You can now rent other people’s cars from the airport

NEW scheme promises free airport parking, but there is a catch.

NOW you can get paid to leave your car at the airport.

Australian peer-to-peer rental company Drive My Car is starting an operation that allows others to lease your car at the airport.

The new operation, Manage My Car, requires owners to drop their vehicle off at the airport car park in Sydney or Melbourne.

From there Manage My Car will rent out the vehicle and cover all the day-to-day maintenance and insurance costs.

“The beauty of this service is that all the heavy lifting is done for you. All you need to do is supply the car. Manage My Car does the rest. You literally get paid for doing nothing,” says Drive My Car boss Chris Noone.

The program promises owners can earn anywhere between $350 to $1750 a month depending on the type of vehicle they own and how many days they rent out their vehicle.

“Our data shows that the managed service vehicles near airports are rented 70 per cent more frequently than other cars on the DriveMyCar platform,” says Noone. “This high utilisation rate means that owners who use the service for several months can get a much better return on their vehicles — as much as $1750 per month.”

Drive My Car CEO Chris Noone.

The service is geared to long-term travellers and those with a rarely used second car. The program is already operating out of the Park and Fly and Drive My Car Green Square depot in Sydney and the Busy Beaver Airport Parking in Melbourne.

Drive My Car is not the only peer-to-peer car rental program in Australia. Car Next Door also allows people to rent out their unused vehicles, though it has no current airport operation.

Hyundai is also jumping on the sharing bandwagon, having announced it is developing inbuilt Car Next Door functionality in its cars’ infotainment.

The in-built functionality will do away with the conventional key — renters need only a smartphone to use Hyundais enrolled in the scheme.

Hyundai is teaming up with car sharing service Car Next Door.

Hyundai will roll out the next-generation technology next year.

Local CEO Scott Grant says: “By the end of 2019, Australians will be able to buy a Hyundai car with the built-in ability to seamlessly and easily rent it out and earn extra money.

“This capability will be pre-installed and integrated into a new version of Hyundai’s Auto Link unit, making it a simple matter to earn extra funds via Car Next Door’s innovative car sharing platform.”

However, owners using such peer-to-peer schemes need to be wary come tax time. The Australian Taxation Office has put participants on notice that it would focus on car sharing activities.

ATO assistant commissioner Kath Anderson says: “No matter how little you earn through car sharing, it is important to include it in your tax return. It’s no different to anyone else renting out an asset, like a house or a car park. You must declare the income and you cannot avoid tax by calling it a hobby.”