Hoping California Stlye Car Sharing catches on

[BigQid]

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.

The simplest reply is if nothing else it transforms car rental business from one only for large corporations to one of those home businesses that everyone romanticizes with the lowest startup cost of almost any business short of standing on the corner selling candy.

 

[KnightWRX]

The simplest reply is if nothing else it transforms car rental business from one only for large corporations to one of those home businesses that everyone romanticizes with the lowest startup cost of almost any business short of standing on the corner selling candy.

What was preventing home businesses before ?

Large, small, medium, business is business. There's no barrier to entry to car rental based on the size of your business.

 

[BigQid]

What was preventing home businesses before ?

Large, small, medium, business is business. There's no barrier to entry to car rental based on the size of your business.

Before there was craigslist and ebay, how often did you buy things from other people. The innovation isn't going to be car rental. The innovation is going to be creating a business as it catches on. People could start selling fuel cells, but until there is a mechanism to link and facilitate the exchange, things stagnate and remain the sorts of things you read about in Popular Science and on blogs.
I love how people think they're so smart for shooting down an idea. I'd say watch, but it will take years and I will have long since stopped caring about this thread.

 

[Disc Golfer]

I wouldn't want to rent a private individual's car for similar reasons to car owners in this thread not wanting to rent out their cars: I wouldn't want to be accused of some crazy thing that may or may not be wrong with the car or blamed for preexisting mechanical or aesthetic imperfections the owner may or may not have already been aware of. People are stupid about their cars and I'd rather they contain the stupidity to themselves.