How to Make Extra Cash By Renting Your Car

The idea of allowing anyone other than myself or my husband drive my car makes me feel a little ill; and I’m not even a huge fan of letting my husband drive it all the time because he gets dirty footprints on my floorboard, he always manages to spill his coffee or water on my console and he moves my mirrors. I guess you could say that I’m a very particular driver and I like my car very, very clean. Call me crazy, but when I spend as much money on a giant SUV as I did to house my four kids to and from school and other locations, I like it to remain clean and look like it was worth every penny of the tens of thousands of dollars I paid for it (not even lying, I vacuum it out every single day…hey, I do have four kids).

That’s why the idea of a car rental with me as the renter and my car as the rental is not something that would ever work for me, no matter how much money I might be able to make with the process. For those of you a little less uptight than I, you can earn a pretty decent income renting out your vehicle when you are not using it through verified, insured and licensed companies across the nation. With the primary job of facilitating deals for renters looking for a car to use for a day or longer with families or individuals looking to make a little cash, RelayRides is one of the most versatile personal car rental companies in the nation. There are others, of course, but it is this particular company that is the most easily accessible and comprehensive.

The rules are simple; your vehicle must be no older than a 2005 model and it must have fewer than 100,000 miles (I’d also venture a guess that it needs to be clean, free of personal belongings and probably not smell like your dirty gym bag). The company offers comprehensive insurance coverage if anything should happen to your vehicle while someone else is driving, though this coverage only pays up to the value of your vehicle if it is totaled.

Who might benefit from this service? Anyone who has a vehicle that meets the rental criteria and does not mind letting go of their vehicle for a few days at a time and someone who needs a little extra cash, of course. It might be perfect for a married couple with two vehicles that can afford to be sans one car on the weekends, or someone who travels often and would rather rent out their vehicle to someone else than pay airport parking fees. If you think that this is for you, try it out and see how well it works. You’re responsible for meeting your renter, and RelayRides does take a 25% cut of your profit to cover their own expenses. However, even then the company claims that most of their customers make an additional $500 per month using the service.

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