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Hoping California Stlye Car Sharing catches on

B

BigQid

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
203
3
California has made it easier for people to share their cars. I hope this catches on across the country. I'd love to be able to rent somebody's Porsche or Ferrari. Seems like it'd be a win, win, win. They get money for a car they don't drive that often, I didn't buy a sports car, and there is less waste in the world. It makes even more sense with SUVs or for students. If zipcar doesn't work on becoming a middle man for this, somebody should. It would be awesome if you could use your phone to find and unlock a car that is close and available, use it, return it, and have the charge automatically taken out without having to meet the owner.

http://www.good.is/post/carsharing-gets-easier-in-california/
 
some how I think that law is going to back fire in CA. Either with you having to agree not to share your car or eat increase premiums. If the state goes to fight that expect a massive state wide insurance increase.
 
i think that most people who own Porsche or Ferraris will NOT be renting it out for perfect strangers to use, even if they'll get a revenue stream. Heck most people who could afford either of those cars have little need for a revenue stream that would generate.

People have an odd relationship with their cars (including me) and so much so I don't think that many people will be open to letting folks drive their cars.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
If the state goes to fight that expect a massive state wide insurance increase.
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I think anyone who wants to take part is going to see premium increases really soon, the law just stops the insurance companies from dropping coverage.

maflynn said:
People have an odd relationship with their cars (including me) and so much so I don't think that many people will be open to letting folks drive their cars.
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I'm with you. There is no way some random stranger is driving my car.
 
r.j.s said:
I think anyone who wants to take part is going to see premium increases really soon, the law just stops the insurance companies from dropping coverage.
.
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As it stands yes. But I would not be surprised to see CA respond to that increase to putting more than likely those people in commercial rates the state will pass yet another law.

In passing that law I would not be surprised to see a massive state wide increase in rates.
 
I understand people not wanting to loan out their cars. I wouldn't want to either, but what if the users had to have their own insurance. Since there are companies that buy a whole place of business to run a rental operation, I find it hard to believe there isn't money to be made in this business. If you found out your next door neighbor was making $60/day = $1800 a month renting out their car, you wouldn't want to get in on it. That's less than the $68/day Zipcar charges. Basically each car could become its own business. If you look at the car as not YOUR car, but your BUSINESS that you get to drive it takes on a completely different light.
 
If I had some random Corolla or Accord, then maybe. But if you have a sports car, especially if it's a high end sports car such as a Ferrari, then it would just be a huge pain. If you've ever been through the check-in/checkout process involved in renting a GT500 from Hertz then you know what I'm talking about.

For "regular" cars though, it's not a bad idea.
 
BigQid said:
If you found out your next door neighbor was making $60/day = $1800 a month renting out their car, you wouldn't want to get in on it. That's less than the $68/day Zipcar charges. Basically each car could become its own business. If you look at the car as not YOUR car, but your BUSINESS that you get to drive it takes on a completely different light.
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If their insurance is not on-board, there will be a load of *****, should there be an accident.

It's the details that count.
 
Like others here I am very controlling on who drives my car. I have no problem with a family member taking my car but even then most of the time we all default to our personal cars.

Now for random people driving it that is a hell no. I keep a fair amount of stuff in my car at all times that I would rather not have the risk of being stolen. Things like 20 bucks cash tend to set in my chain tray. And things are set up the way I like them.

In my family the agreement is if you us another members car you do not mess with the radio programing.

I drive a 2004 Sentra Spec V and I still would not want others driving it.
 
My car is somewhat of an extension of my living space. It's kind of obsessively cleaned, meticulously maintained and I feel I have a sort of relationship with it. I vacuum it weekly, ArmorAll the surfaces, condition the leather, check the oil and fluids, do minor maintenance myself. I'd be as uncomfortable sharing out my car as sharing out my kitchen for others to use.
 
Now where I would find this program the most useful would be like my family old pickup truck. It sits in driveway and is lucky if it gets used once a week. Now for those days it is great. My parents use it for runs to the hardware store or need to move larger stuff. Or my brother using it for his surf board or both my brother and I will use it for our bikes.
Hell it gets used for things a pickup truck is good for. Now we do loan it out to friends.
Now for people who have that spare vehicles that could work pretty well.

In my family case we have more vehicles than we have drivers. I could see other people like my family might want to make that an option. That being said I would not put one of my cars in a program like this.
 
I'll say, while I wouldn't rent out my own car, I would rent one. I just believe that if there is a market for something, soon enough there will be people trying to sell it to them. The difference between this and Avis rental is having a building and employees. This just removes a barrier to entry. Renting out your car isn't going to be for most people, but too many people want to be entrepreneurs these days to not take advantage of this.
Heck, I could see Zipcar changing their business model or adding to it to let people rent out their cars and take care of the insurance concerns.
 
BigQid said:
I'll say, while I wouldn't rent out
...
I just believe that if there is a market for something, soon enough there will be people trying to sell it to them.
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Just look at this thread, you yourself will not rent your car. I can't see how this would take off when most people will not be open to allowing others to rent their car.

Besides, the car rental companies, and even zip cars have the market locked up with affordable rentals
 
Let's see. The last two people I let drive my car managed to cause some sort of damage to it ... not so prone to letting some tool drive my car, insured or not.
 
No thank you. I don't need some punk 16 year old kid who thinks he knows how to drive a manual transmission but really doesn't driving my car and returning it to me with a toasted clutch. If I wanted that, I'd take it to Wal-Mart for an oil change.
 
maflynn said:
Just look at this thread, you yourself will not rent your car. I can't see how this would take off when most people will not be open to allowing others to rent their car.

Besides, the car rental companies, and even zip cars have the market locked up with affordable rentals
Click to expand...

You must watch Fox news because you just skipped over my entire argument. I would rent one. There is a business there. Everyone coming to comment "I wouldn't rent out my car" is missing the point. If you don't see that there is a cost to having a building and employees to manage cars that is added to the cost of renting cars, you're probably never going to be good at business. I'm going to try to restrain myself from making this same point over and over again, but renting out your car is not going to be for most people, especially not at first. At the point people start making money on it, more people will do it. There is probably money to be made here since there is naturally less overhead. If you don't get that, (insert your own insult cause I'm a nice guy).
 
BigQid said:
You must watch Fox news because you just skipped over my entire argument. I would rent one. There is a business there. Everyone coming to comment "I wouldn't rent out my car" is missing the point. If you don't see that there is a cost to having a building and employees to manage cars that is added to the cost of renting cars, you're probably never going to be good at business. I'm going to try to restrain myself from making this same point over and over again, but renting out your car is not going to be for most people, especially not at first. At the point people start making money on it, more people will do it. There is probably money to be made here since there is naturally less overhead. If you don't get that, (insert your own insult cause I'm a nice guy).
Click to expand...

If I need money from the rental of my own car and I can be without it for the periods of the rental, guess what, I'll just sell the darn thing. Face it, you would rent a car, you say there's business for it, well that's what Thrifty, Hertz and all other car rental businesses do and live on.

The reason there's employees and buildings is because just renting out your own car out of your house will not really be profitable (1 car, having to inspect it on check-in/check-out, billing, tax filing, all on your own while trying to get to and from work, customer service...).

There really isn't much of a business for personal renting. I know for one that I wouldn't rent my car, you wouldn't even rent yours. What makes you think that because you want to rent a porsche, someone will rent you one ? It takes 2 to tango (and to rent a car).
 
BigQid said:
You must watch Fox news because you just skipped over my entire argument. I would rent one. There is a business there. Everyone coming to comment "I wouldn't rent out my car" is missing the point. If you don't see that there is a cost to having a building and employees to manage cars that is added to the cost of renting cars, you're probably never going to be good at business. I'm going to try to restrain myself from making this same point over and over again, but renting out your car is not going to be for most people, especially not at first. At the point people start making money on it, more people will do it. There is probably money to be made here since there is naturally less overhead. If you don't get that, (insert your own insult cause I'm a nice guy).
Click to expand...

If everyone says to themselves "Well, I won't rent out my car, but I'd rent someone else's" then there will be no cars to rent.

There has to be people willing to rent out their cars for this to work, and I think most people would agree that renting out your car to strangers is a terrible idea.

And don't think for a minute that insurance companies won't raise rates if this takes off, despite what any law says. Someone's insurance company has to cover the car, whether it's the person renting the car or the owner of the car. If owner's insurance covers, then they're going to raise rates because my rates are based on my driving history, my age, etc. If I'm letting random people with varied driving histories and ages drive my car, they're going to raise my rates to cover the increased risk. If renter's insurance covers, my rates are based off the kind of car I drive. What if someone normally drives an Aveo and pays rates on an Aveo, but then goes out and rents somebody's BMW M5? Again, insurance companies will need to charge more to cover that risk. If you're normally paying for insurance on a $10,000 car but can easily go out and rent a $90,000 car, they'll charge more.
 
BigQid said:
California has made it easier for people to share their cars. I hope this catches on across the country.
Click to expand...
Holy crap, I'll bet that gave insurance underwriters all over the state a permanent migraine headache.

If someone wants to rent my car, c'mon over! I will require a $40,000 cash deposit and proof of at least $1,000,000 liability coverage and then we can talk daily+mileage rates. :D
 
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