Personal Finance

Investing in luxury car rentals — can turning hobbies into profits pay off?

Aaron Webber

Published: January 5, 2025 11:30 am

One of the most violent and often-overlooked casualties of modern hustle culture and the relentless pursuit of money and profit has been our hobbies. No longer are we allowed to simply enjoy things, or pass the time with small pleasures, we have to find a way to commercialize everything we enjoy or turn it into a side hustle.

One particularly rich person had some friends who were making money by turning their hobbies into jobs, and he wanted to get in on the action. He is a fan of fast cars and wanted to buy a couple of expensive cars and rent them out. He took his thoughts to the people in the r/fatFIRE community, a group of people focused on retiring with massive amounts of money. Here is what they said.

The Question

The author of the post says they have a couple friends who have been successful in monetizing their hobbies. One makes money selling items in his expensive watch collection. One makes money collecting art, and another makes money investing in wines.

The author wanted to begin by buying a Porsche 911 and renting it out on Turo, a site for rich people to pay to drive each other’s cars.

They wanted to know if anybody else in the community had tried it before, or if they had been successful in monetizing their own hobbies.

Please remember that everything you read here, online, and in this article are opinions. You should always speak to an expert before making any investment decision.

The Community Response

The response was immediate and strong, with some commenters taking issue with Turo specifically, and the rest opposed to the whole idea in general. It seems common sense has not quite fled this Earth entirely!

Those who recommended against using Turo said it was a terrible idea to put expensive cars on there, as they often come back damaged. The author should instead use some junk sports cars that are fun to drive but not expensive to repair or replace. Just one bad experience with a Porsche will wipe out the profits of all previous experiences. Many others related their own terrible experiences of using the platform.

Others pointed out that there is a dramatic difference between selling pieces in your existing watch, wine, or art collection, and going out of your way to buy a super-expensive car and renting it out. If you’re not already collecting cars, then starting from square one is a sure way to find yourself in a very expensive hole when you realize you don’t actually love doing it.

Finally, a handful of people recommend against monetizing their hobbies just because others are doing it. As most of the people in the community already have more money than most of the world will ever see, there’s no need to do so. Reserve some joy in your hobbies without buying the propaganda of hustle culture.

In the end, the author took the hint and decided against renting out luxury cars.