If you live near a hospital or a business premises where it costs workers money to use car parks, have you considered renting out your driveway? A lot of stress for people comes from having to pay a great whack of cash for a parking space they cannot always find. With so few spaces in these car parks, your parking space could be snapped up on a daily basis, maybe even for two shifts a day! If you're not using it, you can make a great bit of extra cash from hiring it out!
How to rent out a parking space?
In order to rent out your parking space, you need to list it as for rent. There are dedicated apps and and websites that help you to do this (see below) but you can just as easily use Gumtree or a Facebook community group to let people know it's free and available. You might even see some posts on these forums asking to see if anyone has a space to rent, which you can easily reply to. I've noticed college students asking as they are struggling to park in the college car park due to lack of spaces. If you have a space for rent in an area where there are parking issues, your space will likely be snapped up quickly. You do need to check your home insurance policy. Renting out your driveway can cause some problems on certain policies so it's always best to check for a problem before finding one after you've started to the process. Don't forget that any extra cash must be declared unless it's under £1000 which can be your tax-free trading allowance.
How much money you can earn?
In order to figure out how much you should charge for your parking space, you need to consider a number of factors. Firstly, what are the prices of other parking spaces in the area. For example, how much is the hospital car park for members? Your driveway likely further away from the hospital than the car park but the renter can drive straight to it, knowing it's available, instead of driving around looking for a space. If the hospital car park charges £8 a day, consider charging £5 a day. That's £25 for a five day week which works out at £1300 a year. If you manage to get two shift workers using your drive, even £4 per shift would mean £40 for a 5 day week or over £2000 a year. £6 a day, every day of the year would be almost £2200. Maybe you're near an airport and can rent out your space for £50 a week. Or near a football stadium or gig venue and can undercut the £15 spaces often advertised to park on some flattened hardcore. It's one way to overpay your mortgage!
Apps / Websites you can use to rent out your parking space
As mentioned above there are a number of different apps and websites you can use to advertise your parking space. Names include JustPark and Park On My Drive. Some are better for longer term rentals, some best for short term. They all have different fees so you need to find one that works for you. Some make their cash with expensive commission fees, others charge on top of what you charge so you're not losing any cash. Alternatively, you can avoid fees by advertising your space yourself, however you likely won't get a good of a reach.
You can make some decent money, renting your driveway out as a parking space. Just look at what way works best for you.
