Go onto eBay and type in “rent” and a series of listings appear for privately-owned holiday villas and caravans available for a week’s break.

A Google search of “hire out my dress” lists websites like Girl Meets Dress where people can make money by loaning their designer items.

This is part of the sharing economy, a rapidly-growing sector which it is estimated a quarter of adults are using online. An independent review last year said global revenues could rise from £9 billion today to £230 billion by 2025.

It is this expansion which Maidstone-born entrepreneurs Graeme Risby and Rob Larmour are hoping to get a slice of with their luxury car sharing website Ascendia.

Due to launch in September, the site aims to connect high-end car owners with people who want to take a luxury motor for a spin – for as little as an hour at a time.

“It’s amazing the amount of things people do share already – people are hiring out the tools in their sheds,” said Mr Risby, who met his business partner when they were teenagers working a Saturday job at Waitrose in Allington.

“If you live in London, you buy a car which costs loads of money and it sits on the driveway depreciating. It would be nice to turn it into an asset..." - Graeme Risby, Ascendia

“I have always been a car fan and would get frustrated that it was only driven for an hour a day on the way to work.

“If you live in London, you buy a car which costs loads of money and it sits on the driveway depreciating. It would be nice to turn it into an asset.

"Our members can hire vehicles which give them a better driving experience while owners get better value for money.”

The pair, who both live in Boughton Monchelsea, were invited to Westminster as part of the independent review into the sharing economy last year, ordered by business minister Matthew Hancock.

The report – written by sharing economy expert Debbie Wosskow, chief executive of peer-to-peer travel club Love Home Swap – made more than 30 recommendations to government about how to ease the path for entrepreneurs trying to create online platforms for people to share their possessions.

Business minister Mr Hancock said: “We will back the innovators, challengers and agitators nationwide who are tearing up traditional business models and creating new jobs across the country.”

The inspriation for Mr Risby and Mr Larmour to launch their business was Airbnb, a website which allows people to rent out accommodation.

Founded in San Francisco in 2008, the company is valued at more than $10bn (£6.8bn) and has more than a million listings in 34,000 cities and 190 countries.

“The beauty of car sharing will be we will see lots of micro entrepreneurs,” said Mr Risby. “In the same way people rent out their flats, a car owner might put 10 cars for hire on our website.

“It’s not a bad little earner and they can rent them out when they want. We will be the Airbnb for car hire.”

The next step is to get funding for the idea, with the company’s credibility helped by Mr Risby’s day job as a performance and risk analyst at a London investment management firm.

He and Mr Larmour, who works in online marketing, have just signed off a deal with investment advisers SME Capital, whose four directors have access to a huge network of investors looking for the next big business craze.

They are also considering crowdfunding with Crowdcube, aiming to raise about £400,000 for the business.

The company plans to soft launch in Milton Keynes in September, having developed good contacts there through their involvement with the government review.

“In the same way people rent out their flats, a car owner might put 10 cars for hire on our website..." - Graeme Risby, Ascendia

“Milton Keynes Council are proactive in shared mobility space,” said Mr Risby, 33, an ex-Maplesden Noakes School pupil. Mr Larmour went to St Simon Stock.

“They will put us in contact with the universities and give us priority spaces for our members.” The aim is to roll out Ascendia in the South East in its first two years before expanding nationally and then across Europe.

Renters will be able to sign up on the website, with the company aiming to “go live” in different towns when there is enough demand.

“There is no point going live with only one or two cars available in an area because no one will use it,” said Mr Risby. “When 50 cars are signed up, then we’ll launch in that area.

“We want to be the world’s biggest peer-to-peer car hire platform but to start that we want 100 people to love us in an area rather than 10,000 people to like us.”