Last Updated: 15 Jan 2020

• I received an email today stating that Carhood has been placed into voluntary administration as of 14 Jan 2020. I have to say, I’m not overly surprised. I never got the impression that they were a particular lucrative business, despite them plugging what I felt was quite a logical “gap” in the market. Their website still looks normal, but I have not used their service in almost 2 years, so I can’t comment on how things have been recently.

TLDR/Summary

Carhood is a great addition to the sharing economy and offers competition to the rental companies based at the three major airports in Australia. It provides consumers with additional choice and a cheaper way to access a rental vehicle at the airport. The primary reason you would rent through Carhood rather than with the more recognised rental company is the cheaper price.

Although the list of disadvantages below is much longer than the list of advantages, it’s important you consider this in relation to your personal circumstances as the disadvantages may not all be applicable to you.

Carhood – Cheaper Car Rental at Brisbane/Melbourne/Sydney Airport

Disclaimer: I am sharing a referral link in this post. By using my referral link, both you and I receive a benefit that you otherwise would not get if you signed up without my referral. The benefit is as follows: You receive $15 credit off your first Carhood ride. As the referrer, I will get $15 credit off my next Carhood ride when you rent a vehicle. I will then get $60 credit if you share your car on Carhood.

Carhood market themselves as offering free parking at the airport. I have used their service four times: three times as a sharer and once as a renter. However, in this post I will discuss this from the point of view of a renter. I will make a future post of my own experiences sharing my vehicle through Carhood.

Carhood are effectively a rental company based out of the three main airports of Australia: Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

Advantages

• They are generally much cheaper than the large rental companies (think Europcar, Avis, Budget) especially relative to airport prices
• You have greater choice of vehicle, as the majority of the vehicles are vehicless shared by random people

Disadvantages

• You will not earn any loyalty points as they are not affiliated with any loyalty programs
• You can only rent from the airport as they do not have offices out in the suburbs
• The maintenance of the vehicle will be unknown, as this will be down to the individual that shares the car
• You must return the vehicle to the the pick up (i.e. no option to pick up in Sydney, drive to Melbourne and drop it off there)
• The car you rent may not have a full tank
  • You are not expected to fill it up to more than what you picked it up with, but it makes it hard because you have to guess how much you’d need to pump
• I am unsure whether Credit Card Insurances that include “car rental hire excess cover” will actually recognise Carhood as a car rental company
• The process will take longer than renting a vehicle from one of the traditional car rental companies because their offices and vehicles are not at the airport
  • [Opinion] During busy/peak periods, it will probably take even longer as there is more activity (i.e. other passengers dropping off their cars and renting vehicles)
• Only available at Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney airports (but I believe they are looking at expanding)

The Process

• You’ve got a trip planned to Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and you wish to hire a car from the airport
• You check out Europcar, Avis, Budget, etc. and you find that it’s $60+/day
• Carhood though, will probably have a vehicle available for you for ~$30-40/day
• When you arrive at the airport, you call them up, tell them you’ve rented a vehicle and someone will pick you up, bring you back to their office to sign some paperwork, inspect the vehicle with you, pick up whatever accessories you’ve decided to add and pick up the keys for the car you have rented
  • If they are busy, they ask you to make your own way to their office by taxi (Uber/GoCatch?). You will be reimbursed.
• Before your flight returning home, you drop the car off at their office, return the keys/accessories, sign some paperwork and you’ll get dropped off at the airport.

If you wish to share some of your own experiences, please feel free to comment below!

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