Start your own car rental business with SnappCar

Frits Pieper
30 Mar 2015

SnappCar: what should you pay attention to?

In recent years, new initiatives to rent or lease a car have sprung up like mushrooms. Through, among others, SnappCar en MyWheels For example, it is possible to rent out your own car or rent a car from someone else.

But what should you pay attention to when you own car rental starts via SnappCar?

What is Snappcar?

SnappCar is an online platform where car owners and people without a car can find each other. People who do not have a car but would like to use one for a day or a weekend, can rent one here (for example from the neighbors!). The idea for this platform came from the discovery that in the Netherlands 8 million cars are parked for an average of 23 hours a day!

The benefits of SnappCar for car owners

Using SnappCar offers many advantages for car owners who do not often drive their own car, but often have it parked outside the door. Below are the most important advantages of SnappCar.

Save on fixed monthly costs

As a car owner, you can save a lot save costs when you don't drive your own car much. You have a lot of monthly costs regardless of whether you drive the car or not. So every month you pay the car insurance, Road tax and a parking permit for your car. By renting out the car on the days that you do not use it yourself, you earn money to cover these monthly costs.

You determine the rental price yourself

At SnappCar you determine the price yourself that you want to have for renting out your car. Renters pay SnappCar €10 per day, which includes insurance and brokerage costs. As a landlord, you pay 17,5% commission of the amount for which you rent the car. Depending on how often you rent the car, you can earn some extra money.

You decide who drives your car

As a car owner, you are not obliged to accept every rental request at SnappCar. Renter and landlord must both agree. SnappCar cannot therefore oblige you as a car owner to rent out your car when it is for rent.

At SnappCar the car is fully comprehensively insured

With every rental transaction the car is automatically insured against theft, vandalism, damage and liability for the whole of Europe. This means that when you rent the car to someone who is going abroad for a longer period, you do not have to worry about the insurance. Co-passengers are also insured.

Please note that you must inform your own car insurer when you are going to rent out your car via SnappCar. This is mandatory.

Are there also disadvantages?

Because SnappCar acts as an intermediary in car rental, there are even more factors that you as a renter and landlord depend on before you can rent a car.

Limited supply outside the Randstad

This is evident from research Dutch Consumers' Association that it range of cars outside the Randstad can sometimes be disappointing. This means that there is not always a car available to rent in every location.

car offer parking space

Last-minute renting can sometimes be difficult

When you as a renter make a request via SnappCar to rent a car, you remain dependent on whether the car rental company responds to this. It often happens that your rental request is only responded to after a few days, this causes a high degree of uncertainty when renting a car just before you need it.

Possible risk of damage to others

Even though extra insurance is included in the price, as a car owner you run a risk when the renter causes damage to someone else. There is a chance that the insurer of the victim will (temporarily) recover the amount from you personally. This is because this insurer sends a notice of liability to your insurer based on the data from the RDW (this is not stated on the extra insurance of SnappCar).

Rental requests may be rejected

For the car owner this is clearly an advantage, you do not have to accept every rental request so you can decide for yourself who drives your car. For the potential renter of the car this is indeed a disadvantage, because you cannot assume that you can actually rent the car. So when you submit a rental request via SnappCar you do not yet know for sure whether you can actually use the car.

Also read our complete comparison of all car sharing services.

SnappCar is growing!

SnappCar makes clever use of the latest trends in startup land. For example, they use through crowdfunding to raise money to grow the company. New features on the website or international growth, they are busy with it. So has SnappCar recently acquired a Danish competitor and there are concrete growth plans for other countries in Europe.


Do you have any further questions or comments about the differences between renting a car through SnappCar or traditional car rental companies? Post your comment below.

5 comments

  1. Hugo on April 3, 2015 at 10:12 am

    Snappcar is the future! I fully believe that this is what it will be and I really hope that they survive. Sharing = caring! Ownership will become less and less important!!!

    • Ballast on April 5, 2015 at 18:18 am

      I still want to own a car. Don't trust it when others touch it. That's why it will never be the future! There are always people like me who value ownership

    • Seth Leenman on June 19, 2019 at 15:48

      Dear Hugo,

      I share the same opinion with you. Sharing is the future not only for modern cars but also for oldtimers. Recently we started a new car sharing platform for old cars for festive occasions for more information: loyaltyride.nl Many enthusiastic landlords and tenants, there is nothing more beautiful than this, right?

      Kind regards, Seth

  2. Niels on April 6, 2015 at 15:29 am

    The information in this article is all very outdated. The article from the Consumers' Association is from 2013. Also, the commission for Snappcar is not 17,5% but a fixed amount per rental price (I think something like 5 euros). I have had good experiences with Snappcar myself, I regularly rent a car there because I only have a bike myself.

    • Frits Pieper on April 10, 2015 at 14:38 am

      Dear Niels,
      Thank you very much for your sharp eye and pen. We have done some more research and indeed see that the information is incorrect. We will dig deeper and adjust the message.

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