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Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

getaround.com

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Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#71

Post by mkramlich »

I'll second nlh's comment. My relevant credentials: I've worked on the car rental side of a couple leading travel industry businesses. I know a lot about how it works behind the scenes. Plus I've been renting cars, as a consumer, for over 20 years.

I think the traditional car rental business today pretty much Just Works (tm). It doesn't have any huge flaw. Or rather, what flaws it does have, I don't see how this startup's feature set is solving.

I think the basic idea is exciting, and I wish them the best. But I think it's full of prickly complications that won't get magicaly solved by being able to throw up a sexy Rails website or by having an electronic widget in the vehicle. It doesn't really need this sort of technical solution, more of a people/legal solution. Their solution is orthogonal to the actual problem(s), is what I'm trying to say, if that makes any sense.

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#72

Post by kroo »

mkramlich wrote: post #71

I'll second nlh's comment. My relevant credentials: I've worked on the car rental side of a couple leading travel industry businesses. I know a lot about how it works behind the scenes. Plus I've been renting cars, as a consumer, for over 20 years. I think the traditional car rental business today pretty much Just Works (tm). It doesn't have any huge flaw. Or rather, what flaws it does have, I don't see how this star…

But I think it's full of prickly complications that won't get magicaly solved by being able to throw up a sexy Rails website or by having an electronic widget in the vehicle.

This is absolutely true, which is one thing that makes (working at) this company so interesting/challenging.

On one front, without technology development, you can't scale without a lot of capital investment -- even the custom technology used by zipcar is cost prohibitive (around the $1000 price-point, and requires several hours of professional installation). While we support swapping keys with the renter, we don't want to open both parties up to the inconvenience and liability of handing your keys over to a total stranger. The carkit provides greater choice to the owner as to how they want to rent out their car (allowing them use a smartphone instead of the physical key), and empowers them to keep better track of how it is used when rented out.

On the other, as you put it, technology doesn't solve all these prickly complications -- there are serious operations, customer support and business development problems that must be met in order to make this work. Insurance is a critical piece in the puzzle, and one that our team has been working on for a year and a half now. We are confident in our insurance partner and the custom policy we have worked together to create at this point -- and we will continue to work with our provider to ensure that we can continue to provide coverage as our company grows.

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#74

Post by ashleyw »

Klinky wrote: post #40
ry0ohki wrote: post #5

An interesting idea, the pricing (on both buy and sell side) should be much more obvious, I couldn't find anything besides the "as much as $350 for renting your car out for 15 hours". Are the prices based on the quality of car or does everyone get the same amount? (My 25 year old beater CRX vs your new Tesla?) I also wonder how many people would really be willing to rent their own car out. I would expect the people t…

If someone is paying me $350 to borrow my car for 15hrs, I'd be wondering where they're planning to dump the body they plan to put in my trunk.

It's $350 for 60 hours (15 per week.)

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#76

Post by drx »

araneae wrote: post #26

I almost signed up until the Facebook app asked to post to my wall. Too far.

Curious, did it offer to post to your wall and could you refuse and still get it working?

Or did the fact that it merely offered it put you off?

I'm not related to the app in any way, but I'm curious about your reasons.

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#77

Post by brc »

brc wrote: post #60
nlh wrote: post #57

Ok, I'm trying very hard not to be that industry guy that scoffs at the new entrant to the space with a new business model, but I have serious concerns as to the viability of this model. My background: I've run a car rental company for nearly 7 years now, so I know a thing or two about the logistics. Granted, my business deals with luxury/exotic cars, so some of the issues we face are quite different, but nonethless…

I'm not involved in the rental industry, but have always been interested in it (hence multiple posts), simply because I've often wondered out loud how they make money, and I've seen many different business models. Obviously people do, so there is a business model there, and it isn't freely communicated to the public. While some firms operate like yours, with detailed checkin/checkout process, others seem to care less…

Just to clarify my thinking on this one, the car isn't a commodity. What is actually the commodity is either x distance travelled. In the same way an airline seat is a commodity but a plane isn't. So what people are really selling and buying here is the ability to drive oneself a set distance at a set point in time. That's the commodity. The rest is just managing the capital cost around that commodity, like managing the ownership and use of a plane.

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#78

Post by jonknee »

brc wrote: post #66
jonknee wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like Zipcar has spent the money to have its own ignition tech. http://www.zipcar.com/how/technology

My understanding is that ZipCar locks/unlocks the doors, probably by interfacing with the car body computer which handles lock/unlock functions. The engine ignition security system is usually totally separate from the lock/unlock feature despite both functions being accessed from the same piece of hardware (ie the key/keyfob). So my guess is they've interfaced with the lock/unlock system but not the ignition system,…

It's a bit more sophisticated than that--the keys won't start the car without the RFID Zipcard in the vehicle. So they've definitely tapped into the ignition system.

http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/faq?subject=how_to_get_keys

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#79

Post by nickpinkston »

sliverstorm wrote: post #67
nickpinkston wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, ZipCar denies me because I get a lot of speeding tickets even though the records show I've never been in any accident. We safe and conscientious, yet fast, drivers do exist, and I feel a little disenfranchised by the current offerings!

Your personal driving habits and ZipCar aside, to be frank I think it's only fair to allow individuals to discriminate in who they rent their car to. Not by race or anything of course, but by life choices- in this example, disregard of the law. Remember, your choice to speed is just that- a choice. Any negative repercussions you have brought upon yourself, happened as a result of your choices. I'm not judging you- it…

Oh no - I'm fine with individual users saying it, but I'm saying I hope the company doesn't ban me all together.

I'd also like to be able to show them how many miles I drive a year (ALOT!) - mostly highway out of state, so I have a far higher chance than the average person.

A simple 18 months figure (ZipCar's) doesn't get the guy with one ticket 2 years ago who barely drives with no experience. Also, I'd like to be able to show something like my credit score as it's an indication of my level of responsibility. Of course - it's a pipe dream...

Re: Getaround: Peer-to-peer car sharing and car rental startup

#80

Post by lifestyleigni »

There is also this same service in France, VoitureLib and they have a pretty extensive FAQ that you can translate from French:

http://www.voiturelib.com/page/guide-pour-louer-voiture-entr...

My friend in Paris has listed his vehicle and gets tons of requests all the time. The demand is there for borrowing a car temporarily. (I-go, and zipcar), but there are legitimate concerns for sellers.

One way to do this is to ask for a deposit. This can be upwards of 3000 Euros which makes the seller appeased but also adds a barrier to the buyer. I wonder how this P2P model will work when one catastrophic event could ruin the business and reputation. There seems to be so many barriers. Not sure if the amount of revenue justifies the risks involved.

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