On another forum I noticed some sitters wanted cars, complained if the owners did not suggest to let them a car, if the home was remote, there was not easy public transportation
On this forum, I see that some sitters would appreciate to see if owners’ cars can be used. It would help them to select the sits.
Problem is laws are VERY different among countries. In Europe it exists a convention between all insurance companies but it’s not true between northern america and Europe. Cars insurances are not related to house insurances at all here.
Which means you really must check with your insurance company if the foreign sitter is authorized to drive your car, what kind of licence (s)he must have. How can you know if (s)he has had accidents in the past ? How good driver (s)he is ?
It seems very important to check with the sitter what would happen if (s)he does harm to the car, or worse to a person ?
Who would pay for the car damage ? For the injured person hospitalization ? And if the car is totally ruined ? The insurance cost would increase immediatly and for a few years, so who would pay the “'malus” ?
In France, where I live, you may loose your driving licence after a few offenses (you loose points and your licence is lost after 12 points loss); it goes pretty quick, if you’re flashed while driving too fast, overpass a yellow line or a stop, speaking on a cell phone.
Problem is it is the car plate which is flashed, therefore it’s very difficult later, when the sitter is gone, to proove that very day or night, you were not the driver !
Even if you trust the sitter because (s)he has good feedbacks, you never know how (s)he will react in case of accident : will (s)he assume, or hide if somebody is injured ? (read Wolfe’s “bunch of vanities”
I may sound anxious for sure, but NO I will never let my car to a stranger. I don’t do it either with people with whom I exchange homes.
When I am a pet sitter myself, I don’t expect a free car, I rent it. It’s part of the cost of pet sitting, as transportation to go abroad. I don’t complain because the owner’s car stays in the garage and I have to walk to catch a bus.
Once in Guernesey the owner let me her very new Fiat during the 4 days of my sit, I was scared : driving on the “bad” side of the road was difficult enough. I would never accept again this generosity in the future, hopefully on Guernesey, the speed limit was 35 miles. Risk I could provoke an accident was low…