Car-sharing company allows owners to rent out personal vehicles, make money while away
NEWARK -- A new company is looking to turn your summer trip into a paycation, allowing you to make money while your car does all the work, as long as you don't mind a stranger getting behind the wheel.
When the Dickey family, from Colorado, flew to Newark for a wedding, they tried something new: Flightcar.com. Instead of getting a rental car from a national chain, they rented someone else's personal vehicle.
Inspired by airbnb, Flightcar.com allows car owners to rent their personal vehicles to visiting vacationers. Car owners who are going away can register their wheels with the site and leave their vehicle at the airport. Then, while they're gone, another arriving passenger can rent their car.
Renters get a cheaper rate than a national chain, and the car owner doesn't have to pay to park at the airport.
If no one rents the vehicle during a trip, car owners still get free parking and a free car wash. And to ease owners' minds about strangers driving their cars, renters are vetted through a background check. Any minor violation in the last three years and the driver is denied. Plus, the company provides $1 million in extra insurance.
Flightcar customer Michael Dickey said the rental has been "so far, so good." He said the car was clean, and that he might not even know it was someone else's car.
But car-sharing isn't for everyone: some owners just wouldn't be comfortable renting out their cars because of the risk, or the germs, involved.
Flightcar is now available in 16 airports after expanding into Newark and Dallas this summer.
For more, visit Flightcar.com.
