OFF ROAD PARK OPENING NEAR HICKORY NC

Kduncan said:
does anyone have any ideas for insurance for a place like this? we have been checking with insuracne companies all week, and we are seeing that we have to have an ambulance with two emts there which cost $300.00 a day, and a fire truck which runs around $200.00 a day. We feel we need to carry insurance incase of injury, usually its not the guys who are wheeling that sue the land owners or operators of the park, its the spectators. Inusrance is around $1300.00 a week. does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

PM the ECORS guy they have went through this.
 
well if you need another statistic, I have been watching this thread and I know I will definitely come a few times a year. I'm all for it and I hope you get it all worked out. Especially during the winter when URE is closed if you stay open then...
 
If it was even half decent, I would buy a year pass. I live in Maiden and I would be there when I was bored and just wanted to get away from the rest of the population. I know many people that don't frequent this board but have ATV's and jeeps that would also be interested in an area this close to us.
 
x2 on the release forms. Every time I go to a wheeling place I have to sign a release form. I have no problems with that. I know my sport is dangerous. That's why I love it.
 
cltdba said:
x2 on the release forms. Every time I go to a wheeling place I have to sign a release form. I have no problems with that. I know my sport is dangerous. That's why I love it.
Click to expand...


yep but release forms do nothing to protect a land owner.
the release form is to get you to admit exactly what you just did, it eliminates the I had no idea it was dangerous excuse, it doesnt not excuse me from being negligent.

We can point you in the right direction for some insurance, but mine is event specific not open all the time.
 
Kduncan said:
does anyone have any ideas for insurance for a place like this? we have been checking with insuracne companies all week, and we are seeing that we have to have an ambulance with two emts there which cost $300.00 a day, and a fire truck which runs around $200.00 a day. We feel we need to carry insurance incase of injury, usually its not the guys who are wheeling that sue the land owners or operators of the park, its the spectators. Inusrance is around $1300.00 a week. does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Call up the folks that run other places, like Gulches, Crozet, or Rausch Creek up in PA. I'm pretty sure they don't have any EMTs on hand all the time. Ask who their insurer is, etc. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to talk about all teh pains involved in running it... no sense in reinventing the wheel here.

One thing that is common practice is that you must have a "membership" ti drive, and yo urenew the release form when you renew the annual membership... you also provide emergency contact info on the same page. This may be only say $20 for a year but it covers a lot of bases.
 
Kduncan said:
does anyone have any ideas for insurance for a place like this? we have been checking with insuracne companies all week, and we are seeing that we have to have an ambulance with two emts there which cost $300.00 a day, and a fire truck which runs around $200.00 a day. We feel we need to carry insurance incase of injury, usually its not the guys who are wheeling that sue the land owners or operators of the park, its the spectators. Inusrance is around $1300.00 a week. does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...


your not talking to the right insurance companies :)
 
x2 on club days or weekends.

You mentioned Wheelin in the Country early on in this thread. The M715Zone.com had an event there a few years ago...it was great, we were the only people there and had the run of the place. As I recall the biggest problem they had -- before the water quality issues -- was folks wandering onto neighboring land. If I remember right, he was normally closed to individuals in like May and June at that time, but he let groups come in on weekends.
 
witchdoctor said:
i've been to ohv parks all over the country and have never seen a fire truck,fireman,ambulance,or emt on standby. you might want to keep researching this.
Click to expand...
x2 on that! Sounds like there full of shit and you need to keep searching and do some more research with owners of other 4x4 lands. Keep up the progress though as you can see there is alot of people that want to see this happen.

IF YOU BUILD IT, WE WILL ALL COME!!
 
Hmmm, just read this, other than what has already been suggested by Ron and others as far as safety and insurance, and staying out of the Water (Which sucks personally because other than back to back pulling, mud is what I like to do best, but thats besides the point and they are right, epa will go nuts)


here's my two cents:

A - You gotta figure out how to keep people coming, once somebody comes once or twice it gets old real fast - no offense to anyone on here - but everyone is excited and says they will come "x" number of times a year when its new and exciting idea . . . Until they actually come, enjoy the area but get used to it, and get the mindset of "oh I will go up there again sometime it's always open" - and then never go.

It's the same with events, you can't do the same thing often or at the same location because people just see it as "the usual" and lose interest. I know this from personal experience as well as seeing/interacting with the guys that do what I do on a national level go through the same things.

Your going to have to figure out how to keep people coming, idk how you can do it, even if you had occasional events or competitions up there - not saying you can't do it just saying be prepared when the "honeymoon period" wears off for everyone, because I have to deal with it all the time.


B - You mentioned doing this as your career - I would highly suggest not going completely into this make or break as your sole source of income. I have yet to see anyone do that successfully in anything off-roading related and not fail when they have nothing to fall back on during the slow times.

This is from personal observation of examples such as people opening shops, or parks, or event management co's, etc. The only folks that still stay afloat so far are able to do so because they had some kind of backup to keep them afloat when things got rough/slow, and a backup savings account will eventually run out - I'm talking about another side business to live off of when you need it - the only guys that have been successful I've seen pretty much worked two jobs (or came into it with a lot given to them, or were in a situation with practically no overhead) - one job to keep the bills payed, and the other job doing what they like/want to do - ie: your park.



just my two cents - good luck - more places to wheel the better, just be ready because it seems like everybody and there brother with a few acres seems to be trying to open an off-road park or mud bog now-a-days all across the southeast, so I feel like you will have decent competition now as well as in the future.


and btw: while you do need to keep people out of the running water - a couple isolated mud holes would probably help your business - it would bring in all the local's in high school or w/e that just have some random mud tires on a mostly stock vehicle and just wanna play around without having to illegally wheel on powerline trails - its nothing new to anyone that there are a lot more of those type of people around than your trail riders/rockcrawlers type folk that are willing travel and trailer there stuff to places - why not take advantage of the local "get a little mud on the tires" market as well.
 
and when there is no need for the fire truck to put out fires, they can spray the dust down!!
 
lbyota85 said:
I guess you haven't been to one of our events. We have at least one fire/rescue truck and usually PD.
Click to expand...

But that is also specifically an "event" andn ot a park that is just open all the time for people to come and go.
None of the open parks have them, so ther emust be osme way around that.
 
A few of the parks I've been to have certified first aid people on site. I'm not sure what certification they have, but perhaps this is something you could obtain fairly easily and would suffice for EMT? I know insurance doesn't go across state lines and all, but Carolina Adventure World is South Carolina is one of the places that has first aid on site. Perhaps you could talk to them to get some ideas on it.
 
still working on the insurance deal, and this wouldnt be my sole source of income, i own and operate a contract company this would be just for fun, the insurance is not the same in SC i have talked to Carolina Adventure world, as for the other parks such as URE not having fire trucks or pd on site, and waivers, these parks are state owned and you would have to sue the government if anyone got hurt, and we all know most people wont try to sue the government its an expensive process, where a park that is owned by an individual is different if we were sued they could go straight through the insurance and sue the owner and possibly take all he has. Other than the Insurance we are all in, as far as the water goes we plan on mud pits and boggs but no driving in the river epa fines are HIGH and they will inspect quite often. meeting with the county friday to see if they have any objections to the park, other than that we are all in and going to make this happen if we can work out the insurance deal.
 
Have you touched base with other Rec parks like say a Skate Park or a place that offers any sorta of risk in the activity offered. I not sure how any of those places would be any different from this, If your at risk the insurance should be around about the same.
 
Like I said, it seems that you are not talking to the right people for insurance. If you would like some assistance in this area, please do not hesitate to contact me. I don't have all the answers for insurance, but I can give you some info on companies that specialize specifically in all kinds of motorsports.
 
Kduncan said:
still working on the insurance deal, and this wouldnt be my sole source of income, i own and operate a contract company this would be just for fun, the insurance is not the same in SC i have talked to Carolina Adventure world, as for the other parks such as URE not having fire trucks or pd on site, and waivers, these parks are state owned and you would have to sue the government if anyone got hurt, and we all know most people wont try to sue the government its an expensive process, where a park that is owned by an individual is different if we were sued they could go straight through the insurance and sue the owner and possibly take all he has. Other than the Insurance we are all in, as far as the water goes we plan on mud pits and boggs but no driving in the river epa fines are HIGH and they will inspect quite often. meeting with the county friday to see if they have any objections to the park, other than that we are all in and going to make this happen if we can work out the insurance deal.
Click to expand...
nearly all the off road parks i have been to have been privatly owned still no emergency folks on standby. i can see an insurance company just putting this in the same catagory as an event,whitch would proably require emergency services. i also have always have had to sign a waiver releasing the park of all liability.someone stated that the waiver did not protect the park witch i don't understand what the waiver is for if it is no good. either way i'm rooting for ya.
 
Considering I live in hickory I'd be down to come as much as possible maybe a season pass if it was avalible, and as far as the insurance I think I'd do like the drag strips do and make eveybody sign a waiver that comes in saying you guys are not liable for any accidents or damage to your vehicle but I guess that would be something to think about..
 
Back
Top