I have posted my first 2 week sit for my cat and home, and received quite a few interested sitters who don’t have their own car, and have used the HO car as part of previous sits. My home is walkable to town, but for grocery shopping, it is easier with a car, and also if there were to be an emergency with the cat, I would feel more comfortable that they could drive her to the vet. I’d welcome any input here- will I limit applicants if I state the need to have their own vehicle? I want to be as welcoming as possible! Thank you in advance
Short answer Yes .
If this is a necessity it would be best to offer use of your car to sitters who don’t have one .
If you are in a very popular location ( you get 5 applications as soon as you post your dates ) you could state that sitters having a car is a requirement and decline any applicants that don’t. This strategy could work if you are usually inundated with great applicants.
Yes the short answer is that you will. If the shops are walkable and the car is really back up for an emergency vet trip then much easier (& more flexible) to simply leave the sitter cash for a taxi should it be needed. We wouldn’t take a sit where the hosts think our car is in case of vet visits. As the pet’s owner, that’s your potential issue to manage not the sitter. #thinkingahead
Hi @Catservant 
I think there’s a difference between requiring a sitter to have their own car and needing them to have access to a car during the sit.
If the house is walkable to town, I’d be inclined to explain the practicalities in the listing rather than make owning a car an absolute requirement. That gives sitters the opportunity to decide whether the location works for them.
The vet issue is probably the more important consideration. If you’re uncomfortable with a sitter using your car, perhaps make sure there’s a realistic alternative for an emergency, such as a taxi service that accepts pets or a local pet taxi.
I’d also be very clear about expectations if your car is made available. Who can drive it, what use is permitted and what happens in the event of an accident are all worth agreeing beforehand.
Personally, I think being upfront about the practicalities gives you a much better chance of finding the right sitter than simply saying “own car required.”
I offer use of my car because although we have a nice bus system to get around town to the shops, and the train station for longer outings, it is more convenient to have a car for grocery shopping. Primarily though it is to transport my pets in case of emergency. Taxis and ubers near us won’t take pets at all (and yes there is an Uber pets but it’s basically useless with too few cars), and our public transit doesn’t allow pets either. I don’t want my pets suffering if they become ill because the sitter has no way to transport them. I actually note in my listing that sitters should be willing and able to transport the pets in our car in case of emergency (we’ve had applicants who don’t drive at all, which doesn’t work for us for the reasons already stated).
In the US most car insurance has a permitted use clause (ours allows us to lend a car for you to 30 days, but obviously check your own insurance). We’ve never had a problem and the sitters we’ve lent to have always been extra careful drivers. As a bonus, they’ve also offered to drive us to/from the airport.
I would recommend noting that sitters should have a valid driver’s license (check your state laws but in CA it is fine to drive with an international license as long as it’s current) and get a copy of it in case there is an insurance matter.
Yes it does increase your pool of applicants, significantly.
I would put in your profile that your home is walkable to town and list what is there. Are there restaurants, movie theater, etc. Then list the miles to the nearest grocery store. If there is public transportation as in a bus, you can mention that. Say a car would be needed for grocery shopping or the sitter can have home delivery if that is available. I would mention your car is not available. Post and see the response. You may get less applicants but they will be exactly the ones who meet your criteria. Also if you provides bikes, that might solve the grocery store run.
The OP wants a sitter with their own car to take the pets to the vets .
@Catservant, welcome to THS Forum and kudos on fab name!
We agree with @Silversitters and @Cuttlefish - yes, it would likely reduce the number, and inherently potential quality, of applicant pool. That said, housesitting requires a fair trade. There’s nothing to stop you creating listing and stating that housesitter must bring their own vehicle. Then assess number/quality of applicants. It’s impossible to assess hypothetical impact. If struggle then you can consider whether to relist and offer use of car, subject to reasonable driving history. No right answer here.
For context, 20+ of our housesits have included use of pet parent vehicle. In 2 instances, pet parent asked us to pay 50% or 100% of incremental car insurance costs - and after reviewing overall trade then we happily paid. But in vast majority of cases, incremental cost was immaterial to pet parent. We have not had any issues, damage or challenges with pet parent vehicles. But clearly there is a risk.
One thing to note: people who drive everywhere tend to underestimate how walkable a place is, and how robust the transit is.
If town is walkable but grocery shopping is best done with a car, there are some options other than offering your car:
- is there a grocery store that delivers to your home?
- In case of emergency is there a taxi or rideshare option, for which you would either leave cash or immediately transfer funds (or just order yourself, although depending on time zone differences that may not be practical in a real emergency)?
- If you are wary about a rideshare with your pet, is there a local trusted friend who could be called on in an emergency? Keep in mind that, unless your pet has known health issues, this is very unlikely to happen - but I 100% understand needing an emergency plan.
- Is there an online schedule of buses that a potential sitter could check to see if it works for them?
- Would you be willing to do a pre-trip shop, coordinating with the sitter on the essentials they need? Since you mention a nearby town, are there really no food supply options there? Or just no big grocery store?
Of course, offering use of your car is possible. And not offering it will likely decrease the pool of applicants - but I can see such a sit appealing to some even without use of a car. Then again, I am a lifelong pedestrian and have worked out how to get places without driving all around the world. Including some pretty rural places!
If you really “want to be as welcoming as possible,” then offer your car in your listing. It sounds like you did not include your car in your listing, and sitter applicants proactively told you that they want to use your car. Is that what happened? Hmmm…if you can walk to the grocery store from your house, no car needed. If the cat has to go to the vet, is there an emergency contact who could take the cat to the vet? Don’t feel pressured to let sitters use your car.
Where are you located?
Are you aware of the 5 applicant limit?
I am so touched by the speed and thoroughness of these responses from the community- Thank you to each of you- I have read each one and it gives me wonderful info to get a feel of the ‘norms’ here. I amended my Listing, and immediatley got 2 new applicants, both seem excellent. So, BIG thanks to you all, and I will certainly ‘pay it forward’ …
Offering a car can make a big difference to potential sitters although it’s hard to say how many would actually pass on the sit if they weren’t offered a car. If you’ve got enough interest and don’t feel comfortable letting a sitter use your car, then you probably can find someone who is good without it. If you can’t get a qualified applicant then you may need to go outside your comfort zone and offer it but then you’ve already put off the first round of applicants who I suppose you could go back and contact and say that the car will be available.
In your case it’s a good idea at the very least to offer to connect a sitter to a local rental car agency and know how much it will cost them and/or let them know what public transportation options are available and how much it costs to go to shopping, things to do, etc.
We’ve never used an owners car.
Between THS and other sites, we’ve done around 70 sits in 3.5 years. We’ve had our car in our own country, and public transport/taxi’s when overseas.
On 4 sits the HO’s have either picked us up or dropped us off, but on every occasion it’s been within 3 miles of their property.
We’ve never had anyone pick us up from an airport.
If you NEED to offer a car to help you secure a sitter, do it. If you WANT to a offer a car to sitter, do it. If you don’t want to offer your car to a sitter, don’t do it.
I just want to share my experience as a word of caution. My last sitter (ever, as I cancelled my HO membership after this sit) had told me she planned to use the bus during the sit because I happen to be located right on an easy bus line to anywhere in the area. I picked her up at the airport, hosted her in my home on the first night and then drove myself to the airport for my trip out with her in my car and at that time she asked if she could use the car to go grocery shopping on her way back, to which I agreed.
That was all I agreed to use of my car. When I got back I noticed there were 190 miles added to my car, which I would not have agreed to since my car wasn’t in great shape. She would not answer my question about how she used my car, which I was very offended by since it was not requested nor permitted by me, and I would not have said yes if she asked me. I think she took it on a long trip out of town. Worse, there was some nasty substance all over the side of the passenger side of my car that she neglected to wash off. It seemed like her passenger got sick on the side of my car. She willfully neglected to answer for that either, and accused me of harassing her for answers which I felt I was owed simply because it was my property I was asking her about.
Anyway, I wrote a factual non-emotional review for her on the platform. This was before they adopted their sensible blind review system, and she then left me a retaliatory review filled with what I considered false information. I battled with TH to remove her review, especially after she stopped her membership but they refused, unfortunately. I don’t know if her review is still on my profile; probably not since I no longer am a HO on the app, only a sitter.
Caution - be very explicit about permissions to use your car if you offer it, and record the starting mileage.
For being walkable to town, if it’s nice weather, offering a car shouldn’t make a difference. As a sitter I’d rather walk an hour to go somewhere than to take a HO’s car because it’s a liability risk.
I don’t understand? Why is driving someone else’s car more liability than your own car if there’s insurance? I sure wouldn’t want to walk an hour carrying groceries!
ugh I’m so sorry you had that experience, and thank you for sharing that here…good food for thought