Yahoo Finance Aussie mum earning $6,500 a month by renting out her cars
Aussies are renting out their stuff and making some serious cash as the cost of living bites.
Mum-of-three Monique Stevens has a side hustle renting out her cars and is now earning enough money to cover all expenses for her family.
In January, Stevens initially listed one of her cars on Turo, a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform, which she describes as “the Airbnb for car sharing”.
She now has six cars listed on the platform, which she had from a previous car-rental side business. While the amount she earns varies month to month, in March she earned an impressive $6,500 through the platform.
Also read: How Aussie has earned $2,300 from her home
Stevens said car sharing had been a “silver lining” for her family, after they were forced to close down their car-rental business due to COVID.
“We took a chance and thought we’ll see where it goes - no venture taken, no venture lost,” Stevens told Yahoo Finance.
Stevens said she started getting bookings for her cars pretty quickly, with guests usually renting out her cars for the weekend. Prices currently range from $60 per day for her Hyundai i30, through to $90 per day for her Mitsubishi ASX.
The extra cash is going towards the family of five’s day-to-day costs, including their mortgage repayments.
“We have a young family and are going through the wave of the crisis with interest rates going up and the cost of living,” Stevens said.
Aussies picking up side hustles
Stevens is one of the many Aussies who are renting out their cars to earn some extra cash, with the average Turo host earning $19,112 per year.
Turo managing director Tim Rossanis said some Aussies were picking up car sharing to make extra money as the cost of living and interest rates rose.
“You can monetise an asset that otherwise sits idle, and earn pretty significant cash by having it booked out by guests who want to go on trips and travel around the country. It’s a nice, scalable and flexible way to get extra money in your pocket,” Rossanis told Yahoo Finance.
“You are earning money while you are sitting on the couch, doing your job or looking after your kids.”
Stevens said her experience with car sharing had been “pretty smooth sailing” so far, but said she’d had some speeding fines she had to transfer and one guest who got into a car accident.
Rossanis noted that Turo offered protection plans for hosts and guests. They include $20 million in legal-liability protection for third-party property damage. Turo will also pay all eligible damage costs, however an excess may apply depending on the plan.
3 tips for renting out your car
For those thinking of renting out their car, Rossanis offered the following tips:
Look at other rentals in your area. Check what other cars are available and think about whether there is a gap you could fill. If your car is readily available, it might be in high demand.
Be smart about pricing. You may be able to increase or soften your prices depending on demand. For instance, there’s typically more demand on weekends, so you could charge a little bit more. On weekdays, you might want to lower your prices.
Follow the rules. Make sure you take pre-trip and post-trip photos and communicate quickly if something goes wrong.
Turo currently accepts cars that are less than 10 years old with a fair market value of less than $200,000 onto the platform.
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