First sit questions

Owner Questions, Advice & Chat
1

Hi,

I’ve just joined as an owner and will be posting my first sit at some point.
I had a few questions I’m hoping other owners could help me with!

  1. If you give the sitter use of your car, how do you go about organising the car insurance? Does the sitter have to use their own third-party insurance, and how do you confirm they have this? What do international sitters do with driving?

  2. When it comes to the owners’ departure and return times, is this something you agree with each individual sitter? How long should handover times be?

  3. Should you provide basic staples: bread, milk, etc?

I’m sorry if these are all answered on the site; I prefer to get first-hand experiences.

Thank you!

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  1. You’ll have to check your own insurance first. Here in Thailand, but also in many other countries, the insurance is for the car, independant of who’s driving it. Of course a valid drivers license is always required, which may mean an international drivers license for sitters from other countries. You’ll have to check the legislation in your country to find out. We just ask sitters if they have an international license, but if you want to be absolutely sure the sitter has the right documents, just ask them to show you.

    An ordinary third party liability insurance will often not cover car accidents. I’m not sure if a sitter can get an insurence that covers their liability as a driver. So again: check with your car insurance first.

  2. In principle departure and return times are set by the owner. Sometimes there’s no other option, for example when booked flights are involved. But if these times are flexible, there’s nothing wrong with adapting to the time that suits best for the sitter.

    Handover times depend on the complexity of the sit. We live remote and have a lot of animals to take care for, so we ask sitters to arrive at least one day in advance and go through an entire day schedule together. For most sitters that’s even an advantage, because they have to travel to get to our place, and we have a seperate guest house. It might be different when you live in a small appartment, but in that case the sit will probably be not too complicated :-).

  3. You can. It’s very hospitable. We never do shopping especially for the sitters, but there’s always plenty of fruit and other food and drinks and we say they can use whatever they want and don’t need to replenish the used stock. But it’s completely up to you.

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3

Thank you! This is very helpful. :blush::heart_hands:

4

Hello and welcome!

We have been on THS for 2 years now and absolutely love it. We have met the most wonderful people. As for questions:

  1. We don’t offer use of our car. We are just not comfortable with this.
  2. When I post a sit, I add a note when our departure time is and our return time, with flight info. 99% of the time we leave very early in the morning and arrive late at night on our return. We include the night before to stay at our home and the night we arrive in our dates. This way the sitter knows at the time of application and the video call. We also state we take the sitter out to dinner the night before our departure to get to know them. We always have a fantastic experience.
  3. We don’t leave staples for sitters because sitters have all different types of dietary restrictions. We always offer to get items started for them, but no one has taken us up on it.
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Thank you. I really appreciate the advice! :blush:

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The times are only set by the owner if it gets mentioned BEFORE a sit is agreed. If you wait to discuss timings at a later date, you need to figure it out with your sitter, and find a solution for the start/end dates.

If your sitter isn’t able to arrive/leave when you want, and a particular sitter seems perfect for you in every other way, then one solution would be to ask neighbours/family to help out on the start/end dates, or some hide the keys in their garden, some leave the keys with a neighbour for the sitter to collect, etc, and on the end date, the sitter can just post the keys through the letterbox when they leave. That happens a lot. You work it out between yourselves.

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7

Well the sitter may also be depending on flights , trains or public transport so the time should be discussed and mutually agreed before the sit is confirmed. Like if a sitter is travelling a long distance they won’t be able to arrive at 7 am but it could be offered that they arrive the evening before and stay over - or the hosts might go to an airport hotel after they have done the handover . It has to work for both parties . Similarly if the host doesn’t return home until late in the day , they may offer the sitter to stay that night .

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8

Thank you. This is a great tip!

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9

Luckily, we have helpful neighbours and family locally!

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10

Hi @Tara1608

Welcome to the forum — and to your first sit!

Here are a few things that might help as you get started:

  1. Using your car

This part is very country-specific, so it’s best to check what your own insurer allows.

In some places, owners can add a sitter as a temporary driver; in others, the sitter must have their own cover or an international permit. Always confirm directly with your insurer so you know exactly what’s permitted and what documentation you’ll need from the sitter.

  1. Departure and return times

Yes — you agree this individually with each sitter. Many people allow 30–60 minutes at the start for the handover (pets, routines, quirks of the house). On return, some prefer a quick overlap, others don’t need one. Just be clear about what you’d like.

  1. Basics like bread and milk

Completely optional. Some owners provide them, some don’t. A good middle ground is to leave a few essentials for the sitter’s first morning, or simply let them know what’s available for them to use.

Hope that helps — and good luck with your first sit!

:paw_prints::heart:

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11

You will get some answers here but, yes, there are multiple, more in-depth threads on all the subjects you are raising.

As a new host on THS, you are probably in the same boat we were in when we started. That is, we had a lot to learn but had little idea what we needed to know that we did not know we needed. Rummaging through old threads to find answers to questions is how we stumbled across answers to questions we never thought to ask. Rummaging through old threads was more useful during our learning process than asking our own basic questions.

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12

My favorite listings are the ones that specify within the listing, what time (and date) the owners are leaving and returning, and at what time and date would they prefer pet sitters to arrive, as it gives me a very good idea if I am available and can make it. As @Silversitters mentioned, early departures are tricky, because planes usually don’t land before 5-6am, so by the time sitters makes it to the location of the sit, it’s usually mid morning or noon, so the owner needs to think accordingly, what would work. Just picture a perfect stranger arriving, to your house, maybe has never seen the country, town of area ever, has travelled (so is tired) and now has to meet people in person they never have seen before, other than on a video call. It’s a lot, so give yourselves plenty of time!

And for the food staples, it is SO appreciated when there is something to nibble on when we arrive. Like a piece of cracker or a fruit, anything really, as the sitter might not have been fed on the plane, train, bus, etc., might not have had the time to purchase something en route to your house and will probably not just arrive, say hello and go purchase food in a shop they have never been to: when you leave, they are left alone with your fur babies, and might want to sit down, have a glass of water in peace after all this travel, have a cuddle with you pet, and maybe have a bite. It’s up to you, but the best hosts always offer us a cup of tea, coffee, and a bite when we arrive, and have a few staples for the first morning (or the net meal), like bread, for example, so we don’t need to rush outside to feed ourselves.

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13

Thank you! :heart_hands:

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14

I really appreciate hearing from the point of view of a sitter. Thank you, it’s incredibly helpful! :hugs:

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15

Thank you. I’ll have a look through for sure!

16

It doesn’t happen often but we really appreciate it when we return from a holiday and discover the sitter has washed and waxed our other vehicles, sealed the asphalt driveway and applied a new coat of paint to the exterior of the house.

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@idocsteve what@??

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Did AI suggest that :zany_face: ?

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19

Not sure I can add much to what’s already been said but… Definitely check the insurance situation where you live. Where I am, car insurance is done through the government and if someone drives your car more than 12 days in one year, they have to be listed on the policy. It’s a bit of a pain because you have to pay for them to be added for the rest of your policy and then as soon as you are able, you take them back off and get a refund. Would get exceedingly expensive if someone did not have a clean driving record. I have a couple of times had the sitter use my car, once for more than the 12 days so I did pay for their insurance on my car and the other was less than 12 days so I didn’t have to. I also make sure that they have a good dog cover for the backseat of their car, a couple of old towels, and I give them money for gas for taking my dog to a dog park if they’re using their own vehicle.

I say that they are free to use any of the staples in the house, and even things like coffee, tea, eggs, any fruit or vegetables that I have left And that they do not need to replace these. I do make sure there is space in the fridge, the freezer, and a cupboard, for them to put their own belongings.

I also make sure that they have closet space, including a folding dirty clothes hamper, two or three empty drawers in the spare room where they sleep.

I always recommend being very upfront about expectations should something happen to a pet as to whether they should euthanize or pay that bills which of course I would pay back, if they couldn’t reach me right away.

Also being upfront about how long your pet can be left alone, one thing I do is ask a neighbour if they are able to come over maybe once or twice depending on the length of the time so that the sitter can go away for a longer period of time.

I always point out which neighbours they can go to if they have an issue in the house and can’t reach me right away. That’s also a very nonchalant way of letting them know I live in a neighbourhood where people keep an eye on what’s happening at each other’s houses! And of course I’ve already given them the information about things like the water shut off valves.

I cringe when I read sitters, make comments about how they take pictures of all of the cupboards to make sure they put everything back in the same place! I assure sitters that I am not going to have a fit if they find a better place to put something in my cupboards than what I do.

I aim for good communication, and that includes when I’m sitting at the ferry terminal, and I realized that I haven’t emptied the dishwasher… And I’m texting the sitter to apologize.

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I no longer offer the use of my car. I had a bad experience that made me decide this. (long story, but a sitter basically wanted to go on a short trip with my dog to a different town - with “friends” as passengers in the car) …. it had never occurred to me to stipulate a boundary like this with my car use. It’s just too hard to cover all of the possible boundaries that one might (erroneously) assume with such a thing.

I always want to have AT LEAST one hour to show the sitter my property (and its quirks) and get introduced to the animals before my departure. Pre-travel time can be frantic (last second packing, stuff going wrong, etc.) … so I try to have a very generous buffer time. (ie: if my flight is at 5 and I’m leaving my house to get to the airport at 3:30 … I’ll ask the sitter to be at my house before noon. I ALWAYS invite my sitters to come a day or two early and/or leave a day late. My guest room will be ready for them anyway and everyone can be more well acquainted).

For sitters flying, I ask them to come the day prior — this has saved grief more than once due to flight delays, etc.

I always tell my sitters to feel free to eat/drink anything they want. I do try to be mindful of having “the basics” available (and will sometimes leave a little “gift basket”), but I often find everything untouched so don’t stress about it.

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