Monday, November 14, 2011

Peer-To-Peer Car Sharing Takes Off

Examples of possible car rentals from Get Around. (Photo Courtesy of Getaround.com)

Examples of possible car rentals from Get Around. (Photo Courtesy of Getaround.com)

Your car spends a lot of time doing nothing — in parking lots and driveways. Meanwhile, there are people without cars who need them! So why not share?

Three separate San Francisco start-ups are matching car owners with people who want to rent them.

General Motors aligned with RelayRides. Daimler A-G runs Car-2-Go.

The third Bay area company, Getaround, is renting some cars for as little as $3 an hour. These companies hope to chip into Zipcar’s business, which charges a $60 annual fee in addition to an hourly rate (which varies depending on the city).

Getaround allows the car owners to pick and choose the renters, based on their age or driving record. Right now, Getaround is only operating in the San Francisco area, but if the business takes off there, it could spread around the country.

Guest:

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  • http://twitter.com/RelayRides RelayRides

    It’s “RelayRides” without a space :)

  • Guest

    Who is the third peer-to-peer start up carshare organization?  Car2Go is not in SF are they, and I didn’t know they had peer to peer services?

  • Rob

     On the topic of car sharing, check out this new idea for a new kind of municipal transportation system:
    http://www.ecotransit.us/index.html

    It makes a lot of sense and leverages systems and vehicles that we already have.

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