Hello me and my girl are leaving for a month to India for a wedding. Would it be smart to allow the sitter to use my personal car no
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We love to have use of Owner’s car!
It might help you to find a great Sitter.
If you would like the Sitter to take your pet(s) to places in a car, it would be nice to provide the car.
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Yes please to use of a car if possible @Kennyr - it will open up your pool of sitters considerably especially if they’re from overseas and/or you live somewhere remote 
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When not in the UK, where I have use of my own car, I’ve been left a car to use by virtually all the home owners - in Australia and New Zealand. If use of a car hasn’t been mentioned in their listing, I’ve asked (usually if there are dogs and they’re a distance from shops) and they have all agreed. The thing is, I won’t hire a car if I’m sitting for dogs as they’re generally not allowed. So in order to take dogs to different places for walks a car is useful, so we don’t get bored with the same local walks. It means I can explore places and the dogs too have different sniffing opportunities. I’ve introduced dogs to lots of places their owners didn’t know about by having a car. It makes for a happier sit for dogs and sitters.
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I agree with all the previous comments .
Depending on which country you live in you may need to pay to add the sitter to your car insurance. Something to consider before offering your car in your listing .
Yes, it makes your sit so much more desirable to many more applicants, so you have a larger pool to choose from.
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If you are expecting a dog to be taken out in a car, I don’t think a sitter should be expected to use their own car, so yes.
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I agree if owners expect sitters to take their dogs out they should provide a car, I just choose to use my car when in the UK. I did see a listing recently where the owners were saying their dogs had to be transported each day for their walks but no mention of a car being offered! In that case I would expect them to either cover my petrol costs or offer a car just for transporting the dogs.
We have just picked up a new car and there won’t be any dogs allowed in there for a while.
One of our regulars said we will have to get you a special dog blanket/carrier now. I said sorry dogs are banned and we will just have to borrow your Ferrari to take him out 
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We’ve only had a DB9 so far @Twitcher. Better boot space than a Ferrari but still holding on
If the location of the sit requires a car and I’m flying, I ask about use of a car. In the US and Canada a few folks have said ‘no’ but most have agreed.
My first 2 UK sits pre-covid offered use of a car - one in Somerset one in Edinburgh. I used the car on the rural sit in Somerset but didn’t in Edinburgh. But post-covid it seems the UK insurance rules have changed and either folks haven’t been able to add me to their insurance or its been too expensive. Instead folks have offered to share the cost of the car rental.
tom
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@Kennyr there’s no simple answer to your question. There are 101 ‘what ifs’ to consider, including insurance, deductibles, liability, and more.
If you use the search magnifying glass at the top of the page and just add in ‘car’ you’ll see other posts on this topic. Here’s one to consider:
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As others have said, it’s entirely up to you. You need to look at all the factors, insurance being the first and foremost. We have had the use of a car in almost half of our sits, but none in the UK because of the way insurance is handled there.
We are international travelers and don’t have a car when we sit. If your home is close to grocery stores, restaurants, and public transportations, that is plenty for us. If your home doesn’t have access to public transportation and isn’t within walking distance, we won’t apply without the use of a car. Also, as others have stated, if you expect the sitters to drive the dogs to walk them, it would be important to provide a car.
Dan
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@Kennyr No, you do not have to leave a car for use by your sitters. It is neither required nor expected.
There have been several other threads on the forum about this topic. Seek these out and read the pros and cons before you make a decision.
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We do not allow access to our car and make that very clear upfront. Fortunately, we live in a city with great public transportation including buses (one block away), streetcars and inexpensive Lyft/Uber rides. We have had great success getting wonderful sitters so don’t feel pressured to provide a car. To us, it just opens you up to insurance issues and liabilities.
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To us, it just opens you up to insurance issues and liabilities.
This is precisely why I don’t allow access either. In case of an emergency - like taking my dog to an emergency vet - I state in the welcome guide that they can use the car, but I don’t advertise or list it. I haven’t had a problem finding sitters; most sitters I’ve had so far have had their own cars or know someone locally who does. Also, living in a big city with great transportation, grocery stores, and pharmacies within walking distance really helps.
As a sitter I’d never expect it though it’s been offered a couple of times. Too many issues with insurance and liabilities - all different in different countries. If I couldn’t afford or didn’t want to hire outside my own country I wouldn’t apply for the sit.
There are so many car scenarios here and we still don’t know where @Kennyr lives. If you’re in Europe it’s very common to drive in other locations, whichever country you’re from. Insurance is simple or covered if you have an IDP (optional) & a licence from your own country. We’re a Brit-Turk combo with Brit-Swiss licences and have had sits with HO cars (which would have been impossible without) in multiple Switzerland, Germany & Italy sits. We would have taken the HOs car in Thailand too but my IDP had expired so peddle bikes in 35 degrees all the way It is super handy in remote mountain and country sits but totally up to the HO. We have our own van when we sit at home in Turkey. @kennyr’s question was if the use of the car would increase the appeal of the sit and consequently the pool of applying sitters?The answer to that is a resounding YES!
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We did once to returning housesitters who were great the first time. Since they had been so great, we paid they’re very inexpensive flights the second time and let them use our car for around town. Without asking, they took my dog ( or intended to) on at least one overnight trip and put 2500 miles on my car! The only way we found out was my car had an issue & a mechanic was called. Of course they wanted me to pay the bill. So no, I will not let Housesitter’s use my car.
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You might judge individually and consider why someone would want to sit your home. Like I telecommute full time from all of my sits. I’d use a car for groceries, not sightseeing. I spend most of my sits in the home, with the pet(s).
I’ve been offered cars unsolicited a few times — once in the U.K. and at a repeat sit in the U.S.
In the U.S., the HOs picked me up at the airport for the first sit and I drove them back there a couple of days later for their trip. I used the car safely and sparingly, for groceries a few miles away. Walking would’ve been a pain, because you can carry only so much. I wouldn’t have accepted without a car. (I did that sit twice, bookending another sitter. The HOs had offered me a six-week sit, unsolicited. We ended up breaking it up so I could go home for a break.) I also ran the car after the other sitter, because she’d used her own, to make sure that the HOs’ car battery wouldn’t discharge from lack of use.
Both of my sits there were rated at five stars and my use of the car was uneventful.
In the U.K., I ended up not driving the car at all. That’s because the grocery store was on the high street, blocks away. I could buy only limited groceries each time, because the bags cut into your hands. But at least it was a short trip, so I could go easily.
Any sit where I’d have to take public transit to buy groceries would be an automatic no from me. Time consuming to do something basic. And again, I telecommute while caring for pets.