Any Tips for Offsetting Car Running Costs or Earning through It?

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  kahn on 03/07/2020 - 08:48

  +2

  So one of your options is to deliver food by driving your car without a license? What could possibly go wrong?

  • 

    gmail92 on 03/07/2020 - 08:49

    Yep, if you have an accident your insurance won't cover you either.

  • 

    FrugalDealSeeker on 03/07/2020 - 08:51

    -2

    I said I don't have a VIC license. I assumed it was an easy inference given everything else I was an immigrant driving on an international license.

    • 

      kahn on 03/07/2020 - 08:54

      +4

      I suggest you either mention that in your post or remove the statement about the license.

      • 

        FrugalDealSeeker on 03/07/2020 - 08:57

        +1

        Just added a note about the license. I think it's important to mention as some have suggested that I sell my car and rent a newer one and use it as a taxi, which I cannot do, but I can still drive my car legally.

        • 

          gmail92 on 03/07/2020 - 12:59

          @FrugalDealSeeker: Also not sure what the rules are with driving on an International license if you are not a visitor.

          • 

            FrugalDealSeeker on 03/07/2020 - 15:40

            @gmail92: you can do most things, except rent out some cars and trailers or do Uber.

  • 

    bdl on 03/07/2020 - 11:03

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Could spill the food. :)

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  Bignudge on 03/07/2020 - 10:20

  If you have your car for rent, I can assure you it will break in no time. I've seen it too much (especially with the rented Mercedes C63's).

  Launching at traffic lights, flying over speed bumps, hard braking, burnouts, hitting the curb hard enough to have each of the front wheels going in seperate directions.

  And with you paying for fuel… you're already doomed from the start. Eg… depending on how I drive my SSV Commodore, I can do a suburban trip without traffic at 14L/100km or at 60L/100km.

• 

  BBear53 on 03/07/2020 - 11:21

  Renting out your car is a bad idea. Rental cars get abused because it's not the renter's problem when something breaks so they treat the car like crap.

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  [Deactivated] on 03/07/2020 - 11:51

  lol?

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  Boioioioi on 03/07/2020 - 12:08

  Other than rego & insurance, your car is only an expense if you use it no? Find a different way to make money in my opinion.

  Start a business or get a job.

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  Euphemistic on 03/07/2020 - 16:40

  You won’t make much money once you factor in costs.

  Maybe dominos delivery?

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  JakeyJooJoo on 03/07/2020 - 17:26

  +1

  I rent out 3 vehicles on CND, and started doing this 11 months ago. With over ~350 bookings on my vehicles, I can definitely give you a good picture of what to expect if you go down this path.

  People are wrong in saying 'Your car will get trashed, people treat it like shit'. The people saying this for the most part have never leased their car out using CND. In my experience CND users are respectful, it's no different to using AirBnB. The percentage of people that trash AirBnB's is extremely low. I've had 1 person ruin 1 of my seat covers with bluetac. I was fully reimbursed. CND have your back.

  Location is without a doubt the most important thing with your vehicle. If you live 50KM from the CBD, 3km from a train station, you will not profit from CND.

  $23/day 33c/km is too low for your car. I would suggest 28/day 33c/km. You will receive the same amount of bookings. Just keep your car mostly available, especially on weekends if possible. I'd say 60% of my bookings happen on weekends.

  In regards to cash, most of my profit comes from per km earnings. Don't assume your borrowers will borrow your car for ~10KM or something like that. It is common for someone to take your car for a long distance spin. I have had a lot of long distance weekend bookings. It is not uncommon to have someone borrow your car for 2-3 days, and drive into the country and back. Best long weekend earning I've had was $350 for 1 booking over 3 days, after expenses. It's more common to get $100-150 on a weekend booking.

  Negatives:
  I estimate 1/50 people that borrow my vehicles are dumbasses. Instead of returning the key to the lockbox as instructed, they leave it in the car or something dumb like that. PITA when I get a call at 7AM on a Sunday.

  Maintance costs increase about 50% due to extra use. More frequent servicing, faults etc.

  All in all, if your geographical location is good for CND, and you are driving an 09 Honda Accord, i'd recommend getting on the platform.

  • 

    FrugalDealSeeker on 04/07/2020 - 08:48

    Thanks for sharing your experience. I updated my booking to $28. I live about 20 mins from the CBD (by car) and the nearest train station is about a 15 min bus ride away.

    I estimate 1/50 people that borrow my vehicles are dumbasses. Instead of returning the key to the lockbox as instructed, they leave it in the car or something dumb like that. PITA when I get a call at 7AM on a Sunday.

    Once someone booked my car for 7 am on a Saturday and I got that notification at 4 am in the morning. I had heaps of stuff in the car as I wasn't expecting it. Nonetheless, an old lady borrowed my car and actually slept through the end of the booking time. I was reimbursed $25 for it. She travelled 365 km over 4 days, so not bad for a kind of a passive income.

    $23/day 33c/km is too low for your car. I would suggest 28/day 33c/km. You will receive the same amount of bookings. Just keep your car mostly available, especially on weekends if possible. I'd say 60% of my bookings happen on weekends.

    I actually only get 60% off $23 i.e. $13.8 and 25c/km + $19/month fee. I just think there are too many commissions to a point where customers are going to feel overcharged and owners are going to feel ripped off.

    One thing I did not understand was - so I pay for fuel and CND takes off an 8c/km commission. So in case, my car gives a mileage < 4.8km/lit and fuel is sold at $1.2/lit, I would actually lose money per km. The way it is structured feels like CND stands to make a profit with complete disregard to whether or not owners are making money or are just losing it. Even if their car isn't rented, CND charges you a monthly fee anyway. The way it sounds to me is, if you make money, we make money. Even if you don't make money, we'll charge you a fee so at least we'll make money.

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  mubd1234 on 03/07/2020 - 23:00

  This might not apply to your situation given you have an international licence, but this might be worth something for anyone on Centrelink atm.

  It doesn't really make much sense to do any kind of sole-trader ABN-related work like Uber/Uber Eats if you are receiving JobSeeker payments due to job losses related to COVID-19. The crazy paperwork and accounting (balance sheets, etc.) that you have to do makes it instantly unattractive.

  If you are ineligible for Centrelink payments and will have no other income, then go nuts. But yes, business will be WAY down compared to pre-pandemic.

  • 

    FrugalDealSeeker on 04/07/2020 - 09:17

    Ever since I have come to Australia, I have hardly worked on TFN - just one University project that's all. To people who care about retirement savings and super maybe it's worth it. I have always worked on ABN and saved heaps in tax write-offs and GST credits, true I have limited rights and I may be facing financial exploitation at my day job but it allows me some flexibility and autonomy. It's a mixed bag, fortunately for me, the pros outweigh the cons.