4 ms·
I interviewed with them a few months ago. The guy who interviewed me was super nice and really smart, but the company's business model seemed really odd. It was
by servercobra 7y ago
I interviewed with them a few months ago. The guy who interviewed me was super nice and really smart, but the company's business model seemed really odd. It was some sort of arbitrage on cars with dealerships owning most of the stock and trying to guess when the best time to sell the car as used was. Plus they had this belief there was some customers who wanted something between ZipCar/rental cars and a traditional lease, which I found dubious. I can see wanting one year leases, but below that seems like a pretty tiny market. I'm not surprised they've mostly switched to focusing on Uber.
- lonelappde 7y agoThere's a market for people who need a car to match their short term housing. (<1yr, or even a 3-yr lease on a used car). This is Rent-a-Wreck's market. Not a huge market, though.
- pkaye 7y ago> <1yr, or even a 3-yr lease on a used car Why not just buy an used car and sell it after it is no longer needed?
- vkou 7y agoBecause you have to pay sales taxes on the full value of the car, not on the fraction of the value that you got use out of. Sales taxes are the #1 reason for why people who constantly lease do not just buy and resell cars.
- perl4ever 7y agoThis doesn't make a lot of sense to me, don't competitive pressures mean you implicitly pay for the sales tax you're not explicitly paying when you lease? In my state (although not all) you get credit against sales tax for a trade-in. But it seems to me that's a primary reason why a dealer offers less on a trade-in than a private party would. Just because you're not paying sales tax doesn't mean you get the whole benefit.
- lumost 7y agoThese businesses seem highly appealing to financiers, as this is largely what financiers do in their day to day - and it seems to work out well for them.