Summer of 2016 I was driving full-time for Uber, which was a great way to make supplemental income for a student. Think about it, $23/hr on average, flexible work time, so you can fit in a few shifts before or after an exam session, and most importantly the flexibility that a youngster really needs. One thing was missing though, Uber, like any other job, trades my hours of work for a dollar amount, how much I pocket at the end of the day equates to how many hours I put in. This was the worst thing about Uber, and therefore, I knew it was a matter of time before I had to jump the ship as nobody has got rich trading their hours for cash. On those long night drives, I was thinking at the back of my mind, what if this car can drive people by itself and I can sit at home to do more productive things, after all, I am only here to take move people to their “more productive things” and then it hit me. Well, what if I just rent out my car, it’s an old concept, car rentals have existed for years, but how would I find people to rent my car, let me check YouTube for some inspiration. Let me google “make money from your car without driving it” and BAM there you go, a company called Turo, that lets people rent their every-day cars.

If you consider the basics, Turo, is a car-rental platform where you can rent out one or more cars to make money. It’s a fairly new rebranded platform, previously RelayRides, a bit different from the older Uber. It is so that you are not driving the car, only renting it to travelers. Here’s a comparison between the two platforms, Uber and Turo, so that you can make an informed decision as to which platform to pick as your side-gig or full-time gig.

Resources

For both Uber and Turo, you need to have a car. What’s different between the two platforms is that for Uber, you also need to invest your time as well as the car. For Turo, on the other hand, you are investing your asset, as is the case with Airbnb, rather than your time, although arguably they all need time. And since you aren’t behind the steering wheel yourself, it works as the perfect side-gig rather than another employment. The best thing about it? You can add as many cars to your fleet, but you can only drive only one Uber-car at any given time.

Profit

With Uber, the maximum that you can put in is 24 hours, and in turn your profits are limited. Now compare it with Turo, where you are not limited by the number of hours since you aren’t investing your time. While renting out a single car on Turo may not be as profitable as driving for Uber, you can rent out as many cars on Turo as you like; the profits aren’t limited.

Protection

Protection could have been the concern with renting with Turo had it not been for the coverage offered by the premium packages. Since you are the one driving your car on Uber, protection isn’t a problem at all. You do, however, have to make an intelligent bargain between coverage and earnings by choosing an appropriate package for yourself.

With the premium package, you can earn 65% of the trip price and will be compensated for any damage to your vehicle in addition to a replacement vehicle if need be. If you choose to earn more, you could go for the basic package which gives you 85% of the trip price but includes a deductible of up to $3k and offers no replacement vehicle or compensation for damages. There’s a standard package as well with coverage that’s less than that of the premium package but more than that of the basic package; it gives you 75% of the trip price.  

Location

Location isn’t a major concern if you choose to drive for Uber since it has steady bookings in plenty of areas. For Turo, in contrast, the guest will need to pick up the vehicle and drop it off at the same location, if you don’t want to do “deliveries” and pick it up from another drop off location. If you’re considering renting your car on Turo, it will help if you live close to an airport or can deliver your car there since the majority of the bookings will be from there.

By comparing all the factors in a systematic way, you can choose the best side-income for yourself.