Accountant Shifts Gears To Renting Out Cars

Notes from Chris

Episode 1618

Kisean Smith graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016 with a degree in accounting. While studying, he had low expenses and paid minimal student rent. But after graduating and landing his first job, he soon realized student life is not real life.

In his home city of Atlanta, rent for even a modest place was four times what he was used to. Being an accountant, Kisean started to crunch some numbers. He figured he could buy a modest home, rent out the spare rooms on AirBnB, and make a profit on top of his monthly payments. To make a long story short, it worked—and that was what led to his next adventure.

The sharing economy has become a huge industry. AirBnB is now a household name but there’s plenty of other services in the space—and Kisean set about exploring them. He soon discovered Getaround, a platform that enables car owners to rent their cars to others for an hourly or daily rate. After a good experience as a renter, Kisean decided he wanted in on the action.

He settled on a 2015 white SmartCar: cheap, small and fit for utility. He purchased the car for one thousand dollars down with monthly payments of one hundred and seventy six dollars.

Kisean received bookings almost instantly. By the end of the first month, he’d earned seven hundred dollars in rentals. After the car payment, insurance, and commission he was still left with well over two hundred dollars profit. The best part though, was that it took almost no work. Getaround provided the marketing channel, their app took care of the logistics, and all he had to do was sit and wait for the money to hit his bank account.

Kisean was excited! That first month's results were enough to go all in on this side hustle. Almost immediately, he purchased a second car, same as the first and under the same financial terms. It too became a successful rental on Getaround. So, he did it again and by now was the proud owner of three Smart Cars all zipping from A to B around Atlanta earning him money every month.

Being an accountant, Kisean kept a close eye on the numbers over the following months. He learned that on average his cars were rented for nineteen days a month resulting in up to nine hundred dollars of rental income. After subtracting the expenses he was still left with an average of three hundred dollars profit per car, per month.

With those figures, it was time to hit the gas.

Kisean switched from a financing to purchasing model and began using his own funds to purchase additional cars in cash. He’d buy from private sellers, not dealerships, that enabled him to find better deals. Over the next two years, his personal fleet grew to thirteen vehicles and encompassed not just Smart Cars, but Fords, Nissans, and Kias as well. With that many cars, Kisean earns well over three thousand dollars profit per month. The best part though, is that he does it all remotely and in less than one hour a day.

 

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MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• Thinking about replicating Kisean’s hustle? Learn more about how people rent out their vehicles at, getaround.com or Turo.com.

SEE ALSO:

• Make $4,000/Month Renting Out Cars You Don’t Own: How a Los Angeles man leases a fleet of 16 cars and rents them out at a higher rate making over $4,000/month.
• Car Enthusiast Races Towards Reselling Success: A former product manager sees the potential in importing specialty car parts.
• Car Parts Employee Finds Shocking Surplus Suspension: When a young marketer feels like he isn’t taken seriously at work, he sets the wheels in motion and starts selling car suspension systems on eBay.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,