Hi Everyone, this is my first time using this site and I have had 2 sitters apply for the job which I didn’t expect because I have 2 big dogs. One of the sitters asked if they could use my car (I did say in the advert that my dogs are used to being driven to the oval so I understand why this would have been suggested) I don’t have a problem with this if it was a crappy car, but it isn’t. I’m more concerned about how to get the sitters to pay the excess should they have an accident, I have said I would put them on our insurance and they have agreed to pay the excess but this would be on a trust basis, which but I’m a bit worried about. Has anyone else let the sitter use their car, what have your experiences been?
Don’t offer it if you’re not comfortable. Not fair to the sitters if you don’t fully trust them, and probably too stressful for you for the same reason.
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But how will the dogs get to the oval without your car? Do you expect your big dogs to be driven in the sitter’s car? Will you clean their car and offer some petrol money?
Welcome to the forum!
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Nice to know that you’d provide sitters with a crappy car. 
How valued that makes a potential sitter feel, I don’t know.
There are many posts here about sitters using a car. You can find one recent one here, and use the magnifying glass to search for others: Home Owner car usage, does anyone do it? - #7 by Smiley
I am in the US and have lent my car twice, without problems. It is a luxury model, but not brand new so I’m not precious about it.
Welcome @katlambrou74
There has been much discussion on the forum around use of a car. Please use the spyglass at the top of the page to search. You will find views and experiences from both sitters and homeowners.
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@katlambrou74 Welcome to Trusted Housesitters!
We are sitters as well as homeowners. As HOs, we don’t provide use of our car. In our minds, there are too many liability and financial issues to consider.
As others have mentioned, this topic has been discussed at length, so using the search “spyglass” will lead you to all the pros and cons on the topic.
Best of luck!
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Thank you to the people who have given worthwhile comments that are actually helpful.
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By your line “I don’t have a problem with this if it was a crappy car, but it isn’t.” I would say you are not ready to have a sitter use your car yet. So don’t do it until you are totally comfortable with that. Just because you mention you take them in the car, doesn’t mean you have to give them your car, as long as there are places to walk them from your home. We use our own car for all of our sits within our own country, and sometimes take the owners dogs with us, as long as we know they are ok travelling.
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When we have a car (which we don’t right now) we don’t think twice about taking dogs out in it. I guess if they’re very hairy and you don’t have blankets that’d be a bit annoying. We’ve never borrowed a homeowners car. I’d do it if they were very comfortable with the idea. For your sit - if there’s no walks the dogs can do without a car then the trade off is having a smaller pool of sitters who’ll take your sit. If you make it clear that there are walks that don’t need a car then that’ll widen the pool again. But two applications already is great going - your sit must be a nice looking one!
You don’t have to do anything you aren’t comfortable with. You might or might not get sitters who are interested in your sit who have their own car and who would be comfortable having your dogs in their car. Probably for that service, you should offer them blankets and maybe a gift certificate to the local car wash?
Maybe you can get creative and compare the cost of helping sitters (who would be comfortable with this) to rent a car for the duration of the sit. It might still cost less and give you more peace of mind than boarding your dogs. There might be a low cost rental near you.
Hi Marion, Thanks for your suggestion and great advice. I have decided to trust them as you are not supposed to have dogs in rental vehicles and the sitters have such good reviews that I just have to trust them. I was very blessed with my previous sitters who always had their own cars and didn’t mind taking the dogs to the oval, I paid them albeit far less than the kennels.
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