Dad shares car sharing side hustle that has made him more than £50,000

04 October 2023 , 12:31

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Derek has been using Turo since February 2022 (Image: Supplied)

As the cost of living continues to push up bills, more people are looking to earn extra money where they can.

One person who has jumped on this trend is dad and former finance worker Derek, who explains how he has made more than £50,000 through a car-sharing side hustle. Derek, who lives in Glasgow, stumbled across an app called Turo in February 2022 while looking for a hire car for a family holiday in Florida.

Turo is a car hire and car sharing marketplace, which allows drivers to rent out their vehicle to other users. Having just purchased a new car himself, Derek decided to list it on Turo - and received a booking within 24 hours.

In four months that followed, Derek had paid off the holiday in Florida, raised enough to book another trip and added two more cars to his portfolio. Derek says he earns an average of £4,000 a month through Turo, going up to £8,000 during peak tourist times.

Derek has now gone full-time on Turo (Supplied)

He said: "I stumbled across it while booking a trip to Florida. I was just curious to see how it worked so decided to put my car on the platform to see what happened. I would absolutely recommend for people who are either looking to make a small income from a car that they don’t use often, or for those that are interested in making a significant side income and willing to invest in an additional car or two."

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Derek is now full time on Turo and is looking to eventually have 12 cars in his portfolio. It is free to list your car on Turo but the firm, which was launched in the US in 2010, does take a commission of the trip money you make.

For each booking, you'll typically take home between 65% and 75% of the trip price. Car owners are able to set a distance limit for each trip and if the customer goes over this mileage, you have 72 hours to request reimbursement.

The price of each trip is mostly decided by the individual who owns the car, says Derek - therefore, it is harder to say whether it will be cheaper than going to a rental firm. But he added: "What my customers tell me is that they feel they are getting a better standard of car for the same as what they would pay for a small budget category car from a rental company. They also enjoy the personalised service and knowing who they are renting from through past reviews and knowing the exact car they are getting."

If you're taking on a side-hustle, you should keep in mind that you may need to pay tax. You normally need to register for self-assessment tax with HMRC if you earn over £1,000 in extra income in one tax year.

Levi Winchester