Sharing Economy Gone Wild? Private Car Rentals at Airports Debuts

The spirit the helped launch Lyft, Uber and Airbnb, has now found a new vehicle with FlightCar,  a community-driven service that offers owners and visitors a new way to share and rent each other’s unique cars at select airports.

Here’s how it works: FlightCar owners sign up on flightcar.com or through the mobile app (iOS and Android) to list their cars in advance of an upcoming flight and create a unique car profile; then they select the dates they plan on being away from home. On the day of their trip, owners can conveniently drive themselves to the airport—which consumers say is the most preferred way of getting to the airport—and owners can park their car for free. FlightCar employees welcome owners at the FlightCar station and then quickly take them directly to their flight in a shuttle.

FlightCar reports it has a number of innovations, including a simplified listing and renting experience online; increased efficiency in the dropoff and pickup experience for owners and visitors; updated iPhone App and new Android App to manage customers’ trips; added community features that allow owners to personalize their car profiles; updated policies to take even greater care of the community and their cars; and a newly designed brand and customer experience throughout all FlightCar locations.

“Our vision is to empower millions of people around the world to be more self-reliant by sharing their resources to help improve society. We’re excited to announce this new milestone of reaching over a million car listing days since launch, saving our customers tens of millions of dollars in airport parking fees,” said Rujul Zaparde, CEO and Co-Founder of FlightCar.

The company also recently hired Robert Gash, who previously served as VP of Software Engineering at Good Eggs and prior to that spent eight years at Amazon as Senior Manager for Supply Chain Software, devising, building, and staffing a team of 50 to implement the technology to optimize the flow of goods through the Amazon warehouse network.

To help boost its claim of relevancy, FlightCar notes that it has reached 1.3 million car listing days, saving owners $20M in airport parking fees while they are traveling. Owners earn extra money renting their well-maintained cars to visitors who want an original way to experience a destination for a great value. Currently the service is in 12 airport locations in the U.S. with plans to expand.

Tags: featured

Category: Consumer