Rides for Rent: Why You Ought to Be Very Wary of Private Car Sharing

Having turned the spare bedrooms and couches of  st­rangers worldwide into cheap hotels through websites such as Airbnb and CouchSurfing, the voluntary neo-communist "what's mine is yours" urban youth are eyeing your car. It's not as if  you're driving it 24 hours a day—why not let someone else use it when you're not? (We can think of a few reasons; see sidebar.) RelayRides is a website that helps you pimp your car to anyone 21 or older with a ­driver's license and two consecutive years of driving under their belts. According to its founder, Shelby Clark, the site has a couple thousand cars available for rent nationwide and tens of thousands of renters; the highest concentrations are in Boston and San Francisco. Signing up to rent is easy, and it's free. Just go to the website and enter your driver's-license number. You can't have any major violations on your driving record and can't have received more than two minor violations in the past three years or more than one in the past year. You also have to provide your Facebook and credit-card information. Comparison Test: Toyota 4Runner vs. Jeep Grand Cherokee, Nissan Pathfinder, Kia Borrego Instrumented Test: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 V-6 SV Forget Zipcar: BMW to Rent 328i by the Hour—M3, M5 Up Next To rent, enter your ZIP code and a map appears, populated with cars that are available in your area, along with photos and a description. Click on the car you want, select a time, and the service notifies the owner. It sounds simple, but depending on your area, it may not be. More than half the time, our requests were denied—as a renter, you don't know why. In our sample area of Washington, D.C., at least, the service is short of the critical mass needed for dependability. If you're approved, you'll get the car's location and the owner's phone number via text message just before your appointment (to ensure you do all your creepy stalking afterward). After several failed attempts, we lined up a 2007 Toyota 4Runner for $12.99 an hour, or $70 a day. The cargo area was full of personal stuff, and the owner said not to worry about the gas. (Some renters are said to leave fresh-baked cookies in the car; optimistic notions of karma and blind trust are recurring RelayRides themes.) The 4Runner's owner was so nice that we abandoned our plan to haul manure in his sport-ute. Two more denials, then a second round: A 2008 Nissan Altima coupe for $9 an hour. We picked it up from a cute girl waiting alone on the bottom level of a dimly lit underground parking garage. Again, the car was full of personal belongings. It had been poorly maintained—the engine sounded rough, the suspension crashed over bumps, and there was an ominous bucking in the steering wheel—which brings up a valid point: Who's to say that the car you're renting is even safe? Like we said, blind trust. Assuming the wheels don't fall off, though, RelayRides and similar services such as Getaround and SideCar make sense from a renter's perspective. In some cases, it's cheaper than Zipcar, which costs at least $25 to join, has an annual fee of $60, and runs about the same per hour as a basic RelayRide. But we can't imagine whoring out our personal pride and joy. Before you go thinking, "What kind of idiot would rent his car to a complete stranger?" let us stop you and say: Wait, no; you're right. Even with RelayRides's $1,000,000 liability insurance (the renter pays the $500 deductible in the event of an accident), letting strangers borrow your car is a terrible idea. To wit: Wear and tear: You think strangers who don't even own cars are going to avoid potholes and baby your vintage Fuego into parking spots? Better hope your car doesn't require premium fuel—or, for that matter, diesel. Don't forget to check the driver's license of the renter to make sure it's the same person who signed up for the rental. Of course, the renter can still toss the keys to a buddy who needs to transport a couple hundred pounds of cocaine across the border real quick. RelayRides also has a deal with OnStar that allows renters to unlock their reserved cars with their smartphones, meaning some owners are renting their cars to strangers without even looking them in the eyes or shaking their hands. RelayRides takes a 40-percent cut of each deal, leaving the owner with just $6 per hour of a $10-an-hour rental. If you were hoping to offset a car payment while you're stuck in the office, may we recommend breeding crickets in your top drawer? Read full story » from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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