogue Valley and may be able to help in some way.

[Bretmd94]

Thanks Falloutboy, I am joining them now.

[250Eddie]

Everytime I get the itch for it again I find a door and slam my manhood in it as a reminder.

Best quote ever =D