With Ford Car Sharing Program Consumers Could Earn $500 Per Month
Ford has is piloting a program that could help them compete with a shifting vehicle ownership landscape. In 2015 consumers don’t have to pick simply between private party or dealership sales. Today, consumers can pick from using ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft, car rental companies like Zipcar or even personal auto rental companies like RelayRides. Ford’s plan is to allow new car buyers to participate in a program for renting out their new purchase. This would give them a chance to gain ground in the sharing economy.
Experts have weighed in on the effects that car sharing can have upon traditional auto sales. The impact of car sharing on auto sales was specifically addressed by Susan Shaheen. She’s a UC Berkeley engineering professor and transportation expert. In a Time magazine article she “suggests that every vehicle that enters into car sharing full-time replaces four to six sales of new cars and delays up to seven more.”
With a real interest on the part of auto companies in preserving new car sales, automakers such as Ford have decided to try something new. Ford is piloting a program to allow their new car buyers to rent out their new vehicle when it’s not in use. Ford will partner with car sharing company Getaround on this project. Getaround will facilitate $1 million of insurance, roadside assistance and customer service. 14,000 new Ford buyers in Berkeley, Portland, D.C., Chicago, Oakland and San Francisco can rent out their new rides. The program will cost renters $7-$12 per hour. The Getaround site claims that its users can earn $521 per month on average. That could easily cover a car payment and one-day act as a strong new vehicle sales incentive.
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Thank you for the feedback Jim! There is certainly a lot to watch for during the next few years. I’m keeping a keen eye on both ride-sharing and car-sharing. OEMs getting involved in the car sharing game is particularly interesting to me. From a consumer standpoint, if a dealer wants to sell you a new car and the payment is $450 per month, that sale would sure seem a lot easier to say ‘yes’ to if you can make $500 per month renting it out. That could be marketed as a win-win for both dealer and consumer(not to mention OEM).
Nice report, Dave. We will soon see these alternative transportation models become standard transportation choice soon. Your story is an excellent example of how consumers can take cost out of their transportation needs by sharing (or not buying a vehicle at all). Many watching see sudden disruption for OEMs, dealers and consumers alike just around the corner. There is, however, in all this (especially autonomous vehicles, which will propel ride-share vehicles eventually as well) hidden danger, in that grid-controlled (and monitored and tracked) transportation limits personal freedom and exercise of that freedom.