Editor’s note: This article was first published in August 2011, when Social Car was a new service. The average price of 8 euros an hour and the reference to quite a few registered users are 2011 figures, and the platform’s current status and operation may differ.
Being able to rent out your car by the hour is an excellent opportunity to make money from it. It is also an opportunity for tourists who have reached their destination and want to rent a car now and then. Social Car was born from this idea and promises to become a serious headache for car rental agencies, because the hourly rate is set by the car’s owner.
The advantage for people who rent out their own vehicle is easy money from a car they aren’t going to use, whether just over the summer or all year round. Obviously the hourly rate will vary depending on the owner’s judgment, the make of the car and so on.
Signing up for the service is very simple. You just register on Social Car and enter your details and those of your vehicle. Likewise, anyone interested in renting your car has to register and then get in touch with you.
Once the owner and the “customer” have met up somewhere, they check the condition of the car, the fuel and the mileage. Everything is put in writing in a contract.
Social Car collects the money, pays the owner and handles any problems that come up. Once the rental period is over, there is a form where users describe their experience and rate the owner, the car and the customer. That way some users will earn more trust among future customers and will find it easier to rent out their car next time.
Social Car’s business idea is excellent, and it already has quite a few registered users. The average hourly rental price is around 8 euros.
So if you aren’t going to use your car this August, consider that someone in your city might be able to use it and earn you some income. I haven’t stopped to look at all the legal terms of this service, but at first glance it looks like a good idea.
Further reading
Featured image: Images Money, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
