Tahra Makinson-Sanders lives in San Francisco, where parking is expensive. She has found an innovative way to help pay for her $250-a-month spot: renting out her car when she’s not using it. Makinson-Sanders expects to net between $3 and $5 an hour lending her 2006 Subaru Outback through Spride Share, a personal-car-sharing network that is beginning full operations in San Francisco. “We’re all looking at our budgets,” says the photography studio executive, 42. “Every little bit helps.”
Through a partnership with City CarShare, Spride Share cars can become available to more than 13,000 prescreened City CarShare members, once hardware is installed that tracks usage and gives renters access via an electronic key fob. Owners designate when their car is available. Rental rates depend on the car. Spride estimates that sedan owners renting out their car 15 hours a week could earn $2,150 a year. And, yes, the income is most likely taxable. Wear and tear might be less than you think: Renters average just five miles for every hour. Spride provides supplemental insurance that covers the car and owner’s liability in case of an accident, up to $1 million per instance. Renters are covered after a $500 deductible.
A couple of other companies facilitate peer-to-peer car-sharing, too. RelayRides has been up and running since June in Cambridge, Mass.
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GetAround is in testing in select cities. “Each shared car takes 10 cars off the road and reduces personal carbon emissions by over 40 percent,” touts the San Francisco-based company on its Web site, getaround.com.
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