Never again let your car sit in the garage during a long vacation, or have to leave it collecting dirt in your parent’s driveway when you go to college. Getaway will loan it out for you and possibly bring in some hefty change.
Getaround is like Airbnb for cars. Register your car on the site, decide pricing and rent it out when you’re not using it. This not only helps car owners reel-in money, but could positively impact the environment by taking new cars off the road.
But it takes some work replying to people who want to borrow your car, scheduling rental times and doing the key-hand off if you decline the Carkit (a proprietary device that lets you unlock your vehicle from your iPhone). With Getaway, simply put your vehicle in the hands of Getaround and they’ll manage everything from pricing, renting, maintenance and insurance.
The service is marketed toward college students, honeymooners, members of the military traveling overseas or anyone who’s not going to use their car for an extended period of time and don’t want to bother with trying to rent it out.
“Getaway was a response to people who didn’t have time to manage their own rental,” said Jessica Scorpio, founder of Getaround.Getaway is launching in beta in San Francisco and Chicago.
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And the money you can make is impressive, too. Getaround users make around $350 each month. But after a trial period with the fully-managed Getaway service, Scorpio said customers are likely to make $1,000 per month from their vehicle. Getaway is so sure that you’ll pull in cash from your car, they offer a $1,000 guarantee for the first three months.
With Getaway, the “Customer Happiness Team” decides the rental pricing of the vehicle, unlike with Getaround where users set their own pricing. Of course, pricing depends on the type and condition of the car. They recommend cars not be older than five years and have less than 100,000 miles to earn $1,000 per month. But you can register an old beater car on the site, although it may not get rented.
Getaway subscribers will get the Carkit installed in their vehicles, plus security features like GPS to track the car.
With Getaround and Getaway, Scorpio says they conduct “rigorous driver screenings,” meaning no renter can have anything serious such as a DUI on their driving record in the past 7 years. There is also a late fee if the borrower returns the car after their scheduled rental drop-off time. But Scorpio says having a community makes people more responsible and they’re more likely to stick to the allotted time they rent the car.
Getaround also announced on Thursday it’s secured $13.9 million in series A funding. Funders include Marissa Mayer, Ashton Kutcher and Innovations Endeavours.
Getaround is available in four markets San Francisco, Austin, Portland and San Diego. With this new round of funding, Scorpio says they plan to rapidly expand Getaround and its Getaway services to new markets.
“We are looking at partnerships that will continue to spread adoption and improve the experience,” Scorpio said.
Scorpio started working on Getaround in 2009. At Singular University, her and co-founder Sam Zaid were challenged by Larry Page to come up with an idea that could positively impact a billion people. They focused on transportation overpopulation and came up with Getaround.
Getaround is not the only service that lets you rent your car out to other drivers. OnStar’s car sharing program called RelayRides launched last month says it could also help you earn $600-$1,000 more each month. And WhipCar for London residents lets you borrow the vehicle next door, or down the street.
