Aussies earning thousands through car sharing

Aussie car owners are earning thousands of dollars by lending out their under-used vehicles, on car sharing platforms like Car Next Door. 

Car Next Door is Australia’s first peer-to-peer car sharing platform, and allows car owners to rent out their vehicles, including cars, utes and vans, to people in their area.

After taking fuel and wear and tear to the vehicle into consideration, the average income earned by people who lend cars on the platform stands at $2,400 a year, although there is potential for car owners to earn much more, with the top 10% of lenders earning an average of $7,000. Some even make upwards of $10,000 p.a.

CEO and co-founder of Car Next Door, Will Davies said, “The cost of living in Melbourne and Sydney isn’t cheap and locals are really embracing the car sharing concept as a way to reduce their outgoings and help the community at the same time. Why own a car that sits idle 95% of the time?”

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Over the last year, in Sydney and Melbourne, more and more Aussies have jumped on the money saving opportunity. Car Next Door reported a 175% increase in vehicles listed on the platform, a 270% increase in car borrowers, and a 190% increase in the number of trips booked via the platform, raising the average number to 2,200 per trip.

“Australians are increasingly comfortable with using sharing economy platforms like ours to earn money by renting out their stuff,” Davies said.

“Since we launched Car Next Door in 2012, we’ve had 420 car owners list their cars to share on our platform in Sydney and Melbourne and had nearly 40,000 trips booked through the platform by some 16,000 borrowers.”

Melbourne and Sydney are driving demand and earnings on the platform. In fact, Car Next Door is so confident that city dwellers can earn significant coin on the car sharing platform, that it has guaranteed that car owners living in over 100 suburbs across the two cities will earn at least $2,000 in their first year, or it will pay the difference.

If you’ve got a car to lend out, check out the Car Next Door website for the details on how to signup and start earning big bucks. Or if you’re looking to fund your own car purchase, check out our car loan comparison to find the best deal on the market.