How much time does your car spend idle? Instead of it soaking up registration and depreciation, why if it could earn you some money? That’s the idea behind DriveMyCar – a service that links drivers to cars that would otherwise gather dust.
What Is It?
Unlike CarBar+, which I looked at recently, DriveMyCar links people looking for a car with vehicles that would otherwise be sitting around doing nothing.
The cars are insured during the rental period with DriveMyCar taking 25% of the rental charge returning the remainder to the car’s owner. Renters find the cars they want by scrolling through DriveMyCar’s listings which can be filtered by car type, cost and availability.
In my case, I chose an SUV – a Jaguar S-type owned by a lovely gentleman called George. When I collected the car – generally this is from the owner’s home although George and I negotiated a more convenient location offline – he ran me through the car’s features and we conducted an inspection to ensure there wouldn’t be any hassles when I returned the car after a week.
We filled in and signed forms with all the information.
What's Good?
The great thing about DriveMyCar is that it can provide you with a car that’s of the right type to suit a particular situation. For example, my regular ride is a four-door hatch. But there are times when a larger vehicle would be handy, such as when going on holidays. Or perhaps a ute if I'm hailing some stuff around. For those times, I could pick up a car through DriveMyCar and rent something for a week or two. And, instead of my car sitting idle, I could rent it out so it earns a few bucks while I’m away.
The range of vehicles is impressive. There were SUV, sports cars, family-focused vehicles and everything in between.
The booking process was reasonably easy although there is a digital signature process that was a little cumbersome in my experience.
What's Bad?
I did encounter a challenge along the way. The car I rented (note: DriveMyCar covered the costs for my rental) was located over an hour’s drive from my place. When I suggested spending half a day to get to the car from my home was excessive they were pretty quick to say I’d be slugged with a cancellation fee. However, the vehicle’s owner messaged me and we discovered he worked about 10 minutes away and he was happy to do the handover at his office.
Should You Buy It
DriveMyCar has cars starting at about $25 per day with insurance covered. From there, depending on the car you choose, you can spend up to almost $170 based on why was one its books when I was searching. A quick comparison with traditional car rental companies found DriveMyCar to be less expensive.
If you’re looking for something fun to drive for a weekend, or a vehicle to fill a specific niche like a holiday, then DriveMyCar is worth a look.
Originally published in Lifehacker Australia on 20 December 2018: https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2018/12/rapid-review-drivemycar/