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Doesn't this essentially make the application a directory of easy-to-steal cars for potential thieves?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getaround comes with insurance, so while being rented your own insurance is unaffected! As far as maintenance costs, you set your car's own price per hour, so you can decide how much your extra maintenance costs will be.
Insurance is a red herring IMHO. * Have you ever dealt with a major insurance claim? Even if you were renting out your car for $100/hour, that won't compensate for the headache you will be in for when your renter rear ends a brand new Mercedes-Benz and sends the passengers to the hospital. * Think beyond insurance. What are you going to do when you receive a parking ticket or red light camera violation in the mail th…
http://support.getaround.com/kb/policies/what-happens-if-a-r...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't that hold true for regular rental cars too? I have never heard of this being a problem with rentals. Maybe TheSkeptic (brand new account) is a competitor?
Maybe TheSkeptic (brand new account) is a competitor? Ugh, that's a shitty attitude. I think one of the good things about HN is that people here usually give each other the benefit of the doubt and assume good intentions. Lobbing accusations of bias around are a good way to kill that friendly tone. Unless you've got actual proof of bias perhaps you could keep your accusations to yourself next time?
I think it is also pretty shitty to use throwaway accounts without disclosure and a reason.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Getaround comes with insurance, so while being rented your own insurance is unaffected! As far as maintenance costs, you set your car's own price per hour, so you can decide how much your extra maintenance costs will be.
Insurance is a red herring IMHO. * Have you ever dealt with a major insurance claim? Even if you were renting out your car for $100/hour, that won't compensate for the headache you will be in for when your renter rear ends a brand new Mercedes-Benz and sends the passengers to the hospital. * Think beyond insurance. What are you going to do when you receive a parking ticket or red light camera violation in the mail th…
Consider, however, that every time you rent your room on AirBnB you open up yourself to as many problems (what if they steal from you; what if they damage your room; what if they cause a fire) and yet that hasn't stopped AirBnB from being a smashing success.
There's little point in opinionating on their chances of success. So far the signup rates seem to be fantastic and whether they're successful or not will become evident with time. We just have to wait a little.
Keeping the key in the car (if you want to use their preferred auto-key-box-thingy) - I can't believe that wouldn't adversely effect or void my insurance. Certainly the part where I get a discount for an immobilizer is going to be negated (because the immobilizer is in the key, now in the car). And parking a car in SoMa with the ignition in it seems totally dumb - insured or otherwise.
It may come with insurance but that still doesn't cover someone driving the shit out of the breaks, clutch, drive train etc. How do you account for fuel - you can't say bring it back with a full tank because you may not keep a full tank in there. How do you account for the extra miles the car is run for with your own insurance?
How much are car owners really going to make a month after they have taken their cut? If you own a decent car, is $100/month really pushing the needle and making it worth your while?
I still wonder about the premis - how many people REALLY want to share their car with others. I won't let me best friend drive my car (or anyone else for that matter).
Finally, from the renters side, I'm not clear what benefit this has over ZipCars. I don't pay an annual membership with ZipCar, they're ~$6/hr, fuel is included (which it isn't here), they have distribution and choice of car, they're a known quantity, etc etc. Sure renting a Tesla or Porche is nice but again, I wonder why someone who can afford such a vehicle wants to rent it out to others and expose themselves to all the risk.
This is one of those ideas which wins hearts at a conference like TC but I don't get in terms of practicality. Aside from the issues already stated, let's consider: Keeping the key in the car (if you want to use their preferred auto-key-box-thingy) - I can't believe that wouldn't adversely effect or void my insurance. Certainly the part where I get a discount for an immobilizer is going to be negated (because the imm…
The main benefit from a borrower's point of view is that Getaround is both cheaper and more convenient than conventional rental. In fact, an owner could still charge more per hour, given that many rental needs are fractions of days.
It may turn out that owner's acceptable fee is high enough that it does not compare well with conventional rental, but from a pure market perspective, this seems unlikely -- rental companies all these costs you point out, plus the cost of idle inventory. An owner has already accepted the bargain of their idle inventory, and only sees upside in rental against the existing costs. Note that Zipcar also bears this idle-inventory cost on their fleet. Getaround has an advantage in harnessing idling capacity at no cost to themselves.
It may also turn out that the cost of acquiring users (both owners and borrowers) exceeds revenue per user, and so is not a feasible business. I think this is a real risk, considering the markup of 40%. I rented from Getaround in their earlier phase; it was an excellent deal, far better than ZipCar. The cars were closer (read, more distributed than zipcars) and cheaper. I think the 40% margin might move them into the range of more directly competing with common rental rates though. We'll see.
It's hardly crazy, though.
This is one of those ideas which wins hearts at a conference like TC but I don't get in terms of practicality. Aside from the issues already stated, let's consider: Keeping the key in the car (if you want to use their preferred auto-key-box-thingy) - I can't believe that wouldn't adversely effect or void my insurance. Certainly the part where I get a discount for an immobilizer is going to be negated (because the imm…
How would they prevent a group of car thieves from using prepaid Master or Visa cards with fake names? Couldn't a thief just book a rental car for an hour, find the location, unlock the car with the iphone app, then take off with the car because the key will be inside? Let me know if I am missing something?
Right now it looks like they're requiring Facebook accounts to rent cars, and so they can (presumably) use the Facebook social graph as a rough proxy for trustability. Personally I sorta hate that policy (I've not got a Facebook account...) but it's a fairly good idea, I think. And, of course many, many said similar things about AirBnB -- "couldn't a thief just book a room for the night and then make off with the TV?…
How would they prevent a group of car thieves from using prepaid Master or Visa cards with fake names? Couldn't a thief just book a rental car for an hour, find the location, unlock the car with the iphone app, then take off with the car because the key will be inside? Let me know if I am missing something?
Professional thieves are a different matter. Traditional rental agencies have cameras at the rental counter, and get a copy of a driver's license. Building LoJack into the carkit won't work because it is too easy to block a GPS signal with tin foil. The only realistic way to stop professional thieves is to get driver's license numbers and review driving records for all members (which is what ZipCar does).