| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Car sharing |
| Founded | 2010 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Founder(s) | Shelby Clark |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Area served | Areas around cities of San Francisco, Cambridge, and Boston in the United States |
| Key people | Shelby Clark (Founder) & (Chief Community Officer), Kerry Champion (interim COO) , Andre Haddad ( CEO) |
| Products | car rentals, cars, car sharing |
| Services | Car sharing, car rentals, cars, car sharing |
| Employees | 36 |
| Website | relayrides.com |
RelayRides is a peer-to-peer car rental or carsharing service. It allows private car-owners to rent out their vehicles on a short-term basis, via an online interface.[1]
Car owners can set their own prices, and the company takes 15%.[2] The service launched in Boston in summer 2010[3] and in late 2010 it expanded to San Francisco.[4] It has received financial support from Google Ventures.[5]
RelayRides recently partnered with major automaker GM, and their OnStar division partnering to enable car renters to unlock GM cars with their mobile phones. [6]
The company estimates that vehicle owners can earn from $2,300 to $7,400 annually, based on hourly rental rates that typically range from $6 to $12.[7] The owner of the car sets the rate for their car to whatever price they wish.
The carsharing concept of RelayRides was inspired by similar services such as Zipcar. However, founder Shelby Clark proposed a peer-to-peer model because "we already have this massive resource in our communities" of underutilized vehicles.[8][9] He added, "It’s for the community, by the community."[9] The peer-to-peer setup also results in reduced rental costs as compared to car sharing services.[8][10]
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"Unlike traditional car rental services, RelayRides neither owns the vehicles nor maintains them. Rather, they are offering a platform for car owners and renters to connect generating scalability and lower pricing."[11] They provide a platform that tracks the cars and matches prospective borrowers to car owners.[12] RelayRides covers $1 million worth of insurance for vehicles during the rental period,[13] and performs basic background checks of vehicle registration and safety, as well as renters’ safety records, to lessen the likelihood of complications between the owner and borrower of the vehicle.[3]
People who wish to profit from their cars while they're not being used, can register the cars online to be borrowed by other RelayRides members.[1] Before the car can be lent to other RelayRides members, however, the company installs a device in the car, which controls and locks the car's ignition, so that only registered and approved RelayRiders can drive the car.[14]
To make the car available, a car owner that has signed up for RelayRides signs onto the network and states the time and place where the car will be available.[12] A member who wishes to borrow a car will reserve a specific time slot for the car online,[15] and pays for the amount of time they signed up for.[16] The user will then find the car parked at the place specified online and marked with a RelayRides logo.[16] In order to unlock and drive the car, members must swipe their membership card over the installed RelayRides device.[13]
Drivers as young as 18 (with two years of driving experience) may use the service.[17] RelayRides performs background checks on all potential borrowers, and drivers of any age are deemed ineligible and will not be accepted if they have any of the following in their driving record:[17]