Telly Zavala

Believe it or not, I “happened” into becoming a rental car host somewhat by accident.  Here is my story:

In 2016 while driving for Uber, I had a fare that I picked up at a plasma clinic.  When I asked him why he sold his plasma, he told me that he needed money because he was late on rent saying that he was having a hard time finding a job.  His story was so compelling to me, that I wanted to help him, by offering the use on my car to drive for Uber, to earn money to get caught up in his rent.  He agreed, and IO helped him become a Uber driver in just 11 hours, now driving my car to earn income.  He could not believe that a stranger was willing to offer him a car and help him get a job driving it for Uber to earn the income he needed to meet his financial obligations.

At this point, I saw the value of renting my vehicles to Uber drivers to help them earn income, while also earning some additional income for myself.  This became a profitable venture, but also a new and very risky business as you would expect.  I soon need to find a service to support my new business and the addition of more cars and drivers.  But this new business became more and more risky as I became more concerned about my insurance needs.  This is a good thing, because the business had grown now to four cars, and several drivers.  Some of these drivers were having challenges that I simply could not afford, so in just two years I let go of all my drivers and moved to a different model – becoming a rental car host.

Using apps such as Getaround, HyerCar and then Turo, I have adapted my original business model into the current rental car host model in which I now operate 15 cars.  I am only making payments on two of my cars now, and should have them all paid off by the end of this year.

I think this will give you a little insight into how I joined the car sharing business………”by accident”.

Thanks for reading my story, I hope it may encourage you to become your own business owner if you find our industry and this rental car host model or service model to be an option for you to make ends meet during these crazy times.