Peer-to-peer carsharing

From HandWiki
Short description: Private car owners sharing or renting their vehicles temporarily to others

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.

The concept

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]

Enabling legislation

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]

Prohibitions

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]

Ecological impact

Peer-to-peer car sharing has the potential to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and lower pollution levels.[17]

See also


Notes and references

  1. Fishman, Elliot, ed (2019). The Sharing Economy and the Relevance for Transport. Academic Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-12-816210-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=tHe7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA102. 
  2. Berger, Suzanne (2013). Making in America: From Innovation to Market. MIT Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780262019910. https://books.google.com/books?id=raJ5AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT191. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Online Rental Markets Are Thriving". Yale School of Management. December 8, 2010. https://som.yale.edu/news/news/online-rental-markets-are-thriving. 
  4. Pozin, Ilya (July 19, 2012). "10 Greatest Industry-Disrupting Startups of 2012". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilyapozin/2012/07/19/10-greatest-industry-disrupting-startups-of-2012/. 
  5. Gansky, Lisa (2010). The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing. Penguin. p. 146. ISBN 9781101464618. https://archive.org/details/meshwhyfutureofb00gans. 
  6. Karmann, Markus (2011). The Rise of Collaborative Consumption on the Example of Couchsurfing. GRIN Verlag. p. 5. ISBN 9783656189190. https://books.google.com/books?id=twKF_sjVIe4C&pg=PA5. 
  7. "GetAround Connects Car Owners And Renters With P2P Marketplace". Business Insider. June 7, 2011. https://www.businessinsider.com/getaround-connects-car-owners-and-renters-with-p2p-marketplace-2011-6. 
  8. "The Power of Connection: Peer-to-peer Businesses". United States House Committee on Small Business. January 15, 2014. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113hhrg86266/html/CHRG-113hhrg86266.htm. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 Duffer, Robert (August 29, 2018). "With carsharing, your car can make – instead of cost – you money". https://www.chicagotribune.com/autos/sc-auto-cover-0830-car-sharing-overview-20180827-story.html. 
  10. Ostrofsky, Marc (2013). Word of Mouse: 101+ Trends in How We Buy, Sell, Live, Learn, Work, and Play. Simon and Schuster. p. 113. ISBN 9781451668421. https://archive.org/details/wordofmouse101tr0000ostr. 
  11. Bell, Linda (May 11, 2019). "Don't want to buy a car? Rent your neighbor's". Fox Business. https://www.foxbusiness.com/small-business/dont-want-to-own-a-car-rent-your-neighbors. 
  12. International Risk Management Institute - Personal Vehicle Sharing Program Exclusion Endorsement
  13. Whittaker, Richard (March 15, 2013). "SideCar to City: Have App, Will Travel ... to Court". The Austin Chronicle. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2013-03-15/sidecar-to-city-have-app-will-travel-to-court/. 
  14. "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}". https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/housedemocrats/Documents/hdo_032111.pdf. 
  15. Elliott, Christopher (October 13, 2018). "The War Between Car Sharing And Rental Companies Just Escalated. Here's Why You Should Care". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherelliott/2018/10/13/the-war-between-car-sharing-and-rental-companies-just-escalated-heres-why-you-should-care/. 
  16. "Peer-to-peer Motor Vehicle Sharing Program". Colorado General Assembly. May 30, 2019. https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-090. 
  17. "Solar Today". Solar Today (American Solar Energy Society): 77. 2002. https://books.google.com/books?id=8TZWAAAAMAAJ.