In most of places in the US, not having a car is like not having legs, yet few HOs offering use of their car, and there are more sits available than sitters there, and lots of sitters are from abroad, so how do they get around? Do they rent a car?
We offer our car, though our town does have a train station with links to our metro public transit.
Itâs just easier for shopping with a car, and in most of the US pets (except very small ones that can fit in a carrier) arenât allowed on public transit - so in an emergency sitters would need a car to get to the vet (at least for my 70 lb dog, for certain).
Our last sitters were from Europe. They were excellent and careful drivers and returned our car exactly as we lent it. No issues.
Unless youâre in a city with good public transit, youâll need a vehicle of you want to explore. Some areas may be explorable by bike, but HOs donât always have bikes available.
So, pick a major city and no car necessary or a smaller city/suburban/rural areas and get yourself a rental. Oh, and the trains here are nothing like those in Europe.
I am a homeowner and a sitter on THS. When I sit in places where a car is needed, I sometimes rent one. I have also driven my own car to some long sits (distances that seem crazy to a European!). 2 of my 23 sits have offered a car, but a lot of those other sits were in cities where a car wasnât needed - cities in Europe or on the east coast of the US.
I donât usually offer a car to sitters (because I am using it or parking at the airport), and I live in a US city with terrible public transport, but I always find sitters. Often they have their own car.
Just like in the rest of the world, some sits simply arenât a fit for you if you canât manage your own transportation. Like I automatically skip some listings, knowing that.
If possible, I drive my own car or rent one or use ride shares. Some hosts loan cars, but I wouldnât count on that.
BTW, in many places (including cities and suburbs, even some rural areas), you can get groceries and meals delivered. So a car isnât necessarily needed if you want to hang around in the area. Depends on how much sightseeing youâre trying to do and whether the sit offers enough time to get away.
@Travelerthiswld, for housesitting to be effective then it requires a fair trade - for both pet parents and housesitters.
We find that many pet parents whose location lacks good transit (ie. most of North America) may be tempted to offer use of vehicle ⌠if one is available, and if dealbreaker to securing a [preferred] housesitter. We rarely rent vehicles, and never in US.
For listings where we deem use of pet parent vehicle to be important then we state this in our application and provide brief insight into our driving history (left+right hand drive, manual+auto, no claims, âŚ).
We perceive this in similar way to other potential application dealbreakers ⌠state clearly in application. If pet parent declines then all good.
IMHO, it seems the same around the world. If youâre in a city or larger town, you probably dont need a car. If youâre in a suburban or rural area you would. As a big continent, yes the US has a lot of suburban areas where people are dependent on cars, but there are plenty of cities where you donât need one. And most states/countries, the liability/financial responsibility for lending a car can be tricky. Iâve rented cars in Europe, and where available used train, bikes, taxis, zip car, Uber/local, etc. And I just wonât take a sit if I would need a car but donât want to pay for it, and in some areas I have. To me, it seems no different than if I plan a trip: I weigh the costs/ benefits of whatever transportation Iâll use to get around. 
Majority of US sitters have their own car. All the sitters I have had except two, came by car. Those 2 rented a car as they were traveling the West Coast.
Just genuinely curious, if you are in the US and you are hosting a US sitter - why would you not loan your own car?
Not judging, just genuinely curious as to the logic. Most US insurance would easily cover another US driver, we do it without hesitation, as long as itâs less than 30 days (our insurance limits on permissive use).
Some have large deductibles and then your premiums go up after an accident. Some have fancy cars and donât want anyone messing with them. Some people donât want to make it so easy for the sitter to be away from the pets as they are there to pet sit. Donât know the sitter well enough to know if they will use the car to rack up more miles than they are comfortable with. Might mess up a gear shift. Only have one car and are protected of it. Donât think a car is part of the deal. Now they have to worry about a new sitter with their pets and a car. So many reasons.
We are not comfortable with loaning our car for a sit. Weâve never had an issue with getting a sitter without the use of our car. We have e-bikes we let the sitter use.
If it works for you without it then itâs understandable. Where I live, even though there is transit, its just much easier with a car. I donât think I would get sitters without offering it.
I live in the US and donât sit full time. Iâve managed 14 distinct US sits without ever needing a hostâs car. I think car might have been offered in one or two, but because of my own concerns about using someone elseâs car, itâs hardly been on my radar.
Some of the sits were in cities where we either flew or took a train or bus: Seattle, Boston (area on the T), Portland, D.C, Pittsburgh, San Fransisco. In Pittsburgh we did a one day car rental to see the Falling Waters Housing. The others were in more rural areas within a few hours of where we live and we drove our own car to those sits and used the car when there for day trips.
I also live in a large city where due to parking issues and expenses having a car is not an advantage.
As a host Iâve had around 16 distinct sitters (not including accompanying people). Most were living in the US and not sitting full time. They did not need their cars if they had cars. I think only a couple drove to the sit and then had to deal with parking. A very flew in from Europe, none of them were full time.
I canât imagine that there are that many full time sitters from other countries saying âNow is such a great time to visit the US for a few months. If only CARS werenât an issue!â
Just to addâsub-Reddits for particular cities or areas can be helpful in determining whether or not a car is a necessity. There are areas outside of cities, for example, that would be fine car-less, e.g., much of the closer-in DC area, some suburbs of Philly.
Iâve had sits in the US with a car provided. A couple of them were quite remote, in the back of beyond where being without a car would have been next to impossible.
Itâs also important for the sitters to have the location (cross streets or exact address) before confirmation to google and research mass transit options. Often homeowners wonât really know if they never use mass transit. They may underestimate or overestimate the walk to the bus, how frequently it runs, or the time it usually takes to get someplace. They might not think of stuff like how reimbursing uber to the commuter rail --can create a kind of shuttle for a sitter allowing them to explore an area, especially if the pet(s) can be left for 6 hours or longer.
Itâs the same as if I were traveling just for fun. If Iâd have to rent a car to visit and area, itâs still a fair trade if I have to rent a car to do a sit.
When I did US sits (not now⌠
) I rented cars. One couple did offer the use of a vehicle (too late after Iâd made rental arrangements) but even though I have insurance for non-owned vehicles, I prefer to keep any trouble between me & a rental agency and not with the HOs. I feel like it would really spoil the experience for both parties if their car was damaged while I was using it. Even if it wasnât my fault â itâs not uncommon to have some doofus back into you in a parking lot or something. I would feel awful about that, thinking how I would feel as a host if my car got âdingedâ.
(Iâd suggest amending the title if possible to reflect the actual question here; I wasnât expecting it to be about cars.)
In what way are trains different in the USA compared to UK/Europe? We caught a train from NYC to Boston- it seemed ânormalâ to me, a bit like Eurostar tbh.
That area is one of the few exceptions. The vast majority of the US does not have this service.