Rent your car to strangers...

[iggypop]

Originally Posted by Misterpants

Sounds like a good idea until one of your renters has an orgy in your car and does $50,000 damage.

NSFW!

[Coach]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Exactly. I also think airbnb is nuts from the owners point of view, but people seem to love it

The thing with this stuff like airbnb is that you only every hear about the bad stuff that went down. No one's ever going to a news outlet to complain about the great tenants that rented their place for a week and left a tip or something.

You have to put your trust in humanity a bit, but I guarantee there are so many more instances of people having a fine experience on either side that the ones where bad things happen are probably statistically insignificant. Hence why airbnb can have $1 million liability insurance for their renters. If there were a lot of problems, the insurance wouldn't be easy to come by (or would be really pricey).

[Fuzz]

The thing with this, Uber, AirBnB etc is that they all sell themselves as the average person doing this on the side on occasion. The truth is that it's people doing it as a business part or full time. I've rented several vacation places, and they have all been for the exclusive use of renters, no one is living in these places and renting them out while they are gone for a weekend. Uber drivers do it as a job, not giving someone a ride when they are going the same direction. I did a quick search on this car rental thing, the first one I clicked on, I checked to see if he had other cars. Dude had 12 available! Guy is running a rental car company, not making a few bucks on the side. I haven't checked more, but I'd assume plenty of guys like this are using the site.

So I guess my biggest question is, if everyone using these are running small businesses, why are they all advertised like it is a "sharing" economy? It's basically a tax dodge and an attempt to get around regulations. It's really the only way these things can be offered cheaper than legitimate businesses.

[Violator]

vehicle sharing.....This has the rotting stench of socialism attached to it...no wonder its coming to Alberta the only socialist state in the world.

[Simanium]

I was listening to a life-hacks podcast a month or so ago about a guy in Texas who purchased a Maserati and would rent it out two weeks a month. Because most rental car companies don't offer many (if any) exotic options, the only route for a short term exotic rental is through a dealership or privately. He was saying on the podcast that the income from renting out the vehicle two weeks a month, equalled his monthly car payment, so basically he was getting the car for free.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The thing with this, Uber, AirBnB etc is that they all sell themselves as the average person doing this on the side on occasion. The truth is that it's people doing it as a business part or full time. I've rented several vacation places, and they have all been for the exclusive use of renters, no one is living in these places and renting them out while they are gone for a weekend.

I actually have a buddy who's a big fan of Airbnb and does rent his downtown condo out when he's out of town for a week two. But he also admits that what you said is 100%, most of the Airbnb's he stays in are exactly that, rental properties. He mentioned one place in NY was a larger studio loft apartment with converted separate bedrooms, each one being a Airbnb rental.

Basically a micro hotel with shared kitchen/bathrooms. Tailor made to the Airbnb model.

[Thor]

AirBnB is killing the downtown core in Reykjavik, landlords are booting out their tenants and turning those rentals to AirBnB, making 3 to 5 times the amount per month that they got from their renters.

And the Capital area, ie the towns around Reykjavik rent has started to skyrocket this last year as people are forced to move further away to be able to afford rent.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Thor

AirBnB is killing the downtown core in Reykjavik, landlords are booting out their tenants and turning those rentals to AirBnB, making 3 to 5 times the amount per month that they got from their renters.

Same thing happened in NY before they started cracking down on it.

[Stealth22]

I don't let anyone drive my car, let alone a complete stranger.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Aren't there some newer cars now that have valet keys or other abilities to neuter the cars performance? I recall some cars having the ability to set maximum speeds, maximum throttle position, etc so in that case renting out your car wouldn't be too bad because the renter wouldn't be able to fully thrash it.

Yah I can program my keys to set limits on what sort of things the car can do.

Maximum speeds etc.

I would definitely do that if I were to rent out my vehicle.

[peter12]

And the same thing is happening in Vancouver.

[Regular_John]

I admit I'm not a landlord, but it seems like managing a 1/2 dozen or so guest staying 2-5 days at a time would be a ton more work than a regular tenant.

But I guess if the money is that much more it's probably worth the extra effort, just becomes more active than I had imagined many passive landlords renting out their first condo/home instead of selling.

[CaptainCrunch]

Nah all I have in my head is a visualization of trying to clean a sex stain off of the back seat, or spraying out a puddle of tequila flavored Vodka or a big err yuletide log to say, not interested.

[Flamenspiel]

^^I would not be surprised if a lot of these high traffic ones are using professional property management companies, they would take 10-30 percent, depending on what they do. There would be costs associated with bookings(not only airbnb), handling complaints, insurance, cleaning, maintenance, security checks upon exit. Revenue on a vacation rental can be really high, but profits can be much lower then that, depending on what you do yourself. Personally, i got tired of disappearing money on expensive vacations, there is a show on HGTV: Vacation House For Free, its not that far off the truth.

I don't like the car idea though, its a guaranteed depreciating asset(even more if your renting it out) for starters, the Maserati example above is a prime example of throwing your money away.