GM Car Owners With OnStar Now Can Be Their Own Rental Agencies 195
The Los Angeles Times reports that the world of micro-rentals just got a whole lot more crowded, with the introduction of a nationwide partnership between GM and ride-sharing company RelayRides. RelayRides has been arranging short-term car sharing in just a few cities for several years; car owners can sign up to make their own cars available for short-term rentals to others, so their expensive investment (especially in cities where parking is like a second apartment's rent) isn't sitting idle. Now, the two companies are rolling out that system in a much larger market: the rest of the U.S. Owners of GM cars new enough to be equipped with OnStar monitoring systems will be able to sign up to take part with the OnStar system providing the ability to unlock and track those cars remotely, which might make the bargain more attractive to many owners who'd like to earn money from their cars (and reduce the total number of cars needed in a given area), but reluctant to hand the keys to a stranger. (Cars without the system can still be enrolled, but will require a key hand-off.)
Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
Great news for people who want the shit beat out of their cars by random strangers.
Re:Important reminder (Score:4, Insightful)
You don't sue cars, you sue people. That old woman crossing the street can sue the driver of the car, not you. It is him who has been negligent by running her over, not you. Otherwise it'd be sort of like lending your brother your gun and then being liable for any damage he did with it.
And you can also sue the driver of the car for negligence in damaging your car.
How much you'll get out of him is another question, of course. You might like to check that he is insured before you rent your car to him.
If you think rent a car places are bad about dents (Score:4, Insightful)
If you think rent a car places are bad about dents just wait for this.
Better take a video of the car before pick up so you don't pay for old dents.
Re:Still Evil (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems like a lot of trouble. Wouldn't it be much easier to steal the car the old-fashioned way? Presumably your method would result in the organisation having a picture of you (from your fake id), and the monitoring system would reveal the car mysteriously disappearing when entering your steel walled warehouse. So basically the police now know your face and your hideout.
Even if that does not lead to your capture, they can put your picture in a database and the next time you attempt to steal a car you'll get flagged and arrested.
Re:Sweet (Score:5, Insightful)
Piece of advice to people that cant afford their car so they need to rent it out: Find a cheaper car you can afford or switch to a different mode of transportation. If you are even considering renting your car out for extra cash, your car costs too much.
Re:wear and ill treatment (Score:5, Insightful)
So when my car is rented by someone who slips the clutch like a driver's ed student and puts five years worth of wear on the clutch plates in two days, I'm supposed to be happy about this because hey, Onstar?
No thanks.
You don't have an automatic, unlike 94% of cars sold? That's easy, this program is not for you. I bet they wont even enroll a standard transmission car, it's not worth the hassle of requiring another check box on the web form.
Re:Important reminder (Score:4, Insightful)
...unless the owner can establish that [...] The motor vehicle was, at the time of the violation, in the care, custody, or control of another person...
Like having rental details available from RelayRide that says the renter was operating the car?
Problems for both sides (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm renting my car out under this arrangement, how can I be sure that the renters aren't abusing it in subtle or hard-to-detect ways? Burning up the brakes, doing donuts in parking lots, weird stuff with the transmission... there are lots of ways to damage a car that won't be immediately apparent. By the time it's noticed, it may be too late. And even in the case of overt damage, expect a major fight with the insurance company over just who caused it and whether your insurance or Relay Rental should pay. Dealing with insurance companies is always a nightmare, every time.
For rental recipients, this poses its own set of problems: how do you avoid being blamed for damage you didn't cause? How can you be sure that the car isn't missing basic functionality – you wouldn't be happy to get a rental in the middle of July with broken A/C.
Re:Sweet (Score:2, Insightful)
Then move to the suburbs where parking is free (in your own driveway, or in apartment parking lots).
Re:Still Evil (Score:4, Insightful)
What I was wondering is in the case of legitimate rental use, I don't think regular car insurance will suffice. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the car owners finds that out the hard way.
All you need to do is rent the car to a guy nicknamed Crash that can't afford to acquire/insure a car for his/her own use...