Rent out your car in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley without running a rental business. 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 prestige car hire business based in Sydney, two hours down the M1, with a host network. Newcastle and the Hunter are the first places we are opening outside Sydney in New South Wales.
Is your car a fit?
The Hunter runs on weddings and wine weekends, and the cars that suit it look right outside a vineyard. 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. A roomy SUV suits a group doing the cellar doors.
- 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 Transport for NSW and your insurer whether hiring the car out changes anything on your 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, 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 Newcastle, 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 New South Wales
Transport for NSW has a registration usage for rental vehicles let for hire without a driver. Ask Service NSW whether your car's usage needs to change, and your CTP insurer whether hiring it out changes your green slip, before you list. Tolls on Sydney's motorways 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 Newcastle, and why now
The Hunter is one of the busiest regional visitor markets in the country, and we found no local self-drive prestige specialist.
- Weddings. The Hunter Valley sells itself as the country's leading regional wedding destination, and a wedding car is booked months ahead.
- Wine country. Pokolbin and the cellar doors fill every weekend, with people who drove up from Sydney wanting something better for the day.
- Newcastle Airport at Williamtown takes domestic flights, and the city itself is a two-hour drive from Sydney.
- Sydney is close. Hosts here are in reach of our Sydney guests, and our Sydney fleet is in reach of yours.
Founding hosts
There are no Drive Tribe cars in Newcastle yet. We are opening Newcastle and the Hunter 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 Newcastle and the Hunter opens and a direct line to James, who onboards each one personally. We do not promise bookings or income figures.
Newcastle and the Hunter run under the same New South Wales rules as our Sydney hosts, so there is no new state to set up.
Read how hosting works in Sydney, or how a booking works from the guest's side.
Hosting somewhere else? Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Adelaide, Hobart, Wollongong, Cairns, Canberra or Darwin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I list my car in Newcastle yet?
Yes, you can apply now. We are opening Newcastle and the Hunter 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 Newcastle?
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 Newcastle?
No. Drive Tribe runs from Sydney. In Newcastle 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 Newcastle and the Hunter 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