The Pros And Cons Renting Out A Room Or Your Car For Cash

As you check your bank account balance, you may notice something: You barely have anything in there. This can be a depressing reality, but you don’t have to let it continue since there are many ways to boost your income.

Two methods that seem to be popular right now are renting out a room or your car via sites like Airbnb, Getaround, and Turo. They make it rather simple to find paying clients who need a place to crash or a car to get around town. Are these fool-proof methods to increasing your income, though? Not necessarily, as each can come with drawbacks that may make you look for another way to pad your pockets.

To help you decide if you should take either route, we’ll look at the pros and cons of each.

The Pros and Cons of Renting Out Your Car

Do you have a second car that collects dust in your driveway? Do you rarely drive your primary car? If you answered yes to either question, you could put your car to use to earn some extra income.

Getaround and Turo are two sites that allow you to achieve this goal. Should you use them or sites like them to start renting out your car? Use the following to decide:

Pros:

• A way to make passive income that doesn’t involve a lot of work.
• Besides cleaning out your car, all you need to do is have someone drop it off to the client.
• Additional car insurance is provided to protect your investment in the case of an accident.
• You can pad your income by around $200 per month, or more, depending on availability and demand.
• You pick when your car is made available, which gives you tons of flexibility.

Cons:

• Wear and tear or damage to your car’s interior may not be covered.
• Sites take a large cut of the earnings (as much as 40 percent).
• You’ll be putting wear and tear and increasing the mileage of your car at an accelerated rate.

The Pros and Cons of Renting Out Your Room

You can convert spare rooms in your home into cash via a site like Airbnb. Is this side hustle ideal for everyone? You can decide by looking at the following:

Pros:

• It’s another form of passive income that won’t require a ton of work.
• Besides ensuring your customer can check-in, all you’ll have to do is keep the place clean.
• Airbnb offers up to $1 million in liability insurance to protect your home.
• Depending on where you live, you could add several hundreds of dollars or more to your monthly income.
• You get to pick when the space becomes available, so it fits your schedule.

Cons:

• Airbnb charges a 3 percent booking fee.
• It can be quite competitive when it comes to pricing.
• You may not like the lack of privacy that comes with having strangers in your home.
• Some guests could cause issues if they don’t respect your home.