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Different analysis: it's much more likely that a car can be damaged & completely unusable, leaving the owner in an expensive and inconvenient bind. We read ab

Different analysis: it's much more likely that a car can be damaged & completely unusable, leaving the owner in an expensive and inconvenient bind. We read about the occasional Airbnb horror story, but I think that scenario is relatively rare for property. Second, idle cars have a lot of value to owners. The car in my garage right now is giving me optionality and convenience, and that is worth a lot. In fact, I may exercise that optionality after posting this comment!

ghaff 9y ago
OTOH, one could argue that damage/theft/etc. to a home could involve much larger sums of money and be less easily resolved with a check from the middleman handling the rental--especially if it's not specifically a rental property. Another issue with car sharing is that a fair bit of the depreciation is going to be mile-based rather than time-based. A "good" renter is going to put fairly minimal wear and tear on a bedroom. A good car renter is still going to put miles on a car. Once you capture that cost and add it to your profit, it's unclear to me why you'd expect to be competitive with an outfit like Zipcar which is probably a generally better experience for the renter in any case.
- emodendroket 9y ago
  Yeah, the stakes are higher, but it also seems much less likely that someone is going to unintentionally total your home.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Oh in general I agree. But, as you say, the stakes are a lot higher. With a car, the main serious concern is liability. Even if the company is good for covering you financially, who wants to get into a traumatic legal situation? Bad things do happen with housing rentals even if they're rare (whether they're intentional or unintentional doesn't really change the final result). e.g. https://twitter.com/GPellegrini/status/867540860782739458 https://twitter.com/GPellegrini/status/867540860782739458
    - emodendroket 9y ago
      Right or wrong, I imagine a lot of hosts figure they can weed out problematic guests through the profile/interview process. Personally I'd never want to rent my stuff out through either service.
- Swizec 9y ago
  > Zipcar which is probably a generally better experience for the renter in any case. I use Zipcar for everyday boring stuff. RelayRides and Turo when I want a nice car to drive.
- gav 9y ago
  I disagree and argue that any damage to a home can be repaired in a way that makes things better, while most car repairs have a negative impact to the car's value. Somebody damaging a wall: the drywall can be replaced and the whole room repainted, the end result is a nicer room. Somebody damaging the side of your car: it's never going to look quite the same as it did before and the resale value is going to be impacted when it shows up on a Carfax report, etc.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    My concern wouldn't be some minor damage to drywall or similar incidental damage of the sort that happens around a house on a semi-regular basis. It's the big party that leads to possessions being trashed and waiting six months for a contractor to repair major damage. I agree that a lot of "routine" house damage is probably easier to deal with than similarly routine damage to a car. But the outlier incidents with housing are probably worse. Assuming Turo or whoever honors their obligations, at worst you just buy a new car. ADDED: I can't imagine renting out either in any case.
    - GVIrish 9y ago
      The thing with a car is that it can easily be badly damaged or totaled by simple driver error. A house can be destroyed by fire maybe but that's far less common than car accidents.
r00fus 9y ago
While the car damage may be an issue, a greater threat to the AirBnB model for cars is liability. Already insurance companies and even leasing companies have special provisions (i.e., additional costs) for Uber/Lyft usage. The possibility that you may be regularly giving another person control of your vehicle would likely be unsupported by default.
asabjorn 9y ago
Also, the compensation for renting out your car on the platforms I've tried does not cover wear and tear. I received 80 dollars for nearly 2000 miles driven in one month. Considering the inconvenience and risk this does not turn into a profitable venture for me.

ghaff 9y ago

OTOH, one could argue that damage/theft/etc. to a home could involve much larger sums of money and be less easily resolved with a check from the middleman handling the rental--especially if it's not specifically a rental property. Another issue with car sharing is that a fair bit of the depreciation is going to be mile-based rather than time-based. A "good" renter is going to put fairly minimal wear and tear on a bedroom. A good car renter is still going to put miles on a car. Once you capture that cost and add it to your profit, it's unclear to me why you'd expect to be competitive with an outfit like Zipcar which is probably a generally better experience for the renter in any case.

emodendroket 9y ago
Yeah, the stakes are higher, but it also seems much less likely that someone is going to unintentionally total your home.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Oh in general I agree. But, as you say, the stakes are a lot higher. With a car, the main serious concern is liability. Even if the company is good for covering you financially, who wants to get into a traumatic legal situation? Bad things do happen with housing rentals even if they're rare (whether they're intentional or unintentional doesn't really change the final result). e.g. https://twitter.com/GPellegrini/status/867540860782739458 https://twitter.com/GPellegrini/status/867540860782739458
  - emodendroket 9y ago
    Right or wrong, I imagine a lot of hosts figure they can weed out problematic guests through the profile/interview process. Personally I'd never want to rent my stuff out through either service.
Swizec 9y ago
> Zipcar which is probably a generally better experience for the renter in any case. I use Zipcar for everyday boring stuff. RelayRides and Turo when I want a nice car to drive.
gav 9y ago
I disagree and argue that any damage to a home can be repaired in a way that makes things better, while most car repairs have a negative impact to the car's value. Somebody damaging a wall: the drywall can be replaced and the whole room repainted, the end result is a nicer room. Somebody damaging the side of your car: it's never going to look quite the same as it did before and the resale value is going to be impacted when it shows up on a Carfax report, etc.
- ghaff 9y ago
  My concern wouldn't be some minor damage to drywall or similar incidental damage of the sort that happens around a house on a semi-regular basis. It's the big party that leads to possessions being trashed and waiting six months for a contractor to repair major damage. I agree that a lot of "routine" house damage is probably easier to deal with than similarly routine damage to a car. But the outlier incidents with housing are probably worse. Assuming Turo or whoever honors their obligations, at worst you just buy a new car. ADDED: I can't imagine renting out either in any case.
  - GVIrish 9y ago
    The thing with a car is that it can easily be badly damaged or totaled by simple driver error. A house can be destroyed by fire maybe but that's far less common than car accidents.

r00fus 9y ago

While the car damage may be an issue, a greater threat to the AirBnB model for cars is liability. Already insurance companies and even leasing companies have special provisions (i.e., additional costs) for Uber/Lyft usage. The possibility that you may be regularly giving another person control of your vehicle would likely be unsupported by default.

asabjorn 9y ago

Also, the compensation for renting out your car on the platforms I've tried does not cover wear and tear. I received 80 dollars for nearly 2000 miles driven in one month. Considering the inconvenience and risk this does not turn into a profitable venture for me.