One of the high points for me at TechCrunch Disrupt NY was sitting down to talk with Getaround Co-Founder Jessica Scorpio. As you may recall, Getaround, the peer-to-peer car sharing service, won the whole thing last year in a nail-biter finish.
Along with just about everyone else, I was pretty pumped by the Getaround presentation at TC Disrupt NY 2011. What’s not to like in this car sharing service? There are no membership charges, their insurance policy covers drivers for up to $1 million in liability, and an iPhone app lets renters find and reserve their cars. The iPhone then become a key-less remote that unlocks their innovative Carkit security gadget.
They’ve got everything covered.
In bringing me up to date on Getaround, Scorpio told me they are carefully positioning themselves to enter new markets. And yes, the NYC metro area is high on their list. I only had a few minutes to schmooze with Scorpio, but one thing you can’t help but notice is that she radiates beams of high-intensity confidence and enthusiasm.
How are things going– have there been any issues with insurance?
“A year later, we haven’t had any major incidents. People are super respectful of the cars. Part of our secret sauce is that owners have a lot of control. As an owner, you set the price, you decide who to share with, and when to share it. You have a lot of flexibility and control,which is why people like our service.
Are some car owners turning this into a business by frequently renting out a pool of cars?
“Not really. There has been some interest from fleet owners, but our real focus is individuals and empowering them to make a few extra hundred dollar per months. And this approach makes this a lot more scalable. So for example, if we take New York City, we would allow car sharing across the five boroughs rather than just drawing a small box around parts of Manhattan.”
So are there niche cars that are renting better–say… ?
“Yeah, so what’s surprising is that almost all the of cars on the site are 2005 or newer. So it’s generally newer, nicer cars and people have no problem sharing Teslas or BMWs or Audis. That’s great, and it’s certainly appealing to people who don’t own cars–you’ll get a car that you likely want. We haven’t launched a “line” of exotic or classic cars, but we know there’s opportunity and interest there.
How does this work in terms of the transaction–when do car owners start using the Carkit?
“It’s entirely up to the owner. A lot of people start with a key hand-off, and that let’s them connect with the person renting the car. Once we know people are renting quite a bit, we recommend the Carkit to empower them to share more. The Carkit is a super-helpful technology because it provides that “LoJack” tracking technology, and also provides access.
A renter can just walk outside, go down the street, and unlock a shared car –it’s really empowering. Technology can be enabling or a deterrent. Say with Zipcar you have to have a membership card. It’s a bit of turnoff! It’s 2012 and I need another membership card? So that’s one of the blocks we wanted to do away with.”
Anything else that you can share with us?
“We launched four cities so far. Last year, we launched San Francisco, and since then we rolled out Portland,with help from a multi-million dollar Federal grant, Austin, and San Diego. All those markets are doing well, especially in Portland, where the adoption has been explosive. We will be rolling out to more cities, and we have big news coming this summer on a number of fronts, including funding.”
Finally .. do you have a message for New Yorkers?
If you own a car, please sign up, we’ll be coming soon!
Jessica, thanks for this interview!