Aussie Startup Is Airbnb For Parking

Nowhere to leave your car at work? A Melbourne team is making it easy to rent unused parking spots across Australia. Better yet, it’s free to put up a listing.

Parkhound is dead simple to use – you simply search the location you need, and specify some dates you need parking. There are long and short term options available (up to 12 months) and generally they are a lot cheaper than commercial spaces.

Parkhound takes a 10% commision if you do successfully rent out your spot, but that’s a small price to pay for earning some extra cash from an otherwise unused resource. They also offer some accountability with full refunds if it all goes awry.

A quick search of CBD locations like Sydney and Melbourne shows hundreds of parking spots available, but many of those are already booked solid. Parkhound says that over 30,000 spots have been listed across Australia.

It’s not just inner city locations either – people around popular train stations are renting out their garages and driveways to eager commuters who want a close yet secure spot to leave the car. There are even options such as charging a bond for a remote control and giving someone totally hassle free access.

There is also an iOS app available, but no love for Android just yet.

Just like Airbnb and Uber, Parkhound falls into that grey area where government regulations don’t really cover.

9news spoke to Council Lifestyle chair Krista Adams who said that renting out your parking spot counts as a commercial parking application and people could be fined for doing it without approvals.

What do you think? Should people be allowed to rent out their spots? Has anyone used the service? Tell us in the comments.

[Parkhound]


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