Become a car rental host in Melbourne without becoming a rental company. You keep the car, your business and your rates; Drive Tribe finds the guests, verifies every driver, holds the bond, signs the contract and pays you a statement each period.
We are a Sydney prestige car hire business with a host network, and Melbourne is one of the cities we are opening next. If you want to earn money from a car you already own, start here.
Is your car a fit?
Melbourne runs on big events and long drives, and the cars that suit it are the ones people plan a weekend around. We want:
- Prestige and performance: the German and British badges, M, AMG and RS models, and the V8 coupes.
- Luxury SUVs: Range Rover, G-Class, X7, Q7, Cayenne. Melbourne winters make an all-wheel-drive SUV an easy hire.
- Exotics and supercars, if you are prepared to hire yours.
- Small rental operators running a few cars on a spreadsheet and bank transfers.
You own the car or have the legal right to hire it out, it is registered and roadworthy, and you can show some history. Ask VicRoads and your insurer whether hiring the car out changes anything on your Victorian registration.
What Drive Tribe does
We run everything around the car, from Sydney, as we do for our Sydney hosts.
- Finds guests. Your car on drivetribe.com.au, bookable around the clock, and in front of a network of hosts who send each other clients.
- Verifies every driver. Identity and licence checked through trusted third-party providers, including against the Australian Government Document Verification Service, before the keys move. You can still refuse a driver.
- Takes payment and holds the bond. Card payments through trusted third-party providers, and a bond equal to the guest's excess held on their card: a hold, not a charge, released after the return inspection.
- Signs the contract. A digital rental agreement between your business and the guest, signed before release.
- Tracks the car. GPS tracking and a starter-interrupt immobiliser where a supported device is fitted. It can stop a parked car restarting, never a moving one.
- Records the handover. Pick-up and drop-off walkthroughs in the Host Portal on your phone: every panel, fuel and odometer, with the guest present.
- Settles damage. Damage is priced up to the guest's excess; fuel, kilometres, tolls on CityLink and EastLink, fines and cleaning go on top, never capped.
What you do
- Keep the car clean, serviced to the manufacturer's schedule, and registered.
- Keep the calendar honest. Blocking dates for yourself takes two taps.
- Hand the car over at your pick-up point in Melbourne, or offer delivery within a radius you set.
- Keep your insurance in force while the car is listed.
Every rental is between the guest and your business, under your own company or ABN. Drive Tribe handles booking and payment for you as the platform, not the rental company.
How you get paid
Per payout period, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, not per trip. Each statement shows what was collected, your share, every fee against its booking, and the net amount paid to you. No trip is ever paid twice.
Commission depends on where the booking came from. A guest you bring yourself costs you less than one we find for you. The full schedule is shown before you sign.
If a guest pays you in cash or by transfer, record it in the app; it is squared up on your next statement.
How the money works
There is no listing fee. On a booking we find for you, you keep 80% of the rental, and a platform fee of 2.2% plus GST on the rental total is itemised against it. On guests you bring yourself, the fee is lower, so it pays to put your own clients through the platform too. The first seven hosts on the platform also get 30 days of hands-on onboarding and training: we photograph and list the car, set rates with you and do the first handovers alongside you. The full fee schedule is in the Host Portal before you sign, and the Sydney host page has a worked example.
Registration and insurance in Victoria
In Victoria the TAC hire category (5(d), hire and drive yourself) applies to a car that is primarily used for hire. A car that is mostly private and shared occasionally may stay in the passenger category; a car that is mainly rented should move, at about $356 a year more in the metropolitan zone. Check your car with VicRoads and your insurer before you list. Tolls on CityLink and EastLink are billed to the registered owner, so each car needs its own toll account, and we on-charge the guest. Your comprehensive policy must permit hire to the public. We do not bundle insurance: you keep your own hire-use policy.
Why Melbourne, and why now
Melbourne's events calendar brings visitors in waves, and two airports feed it.
- Two airports. Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine takes most flights; Avalon, on the Geelong side, runs Jetstar services including to Bali.
- The Australian Grand Prix in March. Formula 1 at Albert Park is the weekend a performance car sells itself.
- The Australian Open in January and the Spring Racing Carnival in October and November, when Melbourne Cup week fills the city.
- The drives. The Great Ocean Road and the Yarra Valley are the weekend runs people choose the car for.
Founding hosts
There are no Drive Tribe cars in Melbourne yet. We are opening Melbourne with a founding group of hosts, and guests will be able to book there once the first cars are listed. Founding hosts get priority placement when Melbourne opens and a direct line to James, who onboards each one personally. We do not promise bookings or income figures.
The rental agreement and insurance for Victoria are being finalised with each founding host before the first car goes live.
Read how hosting works in Sydney, or how a booking works from the guest's side.
Hosting somewhere else? Gold Coast, Brisbane, Perth, Sunshine Coast, Newcastle, Geelong, Adelaide, Hobart, Wollongong, Cairns, Canberra or Darwin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I list my car in Melbourne yet?
Yes, you can apply now. We are opening Melbourne with a founding group of hosts, and guests can book there once the first cars are listed. We will not give you a date we cannot keep.
Do you provide insurance?
No. You need your own policy that permits hiring your car to the public, in force the whole time you are listed. Not sure yours qualifies? Ask us anyway; we would rather point you at the right cover than turn you away.
How much can I earn from my car in Melbourne?
We will not give a figure before your car is live. It depends on the car, your rates and the days it is available; the Host Portal shows real earnings from the first trip.
What does it cost to list?
There is no listing fee. On bookings we find for you, you keep 80% of the rental and pay a platform fee of 2.2% plus GST on the rental total, itemised on your statement. On guests you bring yourself the fee is lower. The full schedule is shown in the Host Portal before you sign.
Is there a Drive Tribe office or depot in Melbourne?
No. Drive Tribe runs from Sydney. In Melbourne you are the local operator: you hand over or deliver the car, and the Host Portal runs everything else.
What happens if a guest damages my car?
It is assessed against the handover photographs and priced up to the guest's excess, and the bond on their card equals that excess. Fuel, kilometres, tolls, fines and cleaning are not capped. Anything recovered is paid on your statement.
Who pays the tolls?
The guest. Tolls are a usage charge, billed to the card on file under the rental agreement and never capped at the excess.
What does a founding host get?
Priority placement when Melbourne opens and a direct line to James, who onboards each founding host personally. No promised bookings, income or reduced rate.
Talk to James about your car
The car, where it is kept, and whether your insurance permits hire. He replies himself.
Talk to James about your carCall 0468 011 118Send the details