Air BnB For Cars: Would You Lend Your Car To A Stranger?
What Is Turo?
You might have guessed from the intro that Turo is a bit like Air BnB or HomeAway, except it's not your house you're renting, it's your car. It operates across the USA and has now made its way to the UK with 170,000 cars listed.
Anyone looking at renting a car for a much more affordable price can find a real bargain. We had a look at MotorEasy HQ and found a reasonably new Mercedes for £50ish a day, much cheaper than heading to your local rent-a-car. If you're looking for a quick run around, smaller cars can be as little as £10 for the day.
How Much Could You Earn?
The company conducted a poll of 2,000 motorists in the UK and found that the average driver spends an incredible 456 hours behind the wheel each year. That averages out at just under nine hours each week. Consequently, for the remaining 8,304 hours, your car is just parked there, quietly rusting and depreciating itself.
Not only that, most of these cars are worth more than £14,000 and will cost £1,118 every year in servicing, MOT's and other incidental running costs.
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Yet a quarter of all motorists don't drive their car every day, and on average, they leave their car totally unused for three days each week. Another fascinating stat is that 40% of car owners have gone for at least two weeks without using their car. Usually, that’s when you're taking a well-earned holiday.
Incredibly, 10% of drivers have even let their MOT or car tax lapse because they simply have left it on the drive or in the garage. If you are still not convinced, just jot down how many times you have used yours and you might be surprised by how often it's parked.
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So is this where Turo comes in and makes sure that your car’s downtime becomes a nice little earner. You will be protected by an insurance arrangement with Allianz and potentially, Turo reckons, you could earn more than £500 a month.
It all sounds great but I am sure that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs would like to know the details of your extra income. Not sure if I would be brave or trusting enough to let someone I didn’t know borrow my pride and joy. Would they really look after it as carefully as I do?
Interested to know what you think about this earning opportunity? Please let us know through the usual channels.
