RIDEGURU
Uber and Lyft get most of the attention when it comes to new tech in the transportation space, but there's also tech in the peer-to-peer rental space worth discussing. Some examples are Turo and Getaround.
Turo is a lower-tech option in the bunch, but I still think it's worthy of discussion because it allows car owners and renters to interact in ways they haven't before. The simple promise is that if you have an idle car sitting around, you can make money from renting it. Turo has a fairly simply website that allows owners to list cars, and for renters to find them. No special tech automates the process; it's more of a listing service.
I've used Turo as a renter, and I enjoyed the larger variety of cars (normal rentals are typically more boring late-model cars) and the price I paid, but the experience wasn't seamless. You have to arrange the meet the owner, or pay to have the car delivered to you. Varying levels of insurance option make it a bit unclear how covered you are. And from the owner's perspective, just watch a few UberMan Youtube videos about his experiences with Turo to see the kind of headaches that can arise when renters behave badly.
Getaround is similar to Turo, but has the distinguishing innovation of using a piece of tech called Getaround Connect that plugs into the computer port of a vechile. It allows renters to locate the car via GPS and unlock the doors with an app. Owners and renters never need to meet when they use Getaround. Unlock the doors with an app, find the key in a pouch, drive it, and return the car to where you found it without ever talking to the owner.
What's good, what's bad? It's good that idle assets can be put t…
Uber and Lyft get most of the attention when it comes to new tech in the transportation space, but there's also tech in the peer-to-peer rental space worth discussing. Some examples are Turo and Getaround.
Turo is a lower-tech option in the bunch, but I still think it's worthy of discussion because it allows car owners and renters to interact in ways they haven't before. The simple promise is that if you have an idle car sitting around, you can make money from renting it. Turo has a fairly simply website that allows owners to list cars, and for renters to find them. No special tech automates the process; it's more of a listing service.
I've used Turo as a renter, and I enjoyed the larger variety of cars (normal rentals are typically more boring late-model cars) and the price I paid, but the experience wasn't seamless. You have to arrange the meet the owner, or pay to have the car delivered to you. Varying levels of insurance option make it a bit unclear how covered you are. And from the owner's perspective, just watch a few UberMan Youtube videos about his experiences with Turo to see the kind of headaches that can arise when renters behave badly.
Getaround is similar to Turo, but has the distinguishing innovation of using a piece of tech called Getaround Connect that plugs into the computer port of a vechile. It allows renters to locate the car via GPS and unlock the doors with an app. Owners and renters never need to meet when they use Getaround. Unlock the doors with an app, find the key in a pouch, drive it, and return the car to where you found it without ever talking to the owner.
What's good, what's bad? It's good that idle assets can be put to use, and it's good that renters have more options than ever. But the complications that can arise from these situations and the potential insurance headaches that come along with them are bad. The risk/reward and the hassle/payout ratios just aren't good enough for most vehicle owners.
If you're interested in reading more, I've written more aobut each of these services, both from the perspective of a renter and a vehicle owner.
Comments
Why would you spend money on over priced car rentals? Purchase an inexpensive vehicle that meets the minimum car requirements in your area. In many places I'd suspect you can make enough in one or two days to pay your monthly car payments. (My 2016 Altima Uber car costs me $252 /mo, which I can almost always do in one 8 hr shift per month)
Exactly. You're not going to save money renting a car. You are dealing with a middleman, who is going to get their cut one way or another. Go straight to the source and buy a cheap car for this.
Does anyone know if these GetAround and ZipCars that rent cars to Uber drivers are profitable? or are they heavily leveraged "lose money until the business takes off" model?
I am curious because I was looking at ZipCars in the past, and it is dirt cheap. Almost too good. I used to rent taxis for a few hundred bucks for a single shift, and these things are supposed to be a small percentage of like $10 or something.
I was looking into this too as I realized that driving Lyft on a family car is just too taxing. I started seeing EVERYTHING break on our car, even the things I didn't expect would like turn signals,wipers, etc. I guess driving takes a toll on everything.
In any case, I don't fully understand the cost of GetAround either. I asked them but sent me this page, and it confused me even further. There are million fees and I can't even start to do the math
https://www.getaround.com/terms/fees
The car owners set their own rates so prices fluctaute. See below.
If you share your car in a market with predictive pricing, Getaround automatically sets your car’s rates at an optimal price to maximize your earnings. Prices are quoted at a per trip level and fluctuate through the day given the changes in demand. Your pricing dashboard shows the range of prices your car may be rented at throughout the day depending on year/make/model, location, seasonality, as well as a number of other factors.
Owners in certain markets are also able to set a minimum daily price for their car. The minimum daily price you select for your car represents the minimum amount your car can be booked for if reserved for a full 24 hour period. Getaround uses this input to build your car’s pricing profile and as you move the slider, we’ll let you know how likely your car is to be rented for each minimum price you select.
Source: https://help.getaround.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010657088-What-is-the-minimum-daily-price-
Right, each owner gets to decide how much. It's peer-to-peer.
More true sense of the form rideshare. No, not carpool. but actually sharing cars. It's really rental service like zipcar, but others can use it. I am surprised at how well they seem to be doing. and with the partnership with Uber, they will be stronger.
Are they actually catching on? Probably operating under a loss, but I do support this.
How is Turo doing?
Thanks, man. but I am even more confused now. LOL.
So, basically it says, "trust us. We will calculate it *accordingly*. So it comes down to a "trust" thing.
Anyone on this forum who has experience with GetAround?
I looked into it once but they didn't serve where I live. I believe there are one-time setup fees of like a 100 bucks. After that, there's a small monthly fee like $20, and then the rest is 3% of all your rids.
I did hear that they do nickle and dime you. I saw ZipCar on how it's like $15 a day but they also have fees and stuff that jacks it up. I don't know if these companies make money, but they obviously cannot run a business on $15 a day. LOL.
I remember when Turo was called RelayRides. I always thought it was a dumb idea. I still do. I guess they are still alive but I think there is a reason they haven't taken off. Who wants to let someone else drive your car unsupervised? A car is a personal space. It is like letting strangers come into your house and use your bathroom when you're not around. Which I'm surprised some silicon valley BS startup hasn't tried (or maybe they have).