Peer-to-peer carsharing (also known as person-to-person carsharing and peer-to-peer car rental) is the process whereby existing car owners make their vehicles available for others to rent for short periods of time.
Peer-to-peer carsharing is a form of person-to-person lending or collaborative consumption, as part of the sharing economy. [1] The business model is closely aligned with traditional car clubs such as Streetcar or Zipcar (est. in 2000), [2] but replaces a typical fleet with a ‘virtual’ fleet made up of vehicles from participating owners. [3] With peer-to-peer carsharing, participating car owners are able to charge a fee to rent out their vehicles when they are not using them (cars are driven only 8% percent of the time on average). [4]
Participating renters can access nearby and affordable vehicles and pay only for the time they need to use them. [5] [6] In 2011, an American research company Frost & Sullivan calculated that an average Getaround renter saved over $1,800 per year by using a car-sharing service over owning a car for the same number of miles driven. [7] In 2014, the United States House Committee on Small Business stated that “buyers pay less than they would without the service, and sellers earn more--if only because they often would not be able to bring their service to market without the peer-to-peer platform.” [8]
Businesses within this sector screen participants (both owners and renters) and offer a technical platform, usually in the form of a website and mobile app, that brings these parties together, manages rental bookings and collects payment. [9] Businesses take between 25% and 40% of the total income, which covers borrower/renter insurance, operating expenses, and roadside assistance. [3] In return they provide roadside assistance, customer service and vets renters with DMV checks. [9]
As with person-to-person lending, the Internet and the adoption of location-based services as well as the spread of mobile technology have contributed to the growth of peer-to-peer carsharing. [10] Also, millennials are less attracted to car ownership as previous generations. [11]
Although many personal auto insurers in the U.S. exclude coverage for commercial use of insured vehicles either through a livery and public transportation exclusion or a specific "personal vehicle sharing program" exclusion, [12] In 2011, California was the first U.S. state to pass Assembly Bill 1871, which allowed private car sharing. [13] Several other states in the U.S. have passed legislation allowing individuals to share their cars without risk of losing their personal car insurance. These include California, Oregon, [14] Washington, Maryland, [15] and Colorado. [16]
In the U.S., New York is the only state that does not allow peer-to-peer car rental because the owner cannot exclude him or herself from liability to a renter.[ citation needed ]
Peer-to-peer car sharing has the potential to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and lower pollution levels. [17]
Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement is signed to establish the roles and expectations of both the tenant and landlord. There are many different types of leases. The type and terms of a lease are decided by the landlord and agreed upon by the renting tenant.
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user to pay the owner for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment are also leased. Basically a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee. The lessor is the legal owner of the asset, while the lessee obtains the right to use the asset in return for regular rental payments. The lessee also agrees to abide by various conditions regarding their use of the property or equipment. For example, a person leasing a car may agree to the condition that the car will only be used for personal use.
Hertz Global Holdings, known as Hertz, is an American car rental company based in Estero, Florida. The company operates its namesake Hertz brand, along with the brands Dollar Rent A Car, Firefly Car Rental and Thrifty Car Rental.
Carsharing or car sharing or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often private individuals themselves, and the car sharing facilitator is generally distinct from the car owner. Car sharing is part of a larger trend of shared mobility.
Sixt SE is an international mobility service provider with about 2,000 locations in more than 100 countries. Sixt SE acts as a parent and holding company of the Sixt Group, which is internationally active in the business areas of vehicle rental, car sharing, ride-hailing, and subscription.
A rental agreement is a contract of rental, usually written, between the owner of a property and a renter who desires to have temporary possession of the property; it is distinguished from a lease, which is more typically for a fixed term. As a minimum, the agreement identifies the parties, the property, the term of the rental, and the amount of rent for the term. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.
A car rental, hire car or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time to the public, generally ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. It is often organized with numerous local branches, and primarily located near airports or busy city areas and often complemented by a website allowing online reservations.
RechargeIT is one of five initiatives within Google.org, the charitable arm of Google, created with the aim to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use, and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in electric vehicles. Google.org's official RechargeIT blog has not been updated since 2008.
Shared transport or shared mobility is a transportation system where travelers share a vehicle either simultaneously as a group or over time as personal rental, and in the process share the cost of the journey, thus purportedly creating a hybrid between private vehicle use and mass or public transport. It is a transportation strategy that allows users to access transportation services on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of transportation modes including carsharing, Bicycle-sharing systems, ridesharing companies, carpools, and microtransit.
Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It has over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe.
Turo is an American peer-to-peer carsharing company based in San Francisco, United States. The company allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles via an online and mobile interface in five countries.
Collaborative consumption is the set of those resource circulation systems in which consumers both "obtain" and "provide", temporarily or permanently, valuable resources or services through direct interaction with other consumers or through a mediator. It is sometimes paired with the concept of the "sharing economy". Collaborative consumption is not new; it has always existed.
Getaround is an online car sharing or peer-to-peer carsharing service that connects drivers who need to reserve cars with car owners who share their cars in exchange for payment.
Uber Carshare is an Australian company that facilitates peer-to-peer car rental, a system by which individuals may rent privately owned vehicles on an hourly or daily basis to other registered users of the service. Established in 2012 as Car Next Door, it currently operates in all Australian capital cities as well as the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Newcastle.
Enterprise Holdings, Inc. is an American private holding company headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. It is the parent company of car rental agencies Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rental, Alamo Rent a Car and also operates several other transportation services including commercial fleet management, used car sales, carsharing, and commercial truck rental operations.
JustShareIt was a peer-to-peer car rental and car sharing marketplace. It allowed individuals to rent vehicles directly from individual car owners or car sharing companies in local neighborhood locations.
Yourdrive was a New Zealand peer-to-peer carsharing company. Prior to ceasing operations it facilitated a system in which individuals could rent their privately owned vehicles on an hourly, daily or weekly basis to other registered users of the service. Owners set their rental prices and earn a 60 percent commission from the rental revenue. Prior to going out of business it operated throughout New Zealand with vehicles in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin.
Maven was a car sharing service launched by General Motors (GM) in 2016. It provided services such as carsharing and peer-to-peer car sharing for personal use and also rented to drivers of gig economy professions such as Uber and Lyft. It operated in select cities in the United States, Canada and Australia until ceasing operations in 2020.
SnappCar is a Dutch peer-to-peer carsharing company based in Utrecht, Netherlands. The company operates in Netherlands and Germany. SnappCar, being a peer-to-peer carsharing company, doesn't own its fleet. The company's service enables car owners to rent out their personal vehicles, while ensuring insurance coverage.