Baby, you can rent my car
A new service in Boston enables auto owners to rent their cars out by the hour — a takeoff on vehicle-sharing operations like Zipcar.
Shelby Clark was riding his bicycle to pick up a Zipcar in Boston two winters ago when it occurred to him that many people have cars they rarely use. Why not set up a service, Clark thought, that would make it possible for the owners to rent their cars out and make some money?
The result is RelayRides, a program that lets vehicle owners in Boston and nearby Cambridge rent their cars out at an hourly rate. RelayRates takes a 15 percent share of the rental fee, The New York Times reported Sept. 12 in an article by Ken Belson that is available here.
In an accompanying Times article, available here, Belson reports on the growth of car-sharing services operated by Zipcar, Hertz, Enterprise, and U-Haul. Zipcar has 400,000 members, and is achieving double-digit growth rates by offering vehicles ranging from Mini Coopers to the BMW 328i, at $7 to $17 an hour, in dispersed locations, he says. Analysts estimate that 10 million drivers in the US are interested in car-sharing. Car-sharing "provides an alternative to car ownership," says consultant Dave Brook.
