Side Hustle Spotlight: Rent Your Car

Blog | August 1st, 2023

If you want to make some extra cash but aren’t sure where to start, the answer may be just outside your door. Literally.

If you’re someone who always has an extra car sitting in the driveway—especially if you live in a city with reliable public transit—renting out your car might be the perfect side hustle. Not only is it streamlined thanks to a number of apps, but it can also net you a huge ROI annually.

How To Get Started

There are many avenues you can take to rent out your car.

Several different sites and apps, like Turo, are dedicated to specifically car rentals. Only list your vehicle on a reputable website or app to ensure the best possible experience.

As well as posting through reputable sites and peer-reviewed apps, ensure you take the time to screen each applicant very carefully. Choosing drivers or companies to rent out your car with clean licenses and the proper insurance can keep you and your vehicle safe.

Don’t get discouraged if you aren’t getting a bucketload of rental requests right away. Try posting on multiple sites and apps, and be competitive with proposed rental rates.

Training, Certification, and Permits

When it comes to actually renting out your car, there are several different ways to go about it.

Before you rent out your vehicle, however, there are a few steps you need to take.

Contacting your insurance carrier is the first and most obvious. Different providers have different policies regarding who is—and who is not—able to be insured while driving your vehicle. You don’t want a client crashing your car, and you don’t want to be uninsured god forbid that happen.

That being said, Turo offers a standard protection plan that protects against physical damage from collision, and events during a client trip (such as theft). You’re covered with Turo in any instance of a third-party claim that might happen during a ride.

Making a quick call to your insurance provider is still recommended, though, as they can give you definitive answers as they pertain to your specific policy.

If you are renting your vehicle out to a business, that business needs to have licensing that allows them to use commercial vehicles.

Your car must be in a specific condition to be eligible for rent. Factors like mileage, a clear title, and the condition of your car, need to be evaluated before you can legally and safely list your car for rent.

Rental Opportunities

This side hustle can be life-changing or mere supplementation income for everyday expenses—it all depends on how frequently you need your car for personal use and where you live.

If you live in a sparsely populated area, the demand for vehicle rentals may be low. Comparatively, if you live in a commuter city or metropolitan area, you won’t have any trouble finding clients to rent your vehicle to.

How Much Will You Make?

The amount of money you can make from renting your car will again, vary depending on your location and the need for vehicles in your area.

In higher population density regions the need for rented cars will be greater, so you’ll likely get a whole lot more rental requests.

Turo has a calculator feature on their website that is designed to estimate how much you can make renting out your vehicle—based upon the details of your car. The tool will have you input your location, your car’s make, model, year, and mileage, and will spit out an estimate on how much you can potentially rent the vehicle out for.

Turo also gives you a breakdown of the highest return on investment (ROI) vehicles.

Having more than one vehicle available to rent out will massively increase your profits. Regardless, renting your vehicle through Turo or other comparative apps is a lucrative side hustle. According to Turo, renting out just one vehicle can bring in an additional supplemental income of $10,000 per year, depending on the vehicle.