Airbnb for cars is here. And the rental car giants are not happy

The traditional rental-car model is run by hulking corporate brands that promise safety and predictability.

They have fleets with hundreds of thousands of vehicles and command multibillion-dollar streams of revenue.

But in the rapidly shifting transportation landscape, even the Goliaths of the rental car industry — some of the best-known brands in the world — worry about being left behind.

That may explain why some of the largest rental car companies have spent several years waging a quiet legislative war against start-ups led by a company called Turo that are trying to change the way people rent and own vehicles. Turo is a peer-to-peer car-sharing company — think Airbnb for cars.

Like Uber versus the taxi industry before them, this fight is a clash between an old-school business model and a modern technology platform inspired by the sharing economy.

The traditional model is run by hulking corporate brands that promise safety and predictability. At any airport in the land, for instance, a customer is assured he will get a car (“Nissan Sentra or similar”).

The new model offers a more customized experience. In a process that mimics online dating, a customer can choose that flashy Tesla for a joy ride or that Ford F-150 to haul garden mulch.

While each offers a way to rent a car, the ultimate factor in their long-term success might actually depend on changing attitudes about the value of car ownership.

In America, the average price of new vehicles has zoomed over $33,000, leaving people to wonder whether there’s a way to get more value from them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/03/30/airbnb-for-cars-is-here-and-the-rental-car-giants-are-not-happy/