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Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles (EV) stand on display during the press day of the Seoul Motor Show in Goyang, South Korea
Traditionally, car-sharing services like Maven or Car2Go have to set up their own vehicle networks, which is a costly undertaking. Since it was established in 2016, Maven claims to have logged 300 million miles on its factory-owned vehicles.
It’s not the first car-sharing service to adopt a peer-to-peer model. That’s the foundation of Turo, the San Francisco-based transportation provider that started out as RelayRides in 2010. It now claims to have 4 million registered customers who can access 170,000 vehicles across the country.
That independently operated service offers a broad mix of vehicles owners can choose from for both short- and longer-term rentals, claiming to provide an average 30 percent discount compared with conventional rent-a-car companies like Avis or Hertz. It offers a wide range of new, and even some old vehicles, with prices ranging from $10 all the way up to $250 a day.
Maven says it will only work with owners of Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles from the 2015 model year or newer. Like Turo, it will let owners set pricing, though it will provide a guide based on what similar products are going for.
The GM subsidiary hasn’t yet released many details, including how it will reimburse owners. Steyn suggested that an owner of a Chevrolet Equinox who constantly rents the vehicle out could take home $500 or so a month. That figure actually comes in a bit below what Turo claims an owner can make. Considering the base price of a new 2018 Equinox, around $24,000, Turos website suggests “you could earn $14,023 annually.” The San Francisco car-sharing service gives owners a 65 to 85 percent cut of the rental fee.
Whatever the final numbers, owners will have to cover things like gas and maintenance. The extra cash could help cover a motorist’s monthly car note. And the GM service is suggesting some owners may find the extra cash helps them upgrade the car they buy.