P2P Car Sharing: Consumers Rent Their Rides

Just like ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft have given great rise to everyday people using their own cars as taxis, P2P car sharing is allowing people to rent out their own ride. An AutoTrader report described the potential of P2P car sharing in its report, which read in part, “Your car is an asset that costs you money every day in the form of loan payments, insurance, depreciation, maintenance and so forth. But think about how much time it sits unused. What if you could put your car to work, earning you money instead of sitting idle?”

The report by Autotrader underlined how car sharing typically works. Essentially consumers put their vehicle on a car sharing website such as RelayRides or JustShareit. They add in photos and a description much like they are selling the vehicle. A rental price is then decided upon. AutoTrader reported that a typical price would be between $5-$15 dollars per hour. However, on RelayRides, the vehicles are listed by the day and seemed to cost between $25 and up to $100 dollars per day. On JustShareit, an hourly and daily rate is displayed.

The AutoTrader report also indicated that those renting out their cars only receive 65-75 percent of the total rental fee. Very similar to Uber and Lyft is the fact that consumer can rate their private vehicle rental experience. Anything from the friendliness of the car’s owner to the cleanliness of the inside of the vehicle showed up in individual car ratings. The happiest renters often pointed out how much they wanted to rent a certain car from a certain person the next time that they are in that town. In this way, consumers can quickly turn their car into a source of revenue. What does P2P car sharing mean for dealerships? That potential could be great if consumers become more accustomed to renting out their cars. How could it influence their vehicle buying decisions? Will consumers be willing to buy a higher priced vehicle knowing that they will rent it out part of the time?