Rent out your car and make extra cash! Turo to launch in Australia by the end of 2022

Sick of seeing that lazy bag of bolts sitting on the driveway not earning its keep? Put it to work! 

Soon, Australian car owners will be able to hire out their car using Turo - a peer-to-peer car-sharing service that allows you to hire out your own car, or rent a different car, ute, SUV, van or people-mover that you might be curious about.

While traditional car rental services like Avis, Thrifty and Europecar offer a selection of vehicles to choose from, Turo essentially gives you choices you likely wouldn't have had through the more traditional rental means.

Turo is almost a household name in places like the US, and your faithful correspondent has used the Turo platform to drive a couple of vehicles that wouldn't be accessible at a regular car hire. I rented a high-spec Ford F-150 Lariat, for example, because that wasn't likely to feature on any of the regular car hire fleets where I was visiting.

The Turo app could also help put your mind at ease when it comes to choosing a car you might want to buy. Sometimes the dealership test-drive can be intimidating, or not long enough. With an app like this, you could hire a car for a week and really get to know whether it's what you want - or not.

The rates are still to be determined for Aussie users, but the brand's local website has a waitlist for people who are interested in listing their own car to rent out. The company claims that across the US, Canada and UK, vehicle "hosts" earn on average AU$19,112 per year.  

Across the markets in which Turo is present, there are more than 125,000 hosts and a quarter of a million vehicles available to rent, as of June 30, 2022.

“We’re excited to provide local hosts with an entrepreneurial opportunity to supplement their income, while helping to meet the increasing demand from both Aussies and international visitors during peak travel season around the country,” said Tim Rossanis, managing director of Turo Australia. 

“Turo plans to put the 20 million registered cars in Australia to better use and expand access for local car owners to a global network of guests.”

Of course, this isn't the only peer-to-peer car share platform in Australia - Car Next Door, which offers a similar sort of service though has been around for a decade in Australia, though it is about to be rebranded as Uber Car Share.