Maybe this is nothing new, but first I heard of it.
My elderly aunt likes to come and visit, but driving to the airport (about 80 miles from Chicago) is not something she can do.
There is a man in her hometown who has created a rather cool job for himself. He drove to my aunt’s house, then drove her in her car to the airport, drove her car home and parked it in her garage and then drove himself home. He will then go pick up her car, pick her up at the airport when she returns, and then drive her home, pick up his car and drive himself home. (He uses her car for insurance reasons).
He charges her $40 each way.
She says a lot of people hire him - snowbirds who go to Florida or Arizona for the winter, people who go for week long vacations…he has as many as three or four trips to the airport per day!
She said it is cheaper than paying for parking at the airport, plus she doesn’t like to drive in that traffic, and it is like have a limo drive her there and back.
Just thought it was a cool idea, and if you could line up a few trips to the airport and back every week, might not be a bad idea for someone who doesn’t mind driving and wants to earn a little on the side. She said word of mouth has made him a very busy man…and for a retired guy, he is making a nice bit of change on the side.
No. He told her that he would need special insurance for that, but driving her up and back in her own car they are covered as if he was just a friend driving her (which he is, as she has known him for decades). Plus the customer pays for the gas and any tolls (if they have to go to O’Hare).
He has been doing this for several years now. Just thought it was a cool idea, and I could even see myself doing that if I were going to be gone for 10 days or more, just to save on the parking fee and have a curbside pick up.
And if he’s making money driving other people he’s probably required to have a different type of drivers license (which, I assume, he doesn’t have).
It’s all good…until it’s not good.
So, does your aunt’s insurance cover when someone else is driving the car? What if he hit’s someone else and injures them? What if he injures himself in her car? IANAL, and it sounds like a nice casual arrangement…I’m just sayin’ is all.
That would be my concern as well. The insurance company knows it’s a business arrangement, not a friend driving a friend, and different rules apply. They may be OK with it, but maybe not.