General Motors to launch Airbnb-style service for sharing your car

[William Gayde]

Just like Uber revolutionized the ridesharing industry and Airbnb revolutionized the hospitality industry, General Motors is now hoping to revolutionize the car rental industry. They will be launching a peer-to-peer service that will allow car owners to list and rent out their vehicles when they aren't using them.

As originally reported by Bloomberg, pilot programs will begin in a few cities in early summer as part of GM's Maven business line. If successful, GM will attempt to grow this into its own separate business.

GM has declined to comment on the news since the plans are not public yet but it's likely that riders will share the revenue with GM. This isn't the first entry into the peer-to-peer auto market as startups like Turo and Getaround have been around for a few years but they are dwarfed in size by GM. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also expressed interest in the idea which he believes will "dramatically [lower] the true cost of ownership to the point where almost anyone could own a Tesla."

There are still many hurdles to overcome before this business model can take off. Liability and insurance questions still exist over who would be at fault in an accident as well as how this market would be regulated. The American Car Rental Association has lobbied heavily against the business model on the grounds that members will be able to avoid paying taxes that traditional companies have to pay. Cities like San Francisco are also pursuing legal action to regulate such companies.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/73702-general-motors-launch-airbnb-style-service-sharing-car.html

 

[VitalyT]

Here's the catch...

• People who own good cars are usually not interested in such things.
• For many people sharing a car is like sharing your clothes with someone.

I would never give my car to anybody, as for one thing I know very well how badly rental cars are driven. People completely disregard these things:

• Going over bumps at high speed
• Over-revving the engine, driving in the wrong gear
• Applying breaks harshly, wearing them and the tires off much quicker

And then imagine the pain of dealing with someone or the company after someone damages your car...

Perhaps people with cheap cars might be interested, but then you are talking dimes for a crappy ride, if somebody wants that.

On the upside....

If you already have such service in your city, you may consider getting a decent loan to buy a premium vehicle that will be able to pay for itself, or at least in part.

 

[seeprime]

Even if I hadn't heard horror stories from Enterprise in the past, I think this is a loser proposition for anyone that wants to keep their car insurance rates reasonable, and likes their car as it is.

 

[Uncle Al]

Just to add to the aforementioned information I would only consider such a service if:

1. There was a built in insurance charge to protect against abuse
2. There was an automatic charge back if the car was returned needing cleaning or delousing
3. There was built in tracking and a recovery service if the car was dumped somewhere

Not worried about sharing and apparently a lot of the women I used to know aren't afraid to share their clothing because I was forever finding stray panties and such after weekend visits ...... go figure!

 

[senketsu]

The problem is when it comes back smelling of tobacco or something else. Burns in the roof liner, beer and pop stains on the seat etc. Full of garbage. Trust me, you don't want your car back when it comes back like that (actually mine was stolen and recovered, I wish they hadn't recovered it, sincerely)