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Ford doesn't think everyone needs to own a Ford, but it still wants non-car-owners to drive them. The company said this week that it will be testing a car-sharing pilot program to learn about how willing Ford owners are to share their vehicles. As part of the program, people who buy their cars through the company's credit arm, Ford Credit, will be invited to offset their monthly payments by allowing drivers to rent their cars by the hour. The company also launched an in-house car-sharing program in London.
The pilot program in the US will take place through Getaround—an existing mobile platform that lets users list their cars and rent them out to pre-screened drivers. Getaround already operates in California in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, as well as Portland, Oregon; and Washington, DC. Ford's pilot program, called "Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing," will also take the program to Chicago, where Getaround has yet to launch, and to London through a car-sharing service called easyCar Club.
Ford will reach out to 14,000 US car owners who financed their Fords on credit, asking they if they'd like to participate in the program. It will do the same for 12,000 such customers in London.
Predictions on how private-car sharing will play out? However it does, Ford seems to have been ahead of other American car manufacturers with its integration of information technology.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by nyder on Friday June 26 2015, @01:47PM
Sounds great, until you get the legal side into it.
Mainly when Owner A no longer has a car because Renter B totaled it, and his insurance won't cover it. Hopefully Owner A has the car insured for any driver. Oh, wait, that doesn't cover when you rent your vehicle to another person? Oh, that must hurt.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 26 2015, @02:09PM
I assume Ford has covered this or that deal is off. And if not there's got to be an insurance that says "If renter B crash the car, I get a new one next week" without exemptions or buts or ifs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2015, @04:22PM
...without exemptions or buts or ifs.
I see you're new to insurance...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @03:37PM
I didn't read how Ford does it, but for standard car sharing, there's not a dedicated owner, but the car is owned by the sharing organization formed by those sharing the cars. I guess insurance-wise it's handled the same way as a rental car.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday June 26 2015, @03:39PM
Or driver B is just an idiot who puts undue wear and tear on my car.
Sounds nice in theory, but there is no way in hell I'd want to let some total stranger borrow my car, even if he had proper insurance and it *wasn't* a manual.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @08:08PM
1. Like closing the doors too hard
2. Unncessarily raising and lowering the windows
3. Running over bumps and potholes at speed
4. Driving over the footpath at times, especially when turning
5. Using the brakes too hard
6. Riding the brakes, causing disk warp
7. Using windshield/windscreen wipers when dry
8. Using the floor as a rubbish dump for bodily fluids and waste
9. Paint scratches
All those and many more in an automatic car. Wear and tear doesn't show up quickly in a car. It may take years to find out what that guy did.
Once I had someone put water (or another fluid) into the power steering oil, brake oil and gear oil in my car that I lent to him. Another one killed the engine the same day I lent him my car.
Cars were never meant to be rented or driven by more than one person. If they want a car, they should buy one.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 27 2015, @12:43AM
1. Accelerometers in the doors?
2. Log the system bus (CAN) of the car?
3. Accelerometer?
4. Accelerometer?
5. Accelerometer and system bus logging?
6. System bus logging?
7. Measure wiper motor current and humidity sensor?
8. UV-light?
9. Chassis scanning using special light?
It can nowadays all be measure.. and billed.