Peer-to-Peer Services Combine Car-Sharing With Airport Parking

Want to offset some of that vacation cost or make a few extra bucks while on a business trip? Enter FlightCar, a sort of Airbnb for your ride. The San Francisco-based company launched at San Francisco International Airport in February 2013, and it’s since expanded its 24/7 operations to Boston’s Logan International Airport, the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

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FlightCar’s cheeky website reads like a combination between an airport rent-a-car and a car-sharing program, and it has potential to save travelers big bucks. If you live in one of those four cities and own a 2001 or newer vehicle with fewer than 150,000 miles, you can create a free account and drop your wheels off at their airport locations, which are about a 10-minute drive from the terminal. FlightCar transfers you to the airport, puts your car through a cursory safety inspection, documents the cosmetic condition and parks it for free while you’re gone … and then things have the potential to get interesting.

If anyone rents it, FlightCar pays you 5 to 20 cents per mile depending on your car (luxury versus nonluxury, newer versus older), and 40 cents per mile for any distance over 75 miles per day. For a two-week business trip, you could “probably make 70 or 80 dollars in cash” on top of the free parking, co-founder and president Kevin Petrovic told us.

The company washes and vacuums your car on the tail end — even if no one rents it — and takes on the logistics of finding renters. When you return, your car has the same or more gas than when you left.

“You’d get all that kind of [renter] information, but you don’t have to manage anything,” Petrovic said. “And then when you come back, [it’s] really simple. You can use our mobile web app to request a limo pickup from the airport.”

FlightCar screens renters and rejects anyone with more than two minor violations on their driving record in the past three years, Petrovic added. You’re also barred from renting if you have a DUI or any other major violation. On the owner side, cars must have sufficient tire tread and functional major systems like power windows and air conditioning. FlightCar also fills tire pressure if the warning light is on, a provision required on 2008-and-newer models. Bring in a problem-ridden car, and FlightCar will give you free parking once, Petrovic said, but you’ll need to fix the issues before you try to use the service again.

Hands-Off Process
FlightCar’s setup takes care of the entire process, which some may deem too hands-off. Many peer-to-peer car-sharing programs allow owners to set their own rental rates and mileage limits, read reviews of renters, meet up with their renters and rate them after the experience. It’s a few more logistical steps and not something an owner could easily accommodate while traveling. But FlightCar’s setup ensures some defense against, say, someone who would fill your luxury car with 87-octane gas.

However, enough drivers find the convenience worth it. Petrovic said FlightCar has some 35,000 active users, and it isn’t the only program of its type. Hubber operates full-service, peer-to-peer car sharing out of LAX. RelayRides has a similar program out of San Francisco, complete with safety inspections and valet pickups. It also offers peer-to-peer rentals at hundreds of other airports across the country, though owners and renters need to make arrangements to meet up. The company plans to expand its full-service operations to other airports soon, CEO Andre Haddad said.

The Renters
So who rents these cars from the airport lots? As with any peer-to-peer car-sharing network, it’s other travelers. It’s a potentially growing segment: A new study from Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based Phoenix Marketing International found 60 percent of Americans are aware of peer-to-peer car sharing, and 8 percent have tried it. Haddad said RelayRides’ rates are some 35 percent lower than comparable rental-car companies; you also get to choose a specific car. FlightCar’s rates are often lower, too, but, like most car-rental facilities, you rent a type of car, not a specific model.

“We don’t sell a particular person’s car simply because a lot of times people change their plans,” Petrovic said. “We will restrict certain inventory types, so if we’re projecting that we’re not going to have enough SUVs to meet demand … we would simply turn off sales of SUVs.”

At LAX, for example, a typical Thanksgiving weekend rental (8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26 through 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30) started at $21 per day on FlightCar, including all fees, as of Oct. 21. That gets you a compact car from the 2001-08 model years, with complimentary GPS and child-safety seats, if needed.

RelayRides, by contrast, offered a few cars around LAX during that span that were priced in the low $20s per day. But they were a motley crew — a 1992 Mercedes coupe, several late-’90s Saturn compacts, a 1997 Honda Civic and a 2000 Toyota Corolla — and you’d have to work with their owners to get them. Owner-stipulated mileage limits ran from 100 to 200 miles per day versus 100 miles per day from FlightCar. Both companies’ prices included liability coverage, but not any insurance on the car itself, which you could purchase for an additional cost.

Prices on Hubber, by contrast, began at $45 per day for 100 daily miles on a newer compact than you’d get from FlightCar (Hubber caps eligibility at 10 years old and 100,000 miles), but that included liability insurance and damage coverage on the car you rented for up to $50,000. It also came with a relatively low $500 deductible.

We surfed Kayak.com for the same LAX timeframe, and the cheapest rentals from traditional rental-car agencies ran in the low $30s per day, including all fees. But those had unlimited mileage and were largely new or late-model cars, which FlightCar roughly matched in price and condition (but not mileage) from its $34-per-day “2009-2015 compact” category. Kayak’s rentals didn’t include insurance, which is almost always extra from rental-car companies.

The Fine Print
Still, the insurance is often an unnecessary extra — something already addressed by the coverage from many personal auto insurance policies and the rental-car coverage included on many credit cards. For many renters, that means the liability coverage included from RelayRides, FlightCar and others replaces something you wouldn’t have needed to pay for in the first place.

Coverage on the car itself is another matter. FlightCar and RelayRides leave such coverage optional, and anyone who declines it is responsible for damage to the car. Don’t assume your credit card’s rental-car coverage has you covered.

“A lot of people think that because they bought the rental with their credit card, they get some sort of amazing protection,” RelayRides’ Haddad said. “The coverage is extremely limited, and it’s very secondary, so call your credit-card provider to find out.”

Likewise, owners shouldn’t assume their personal insurance covers peer-to-peer renters. Bankrate.com notes that car-sharing programs where you make money are typically excluded in your insurance coverage as an owner. The National Law Review goes one step further, noting that owners who rent their cars through peer-to-peer services can sometimes violate the terms of their insurance contracts and result in coverage revocation. Washington state, Oregon and California have passed laws that bar insurance companies from doing just that.

Still, Haddad said renters’ insurers have been cooperative once the company makes its case.

“We’ve actually had really good experiences with the personal policy underwriters when it comes to situations where the renters — the RelayRide renter — got into an accident, had declined purchasing any additional protection from us and was able to demonstrate that they had protection from their personal policy,” Haddad said. “A lot of the agents just don’t know about us — it’s still a very new model.”

That’s not to say every case is the same on peer-to-peer car sharing, so it’s safe to say — whether an owner or renter — you should read the full contract and consult your auto-insurance carrier before diving in.

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