WhipCar launches the world's first online neighbour-to-neighbour car rental service
There are plenty of online car rental services, but here’s one with a twist: rather than renting a company car from a car pool, WhipCar lets you come to an agreement with Mr Jones next door and take his car for a spin, for a fee.
The world’s first neighbour-to-neighbour car rental service, WhipCar is open to anyone over 21 with a drivers licence.
So why rent using WhipCar? Well for a start the pick up and drop off points could be potentially as close as the family next door, while the rental requirements are flexible enough for a quick trip to the shops. Also, WhipCar’s framework includes insurance to cover both the driver and car owner should an accident occur.
And what about the benefits for car owners? According to the DVLA, the UK has 29 million registered passenger cars on the road, many of which are used for less than an hour a day (according to WhipCar) at an average cost of £5,523 per year to own. With WhipCar, rather than sitting idle on your drive, your car makes you some hard cash, with the renter paying for petrol and WhipCar only taking a small fee.
“We want to combat excess car capacity on the roads, make the cars that are already on them more efficient, and find a way to reward owners who make use of their extra car capacity.” says WhipCar director Tom Wright. “For drivers, we want to evolve the status-quo model of traditional car clubs and rental schemes to provide a local cost-effective rental solution. We’ve launched in London first due to the high volume of cars, but will be quickly looking at a nationwide rollout. Fundamentally, we believe WhipCar will completely transform the concept of car ownership and how cars are used and rented in the UK.”
For more info, visit www.whipcar.com.
