Technology Changing What It Means To Own and Rent a Car
One of the first things my fiancé Kelly and I did when we moved to New York City from the Midwest was sell her car. It became very clear that parking in Washington Heights was very time consuming and/or expensive, and hey, we can just take the train, bus, use ride sharing, or borrow my brother and sister-in-law’s car (Thanks Walker and Mary!) I was perfectly happy being carless until Kelly and I buy an RV and travel the country when we are in our 60s. A new app is making me think we may have made the wrong choice.
Peer-to-peer car rental company Getaround is like the AirBnB of cars. I know you hear things like that a lot. “It’s like uber, but for dogs!” This is the real deal. By renting your car out when you’re not using it, Getaround claims that you can earn up to S10,000 a year. A New York Times article reports that a user in California is earning an average of $750 a month. Car sharers pay a $20 monthly fee and 40% of their commissions to the company. Both car owners and renters have ratings, similar to Uber and AirBnB.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGsFEVZbmwI
Simply use your app to find and unlock a Getaround car, enter your license, rent it for $5-$25 an hour (depending on the model). All cars are insured and even include roadside assistance. So far Getaround is in 10 cities including San Francisco and Chicago (They will launch in New York soon), with 3,000 users. While renters use Getaround to find cars themselves, another company is bringing cars to the customers.
Users use Skurt to rent a car and have it delivered to them. The person who delivered the car takes public transportation home. One of the best features of Skurt is that they rent to users as young as 21 with no additional fees. Skurt has been available in select California cities since October 2015, and they are expanding soon.
Now that we live in Brooklyn, parking is a lot easier. Maybe buying a car is an investment. Use it on the weekend or for groceries, and rent it out during the week. We will see.
