DriveMyCar is offering a guaranteed $2500 per year for owners who rent their cars out through their platform. While there are some qualifying criteria, that $2500 minimum can be boosted to as much as $1750 per month depending on the value of your vehicle. Here’s how it works.
In order for a car to be eligible for the scheme, DriveMyCar stipulates that the car must be less than six years old at the start of the guarantee period, have a maximum odometer reading of 100,000km, is located within 15km of the Sydney CBD or 10km of the Melbourne CBD and available for at least 300 days in the 12-month guarantee period. And those 300 days don’t have to be in specific blocks. So, if you only use your car on weekends, you could rent it out from Monday to Friday only.
The proximity to the CBDs of Melbourne and Sydney seem to be the biggest hassle to me.
DriveMyCar says they will cover a credit check for potential renters, a formal rental agreement, collecting the payment and security deposit, insurance and 24/7 roadside assistance. They add that they have paid out over $8M to car owners since the service commenced.
I looked at the cost of owning a car versus the cost of access recently and have been thinking about my own car use. There are many days when the car sits idle in the carport or in a carpark when I’m travelling. The challenge with the DriveMyCar model is that it needs to be available for 10 months. Whereas I could go without a car for five days each week, I’d struggle to be without a car for the entire week.
On the other hand, if I simply went without a car, received the rental income that covered my leasing and maintenance with some profit, I’d probably get by with Uber, my bike and public transport much of the time. DriveMyCar says a car valued at $24,000 could earn you up to $840 per month, or $10,080 per year.
Could you go without your car for 300 days a year? My feeling is that if you could, and you had a car that was desirable to renters that you could end up offsetting many of your costs and possibly earn a tidy profit.
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