Here's how you can make money renting out your car

Turo: like AirBnB for your car New car sharing app makes getting access to a rented vehicle easier. CTV's Peter Szperling explains how it works.

It’s almost time to hit the road for that summer trip; and, there’s an app that may just have the perfect car for you to rent.

"Turo" is a “peer-to-peer car sharing platform,” as Cedric Mathieu, vice-president and head of Canada explains to CTV News Ottawa. “There’s a car for everyone, I think that’s what everyone really loves about Turo."

Think of it like an Airbnb but for cars, where clients can rent from a private owner rather than a traditional car business.

“There are 23 million cars in Canada and these cars are vastly underutilized; they sit idle roughly 95 per cent of the time. Our mission at Turo is really to put those cars to better use," Mathieu says.

While sharing a car may not be for everyone, Mathieu says on average car owners make around $800 per month lending out their cars.

While supply of traditional rental cars has been tight at some destinations, Mathieu says Turo lists 53,000 cars across Canada.

“Our hosts really stepped in to fill the void.”

Sarah-Hélène Brault decided to put her Chevrolet Sonic on Turo.

“(In) 2021, I made $13,000," Brault tells CTV News Ottawa.  "During the pandemic, I had this car sitting at home 99 per cent of the time, so then I thought why not make a bit of profit."

Ngar Ip rented a compact car for a trip to Toronto. He says the cost was about half of the cost of a traditional rental car.

"I have a car, but it’s just that when I go to Toronto, I don’t want to put extra mileage on it," he says. "Turo seems to be a lot cheaper, so that’s why I decided to use it."