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Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

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Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#51

Post by sillysaurus3 »

Frondo wrote: post #49
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just tickets. It's tickets + permits + insurance + plates. I wasn't blaming anyone else, either. I assume you're perfectly vigilant in every aspect of your life? Meh, never mind. By the way, a friend just tried to park in the spot that I got towed out of. That's how unassuming it looks. That's just a thing you get to learn if you happen to live here, and the only way you learn it is after you get towed. Not…

Man, I have owned a car in a medium-sized city for something like 20 years and I can count on both hands the number of tickets I've gotten. I'm by no means "perfectly vigilant" but if you're getting them with any regularity then that's just carelessness. That is something fixable by you, personally, rather than suggesting the systemic changes that you seem to want to see. Personal responsibility for the small stuff,…

May I suggest that owning a car in a medium-sized city is a bit different from owning one in one of the largest cities in the world? (Top 25.)

When the parking people patrol your car, specifically, every day, looking for any small mistake, you bet you'll get a ticket. The best is getting one for "illegally parked too far away from curb" when it's literally one foot away.

If you're arguing that tickets aren't a significant source of revenue for large cities, you may want to check the statistics. https://www.parkingpanda.com/blog/post/top-10-cities-with-hi...

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#52

Post by chx »

The problem here is that accidents happen. We are humans and especially during travel we might not be at our sharpest.

If your attention slips in an airbnb and drop a mug and the handle breaks off, well, that's a few dollars and an apology to the owner.

If your attention slips in a car and get in a fender bender and even if no one is injured that's a mess with insurance and at least several hundred dollars of repair.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#53

Post by x0x0 »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #33
pimlottc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was GetAround's support like for these issues? Did they cover the cost of the parking tickets, or the repairs? Were you using GetAround's insurance?

Their support is OKAY, but not great. They are helpful, but not always responsive, so you feel like an engineering manager chasing after your junior direct reports, constantly pinging and babysitting them. I've had to argue with them over points of minor contention in the past before, like one time a renter claimed my car was "dirty" and so I had to record them a video showing its immaculate interior. They also didn'…

I don't understand people who rent their things out yet are surprised when folks treat them like a rental rather than borrowing something from a friend. The thing is, when I borrow vehicles or skis, or stay in a friend's house, I don't pay them. I may refill the tank or refrigerator, but otherwise, it's free. Once you demand money from someone, it's just a transaction and no you no longer get the friend treatment / stuff treated with kid gloves. Now I (obviously) don't go out of my way to trash rental things, but I certainly don't treat them with as much care as something I borrowed from a friend.

When I rent cars, I think it's fine to leave minor messes in them; it's implied as part of the rental service they'll vacuum carpets or recycle a stray bottle or two.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#54

Post by paulcole »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #33
pimlottc wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was GetAround's support like for these issues? Did they cover the cost of the parking tickets, or the repairs? Were you using GetAround's insurance?

Their support is OKAY, but not great. They are helpful, but not always responsive, so you feel like an engineering manager chasing after your junior direct reports, constantly pinging and babysitting them. I've had to argue with them over points of minor contention in the past before, like one time a renter claimed my car was "dirty" and so I had to record them a video showing its immaculate interior. They also didn'…

>they treated it like an ordinary rental car rather than borrowing a friend's car.

How is it different from an ordinary rental car?

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#55

Post by Hydraulix989 »

paulcole wrote: post #54
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their support is OKAY, but not great. They are helpful, but not always responsive, so you feel like an engineering manager chasing after your junior direct reports, constantly pinging and babysitting them. I've had to argue with them over points of minor contention in the past before, like one time a renter claimed my car was "dirty" and so I had to record them a video showing its immaculate interior. They also didn'…

>they treated it like an ordinary rental car rather than borrowing a friend's car. How is it different from an ordinary rental car?

I, for one, go our of my way to treat AirBnBs (even) nicer than I treat hotels because its an actual friendly person's house -- not a hotel room owned by a big evil soulless corporation.

I don't see why this isn't the case with other people. With GetAround, the whole premise is that you're borrowing your neighbor's car, not getting a late model Prius from Enterprise that has been beaten to hell and back already.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#56

Post by Hydraulix989 »

x0x0 wrote: post #53
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their support is OKAY, but not great. They are helpful, but not always responsive, so you feel like an engineering manager chasing after your junior direct reports, constantly pinging and babysitting them. I've had to argue with them over points of minor contention in the past before, like one time a renter claimed my car was "dirty" and so I had to record them a video showing its immaculate interior. They also didn'…

I don't understand people who rent their things out yet are surprised when folks treat them like a rental rather than borrowing something from a friend. The thing is, when I borrow vehicles or skis, or stay in a friend's house, I don't pay them. I may refill the tank or refrigerator, but otherwise, it's free. Once you demand money from someone, it's just a transaction and no you no longer get the friend treatment / s…

See cousin comment.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#57

Post by Frondo »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #51
Frondo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I have owned a car in a medium-sized city for something like 20 years and I can count on both hands the number of tickets I've gotten. I'm by no means "perfectly vigilant" but if you're getting them with any regularity then that's just carelessness. That is something fixable by you, personally, rather than suggesting the systemic changes that you seem to want to see. Personal responsibility for the small stuff,…

May I suggest that owning a car in a medium-sized city is a bit different from owning one in one of the largest cities in the world? (Top 25.) When the parking people patrol your car, specifically, every day, looking for any small mistake, you bet you'll get a ticket. The best is getting one for "illegally parked too far away from curb" when it's literally one foot away. If you're arguing that tickets aren't a signif…

You can, and I don't buy it.

Besides, in your original post, you said "Owning a car in a city ..." more than once.

But, in the spirit of charity, I actually went to the trouble of asking a couple friends who live in NYC and own cars, "hey do you get a lot of extraneous parking tickets?" According to them, no, it's not the problem you're making it out to be.

You'll have to do more to convince me that you're not just careless and want to blame someone else for it.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#58

Post by doikor »

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #51
Frondo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, I have owned a car in a medium-sized city for something like 20 years and I can count on both hands the number of tickets I've gotten. I'm by no means "perfectly vigilant" but if you're getting them with any regularity then that's just carelessness. That is something fixable by you, personally, rather than suggesting the systemic changes that you seem to want to see. Personal responsibility for the small stuff,…

May I suggest that owning a car in a medium-sized city is a bit different from owning one in one of the largest cities in the world? (Top 25.) When the parking people patrol your car, specifically, every day, looking for any small mistake, you bet you'll get a ticket. The best is getting one for "illegally parked too far away from curb" when it's literally one foot away. If you're arguing that tickets aren't a signif…

> May I suggest that owning a car in a medium-sized city is a bit different from owning one in one of the largest cities in the world? (Top 25.)

All it takes is for the city to outsource the parking patrol to some for profit company and let them take a cut of the fines. This is what happened in my relatively small city (population of ~150k). Next election pretty much nobody of the ones that were pushing for that got voted back in to the city government.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#59

Post by x0x0 »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #55
paulcole wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>they treated it like an ordinary rental car rather than borrowing a friend's car. How is it different from an ordinary rental car?

I, for one, go our of my way to treat AirBnBs (even) nicer than I treat hotels because its an actual friendly person's house -- not a hotel room owned by a big evil soulless corporation. I don't see why this isn't the case with other people. With GetAround, the whole premise is that you're borrowing your neighbor's car, not getting a late model Prius from Enterprise that has been beaten to hell and back already.

renting != borrowing

Now I understand AirBNB et al would love for folks to get suckered into the idea they need to pay cash and get the friend-loaned-you-something treatment, but that's silly.

Re: Airbnb Is Popular, but Renting Out Your Car Is Another Story

#60

Post by kbutler »

x0x0 wrote: post #59
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I, for one, go our of my way to treat AirBnBs (even) nicer than I treat hotels because its an actual friendly person's house -- not a hotel room owned by a big evil soulless corporation. I don't see why this isn't the case with other people. With GetAround, the whole premise is that you're borrowing your neighbor's car, not getting a late model Prius from Enterprise that has been beaten to hell and back already.

renting != borrowing Now I understand AirBNB et al would love for folks to get suckered into the idea they need to pay cash and get the friend-loaned-you-something treatment, but that's silly.

No, renting != borrowing, but with Airbnb you often meet the owners, may even have breakfast with them in their home, etc.

Yes, money changes hands - you pay for use and cleaning of the place - but my Airbnb rentals have been significantly more intimate than any commercial hotel I've stayed in (even small hotels or regular commercial BnBs).

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