4 ms·

Living in a city and having street-parked "rent-a-car" vehicles for infrequent trips while using trains to get to work is an incredible lifestyle. I went campi

Living in a city and having street-parked "rent-a-car" vehicles for infrequent trips while using trains to get to work is an incredible lifestyle. I went camping recently, so I rented a 4x4 for a few days. I needed to pick up family from the airport, I'll just rent a car for a few hours. Want to go for a hike up north, rent a car for a day. All I have to do is Lime-style, book one on the app, tap my car on the windshield to unlock and it's mine. Parking? No problem, the government has designated parking spots for rideshare vehicles. It could be cheaper, but with my frequency of use, it's cheaper than owning a car.

adreamingsoul 6y ago
This. Wife and I sold both our cars and moved to Oslo. We can get almost anywhere with public transportation and rent a car/van when we need to move stuff or get away to the cabin.
volta83 6y ago
In my city I have lived through multiple waves of this model. The main drawback is that it requires a bit of planning: on the weekends, everybody wants a car. I can count with one finger the companies that have survived multiple waves of this model over the last 15 years. They have "poor" cars, but enough of them, parked in "centralized" locations to ease maintainance, but enough of these locations spread out, great prices for a day, a weekend, etc. Most other companies that tried this have ended up defaulting the moment they had to repair their first wave of cars. The ones that still "survive" have gone through defaults, mergers, and have "infinite" amounts of money (e.g. owned by car manufacturers that use them as a way to get people "try" their cars as opposed to a "profitable" business). These are kind of "gimmicks" that you use when you pick somebody from the airport to show them around in a nice car. For everyday stuff, these are expensive enough for competing with Uber, and at that point, I just take a Uber. For one day trips they are also expensive enough that, if you take 3 days per month, owning a cheap car is actually cheaper and more practical than using these....
xuki 6y ago
For this to work you need a pretty good public transportation system. In the US for example, I don't know of any city other than NYC that have that kind of infrastructure.
- chobytes 6y ago
  Works well in Chicago with the CTA. Havent owned a car in years, and just rent when I need one.
- apatheticonion 6y ago
  I've heard the US has poor public infrastructure but haven't seen it so I can't comment. I live in Sydney, Australia and it's quite capable.
- AdrianB1 5y ago
  15 years ago I lived in DC a few months and I did not need a car, I used the sub a lot and buses a few times.
k4rli 6y ago
Good solution if one doesn't care at all about cars they drive. I could save 500€ a month with this solution but I'd much rather drive a 20l/100km V8 than a sweaty public ecobox.

adreamingsoul 6y ago

This. Wife and I sold both our cars and moved to Oslo. We can get almost anywhere with public transportation and rent a car/van when we need to move stuff or get away to the cabin.

volta83 6y ago

In my city I have lived through multiple waves of this model. The main drawback is that it requires a bit of planning: on the weekends, everybody wants a car. I can count with one finger the companies that have survived multiple waves of this model over the last 15 years. They have "poor" cars, but enough of them, parked in "centralized" locations to ease maintainance, but enough of these locations spread out, great prices for a day, a weekend, etc. Most other companies that tried this have ended up defaulting the moment they had to repair their first wave of cars. The ones that still "survive" have gone through defaults, mergers, and have "infinite" amounts of money (e.g. owned by car manufacturers that use them as a way to get people "try" their cars as opposed to a "profitable" business). These are kind of "gimmicks" that you use when you pick somebody from the airport to show them around in a nice car. For everyday stuff, these are expensive enough for competing with Uber, and at that point, I just take a Uber. For one day trips they are also expensive enough that, if you take 3 days per month, owning a cheap car is actually cheaper and more practical than using these....

xuki 6y ago

For this to work you need a pretty good public transportation system. In the US for example, I don't know of any city other than NYC that have that kind of infrastructure.

chobytes 6y ago
Works well in Chicago with the CTA. Havent owned a car in years, and just rent when I need one.
apatheticonion 6y ago
I've heard the US has poor public infrastructure but haven't seen it so I can't comment. I live in Sydney, Australia and it's quite capable.
AdrianB1 5y ago
15 years ago I lived in DC a few months and I did not need a car, I used the sub a lot and buses a few times.

k4rli 6y ago

Good solution if one doesn't care at all about cars they drive. I could save 500€ a month with this solution but I'd much rather drive a 20l/100km V8 than a sweaty public ecobox.