Trevo’s The Airbnb For Cars That Allows You To Make Some Money With Your Cars

The sharing economy is where it’s at now. Businesses such as Airbnb pioneered the concept of peer-to-peer sharing of accommodation that allowed idle properties or unused rooms to be rented out as a source of revenue.

If that can be done for houses or other forms of accommodations, you might be wondering if the same could be applied to vehicles? The answer is yes and it’s called Trevo. Don’t confuse this with ride-sharing services such as Grab or Uber though, that still involves the owner of the vehicle driving you around in their own vehicle.

The logical progression from car-sharing service SoCar, Trevo however essentially rents your vehicle out to a customer that rents it for their personal use; sans driver.

Car ownership in Malaysia is a necessity rather than a luxury with public transport not quite up to par yet that completely negates the need for personal transport. The numbers corroborate the claims; 93 per cent of households own a car and 54 per cent of them own multiple cars.

Seeing that the pandemic of 2020 has left many working from home; a best-case scenario. That means your vehicle isn’t being utilised fully but montly installments are due to the banks.

The worse option is taking a pay cut or losing your job altogether; something that was increasingly common during the Movement Control Order (MCO). Now you’re struggling to make the monthly installments with a compromised source of income.

Renting out your vehicle on Trevo is a viable option to supplement your income or partially cover the car’s installment. Hosts; as the owners of said cars are called on Trevo, have claimed that renting your car out on Trevo for at least 6-8 days per month covers more than half of their installments.

Just a quick browse on the Trevo app brings up a Perodua Bezza from just RM25 a day, a Honda BR-V for RM54, a Toyota Hilux or even a Toyota Vellfire at RM130 each a day. There’s something for everyone on the app.

Hosts have the flexibility of setting their own pricing so long as it falls within the recommended price range calculated by the Trevo algorithm. Trevo doesn’t limit the service to private owners, corporate car rental companies are allowed as well.

Granted, if you’re a petrolhead or someone that really sayangs their car, this probably isn’t for you. If we’re still holding onto your curiosity though, Trevo got two hosts to share their experiences of renting out their cars on the app to supplement almost 80 per cent of their monthly installments.

First up is 29-year old Panneerselvam Periakaruppan. Going by Panneer on the streets, the proprietor of his family’s restaurant took a chance on after coming across Trevo on Facebook. His curiosity piqued, he walked into their office to learn more.

To test the waters, he shared his Perodua Alza and covered his monthly loan installment from just 10 days of rental. A true believer in the gospel of car-sharing now, he has seven cars listed on Trevo that includes a Honda City, Proton Persona, Perodua Aruz and Perodua Axia alongside the initial Alza.

Next up, Panneer convinced his siblings to do the same, “It wasn’t an easy process to convince them as they had concerns, which is understandable as a car owner. I continuously shared my experience and explained how all Hosts on the platform can opt for Trevo Shield. This offering from Trevo was important to me as I know that my car is covered by liability protection of up to RM3 million against damage to my car. I also really appreciate how the team could help me handle everything, from the delivery of the car to the Guest and up to having my car returned to me.”

“To those who would like to try sharing their cars, first learn and read about car sharing. Be responsible and fully understand what it means to share your car with other people. When you finally decide to go for it, make the Guest your priority. You need to believe that it will work out,” Panneer advised in closing.

Next up is a newcomer; 44-year old Hazrinisam Za’adun. Wounding up being a Host in a similar fashion, he discoved Trevo on Facebook and learning more via the online host onboarding session, Hazrinisam was convinced to list his car.

Explaining that he has four cars at home but only two were fully utilised, Hazrinisam said he decided to share one of his extra cars because it was parked in his porch and was rarely used.

“I felt it was better to generate some extra income from the car. Trust is the deciding factor, when it comes to whether you want to share your car with other people, who might need it more than you at times, if you think about it,” he said.

His Honda City Hybrid was booked for a month within the first month of being listed.

“It was unexpected. I saw car sharing as just another way for me to earn extra income to support my family but the opportunity it presented was beyond my expectations. My monthly car loan amounts to RM1,200, and the income generated from my first car booking was roughly more than RM900. It was enough to cover about 80 per cent of my car loan,” he enthused.