In these financial times, anything you can do to make a little extra cash is probably worth considering, whether it’s another side hustle or a foray into the sharing economy that allows you to take advantage of giving rent your house, spare room. swimming pool, RVor personal vehicle.
If you don’t drive often or travel much, your vehicle can provide some passive income instead of gathering dust and losing value in your driveway or garage. The occasional rotation can also be good for your car: Iit is recommended that drive at least once every two to three weeks to keep charged battery, running fluids, tire pressure and element damage to a minimum.
There are a number of car sharing services that make it relatively easy to list and rent out your vehicle when it’s not in use. Here’s how to make money on your car.
Choose a car sharing service
There they are some car sharing services that, similar to Airbnb, allow people to book online and offer a reduced user fee, as well as various protections for vehicle owners.
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- Teaching: Turo is a peer-to-peer service that offers car rentals in all 50 states plus the UK and Canada. Cars listed with Turo must meet some requirements, such as having less than 130,000 miles, a clean title and no more than 12 years of age. Hosts receive 60%–90% of travel cost based on vehicle protection plan selected (a lower take home percentage buys you a lower discount or not, as well as better coverage for wear and tear).
- Behave around: Getaround is similar to Turo with operations in 20 countries. Vehicles must be less than 10 years old and have less than 125,000 miles, although cars that does not meet these requirements may qualify after inspection. Getaround keeps 40% of ride payments and hosts fees as a $99 setup fee and a $20 monthly fee. Part of Getaround’s model is electric hosting, a type of small business for those who own multiple cars (up to an entire fleet) available for rent.
- HireCar: HyreCar connects private owners specifically with delivery drivers and gig workers who don’t have qualifying vehicles for Lyft, Uber or other services. Naturally, YOUR the vehicle must meet those standards, which vary by company. You respond to driver requests and coordinate document verification and key exchange. You will receive 75%–85% of the rental fee, again depending on which protection plan you want. HyreCar also reimburses for cleaning.
- Benefit: Avail connects drivers to cars at 15 US airports (and offers pickup and drop-off in downtown Denver and Chicago). Cars must be 2013 or newer and have less than 125,000 miles. Most cars earn $20 per day, with large SUVs earning $25 a day. Avail takes care of all driver communication, so all you have to do is drop off your vehicle.
If you’re not sure which service to choose, you’ll want to consider factors such as what’s available in your city, how much insurance coverage is offered, ease of logistics (do you need to exchange keys or communicate with tenants?), how much user support is provided in case of driver problems and how much you will earn per rental.
Calculate how much you will earn
What you do with your car rental obviously depends on a lot of things. For one, if you have a monthly car payment, your profit will be lower – if you own your car outright, it’s all cash. It also depends on how often your car is booked, how much the service charges and what other expenses you have associated with your vehicle. (To annual cost to own and operate a car varies a lot.)
You have it a calculating tool which shows the average annual income for different vehicles in different cities with different values and loan payments. The tool assumes that vehicles have been rented for at least seven days a month over three month. Earnings in Atlanta for cars with an MSRP of $10,000-$30,000 win from just over $6,000 to more than $13,000, for example.
Weigh all the risks
Of course, trusting your vehicle to strangers is not without risk. If you really care about how your car drives and how the passengers handle the interior, carpooling is probably not for you. Rental services usually offer cleaning and insurance, but you can’t control if and how much mess or damage occurs, and even if repairs are covered, you have to invest time and effort to put things right.
While driving your car instead of idling is generally a good thing, it adds mileage and wear and tear. Plus, if you need your car, it might not be available.