One of the most fascinating trends is that of collaborative consumption – the idea that peer-to-peer marketplaces can disrupt existing markets while improving consumers’ choices and pocket books – and companies like RelayRides and Getaround are are using mobile apps to help in the process of renting other people’s cars. I recently used the Getaround app and service to rent a car for about 36 hours and I wanted to share the experience with you. That will include the good, bad and creepy.
I don’t have a car but was planning a small trip to California wine country (don’t worry, no drinking and driving here) and I wanted to rent a car for a bit more than a full day. Usually, I’ll use the traditional car-rental services like Hertz or Dollar but these generally require heading to the airport if you want a good rate. For the standard car-rental offices within San Francisco, you usually have to return the cars by about 6 p.m. and I didn’t want to be in a rush to return the vehicle. Zipcar or City Carshare were considered but each requires a monthly subscription fee that I’m not willing to do just yet.
So, it came down to RelayRides and Getaround, which enable renters to contact individuals directly and rent their vehicles at an agreed-upon price. Even better, both services had cars that were within blocks of where I live and the pricing was very competitive to a traditional car-rental service. It actually wound up being cheaper with first-time promotional credits. I eventually chose Getaround because I liked the web interface better and the iPhone app is out now, while RelayRide’s app is coming out “soon.”
If you’re wondering why anyone would want to rent out their cars to strangers, you should know that it’s an easy way to make a few extra bucks when your car is likely not doing anything anyways. The insurance is also covered and renters have to sign up for the service by entering their driver’s license, address and more.
I locked in a 2008 Honda Civic from a well-reviewed renter named Emily and was ready to hit the road. We coordinated via text message where the car was going to be parked (street parking) and it was a very pleasant experience connecting with this person.
The reason the app was so critical to me was that it meant I wouldn’t have to meet the person to do a key swap. Instead, I used the iOS Getaround app to locate the car via GPS and then unlocked the doors with a few clicks. This ability only became activated once my rental period began and unlocking doors with an app definitely feels cool – it’s one of those, “I’m living in the future” moments. Not all the cars that are on Getaround have this capability but let’s hope that more and more people who rent their car get the needed Car Kit for it.
The upcoming RelayRides app with OnStar integration will allow you to unlock the doors and even start up the car but with Getaround, I settled for unlocking the doors and grabbing the keys from the center console. The car seemed nice enough but definitely lived in – there were a ton of crumbs and dust on the dashboard. It wasn’t dirty per se but it’s definitely not a fresh car experience you’re used to if you rent cars from a company like Hertz.
I needed to put my stuff in the trunk before we hit the road and the main image shows what was in the trunk: crutches and a creepy baby doll. This is when it really hit me that I was renting someone else’s car. This wasn’t some character-less vehicle which schleps business people from location to location, this car could probably tell some stories about great roadtrips, bad dates and more.
That’s kind of neat but unlike AirBnB where a domicile’s character may add to the travel experience, I just wanted the car to drive well and get me from place to place. The companies like to play up the character and community aspects and I understand why.
When you have a normal rental car, most people drive like maniacs because they don’t care, it’s not their car. When you’re actually using a car that you know belongs to someone else, you might take it a bit easier on those turns or drive normally because at the end of the day, you’re not trying to mess up someone’s car – you’re just borrowing it in exchange for money. Part of this is the hippy dippy extreme optimism that permeates a lot of Silicon Valley startups but I do think there’s something to this.
It did drive pretty well and got good gas mileage (it’s a Civic after all) but I was shocked to find out in the middle of my trip in very rainy Northern California weather that both of the brake lights were out. I had no idea about this until I was warned by another motorist and this was pretty disturbing because that’s a cut-and-dry safety issue. Other than these issues, the car did what I wanted it to do for the most part, as I drove to some beautiful locations rather comfortably.
When I got back to San Francisco, I simply parked the car close to where I picked it up, put the keys in the center console, used the app to lock the doors and contacted the car’s owner to let them know where it was. It was a simple, no-hassle experience and it was about three blocks away from my house, so it was a lot more convenient than returning to a rental-car company.
Perhaps my usage case wasn’t the best example for where Getaround and RelayRides shine, as I could see these types of services coming in handy if you just need a car or truck for a few hours and you don’t want to sign up for a monthly service. Your money is also going to individuals (with Getaround taking a slight cut), so there’s more of a community aspect to using it. Additionally, there’s an ecological argument to be made for these types of services, as the average car is used about an hour a day and just spends most of the day eating up time, space and resources when it could be used productively by others.
In a broader sense, I truly believe that we’re shifting from an ownership society into an access society and things like Getaround are on the tip of that spear. It’s not just cars or your apartment, as I no longer feel the need to buy music when I can pay Spotify to have millions of songs at my fingertips. I like to suport companies like Getaround and RelayRides because of said beliefs but the transition can still be kind of rocky.
Would I use a peer-to-peer rental car service again? Probably but I’d only use it for specific tasks and my expectations would be in line with what I was getting. A normal rental car can be costly and have limitations on when and where you can return it but you’re (mostly) guaranteed that any car you choose will be pretty darn clean, run well, the rental experience will be pretty well-defined and you won’t have to worry about finding creepy dolls in the trunk.
On the other hand, the flexibility and convenience of Getaround was much appreciated and I think there is a lot of potential with integrating the mobile apps for a better driving and rental experience. I think there could be more done with checking out the cars for things like brake lights but that may make the business models untenable because it would require more employees.
Still, I’m glad I used Getaround and I really want to know what you think about this type of service. Have you used RelayRides or Getaround? Would you rent out your car to strangers? Let us know in the comments.