MOTORISTS are seizing the chance to turn their cars into money-making machines by renting out their vehicles on peer-to-peer Internet platforms like PP Zuche.

But these unregulated sites pose risks to unwary consumers, such as a local car owner who was identified only by her surname Zhao. She told the Shanghai East Radio Station that she agreed to rent her new Roewe to a man on September 1 for four days.

When the car was due to be returned, he told Zhao that a friend had borrowed the vehicle, and he was vague on when it might be returned. That’s the last she saw of the man or her car.