Journal: The AirBnB of Classic Cars Is Finally Here

The AirBnB of Classic Cars Is Finally Here

By Alex Sobran
August 23, 2017

The current world of peer-to-peer apps allowing us to send money and snippets of our lives to each other with a few strokes of the thumb is the same technological surge that brought us the convenience of things like AirBnB and Turo, the car-sharing service that allows individuals to rent their rides to each other while the company skims a bit of the price to provide the parties with insurance.

While it’s good fun to borrow someone’s new 911 for the day without much hassle, it would be even better if it were an old 911, right? Well, there’s good news for you if you agree because it looks like the keys to some of our vintage dreams are now in reach. Recently launched by Hagerty, their new DriveShare program takes the idea of user-sourced supply and demand and applies it to the classic car sphere. This means if you’re an owner you can set a price and stipulations for people to rent your vehicle, and if you’re looking to spend a day or two with something special you simply enter your location and peruse the cars offered.

The service is in its early days at the moment (Hagerty acquired a similar service, Classics&Exotics, not long ago, and is now more or less rebranding it and putting the weight of their name behind the project to instill confidence in those wary of smaller companies), so don’t be shocked to find a limited selection at the moment. A quick search in Los Angeles already reveals some nice variety though, as among the handful of expected 2002s there is a Knight Rider replica, a DeLorean, a Pontiac GTO, and an MGA all ready to be rented. There are so-called “exotics” as well, but the search function has some nice functionality to remove the incipient hordes of Gallardos and F430s that would clog up the results otherwise.

It’s an interesting concept, and it presents otherwise unavailable opportunities for easier classic driving experiences, to both sides of the deal. The owners can offset some of the costs they face (depending on how gentle the renters are obviously) by loaning their cars when not in use, and the renters now have a streamlined simple solution to their vintage yearning.

The costs are clearly going to be higher than what you’d encounter at the Hertz counter, but this shouldn’t be a surprise. To that end, Hagerty is providing insurance up to $1 million, comprehensive roadside assistance, and it has a screening process for each member before any keys change hands. For more details, check out the DriveShare site, but in the meantime, what are some cars that you think would fit into this platform? I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything requiring the upper limit of the insurance, but there are already some intriguing choices popping up. 

Join the Conversation
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
16 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
morpheustvdl
morpheustvdl
4 years ago

Thanks for this wonderful article It helped me a lot so useful. I’ll refer this site to my friends.Like to bookmarking this website and surly visit again. Keep posting visiting.
Wesite

jamesweb
jamesweb
4 years ago

Lovely visit of this website.Awesome and really nice post. Thanks for the great share and I must say it’s written nicely.
Like to bookmarking this website and surly visit again. Keep posting visiting.
WOF Before After

Lars Birkemose
Lars Birkemose
5 years ago

Renting my classic out to a complete stranger?

AAAAHAHAHAhahahahahaaahahahhhaaaaaaaaaa …

alexmike
alexmike
5 years ago

Hi, What about a service that puts old people into new cars?

Asphalt 9 Legends

Sunday Driver
Sunday Driver
7 years ago

I think this is a great concept.
So much so, that I’ve also recently launched a similar concept here in the New York area. It’s less of a “car rental” scenario where you can take the car for the weekend, and more in line with the Lane Motor Musuem’s “Rally for the Lane” concept where they take the cars out for a day tour.

You drive six different cars during the course of the tour as we drive around beach towns out on Long Island.
Anything to push the hobby in front of more people as I try to keep cool classics on the road and manual transmissions in people’s hands. Check us out.
Sunday Drivers NYGT dot com.

Phil Huffstatler
Phil Huffstatler
7 years ago

I can only see this working, if the owners’ of the cars are sharing with each other. At least then you might get some respect for your car from fellow enthusiasts. With today’s total lack of respect for anything historical by the bulk of humanity, I will cetainly not be putting my dream machine up for a stranger with a credit card and complete lack of responsibility. Pardon my cynicism, but Good luck to Haverty, they will certainly need it.

Shaun
Shaun
7 years ago

I own a few old BMW’s (2002, E30 ect),nothing of huge value but that said I can’t see myself giving the keys to a total stranger. The insurance is a nice idea but won’t help me If one or more people decide to dive my car(s) like they stole them causing premature wear. On the other side of the same coin whats happens when you ‘rent’ your classic to a stranger and the car leaves them stranded on the side of the road (as they tend to do sometimes)? Am I left having to refund them, pay for a flatbed and any repairs required? Does the insurance cover mechanical failure? At the risk of sounding cynical i think overall it’s a nice idea but not sure it works in the real world.

Alex
Alex
7 years ago
Reply to  Shaun

As the article mentions, the rental fees include insurance and roadside assistance. So, while Incant speak to mechanical repairs, you wouldn’t have to reimburse anyone for the tow.

jack c
jack c
7 years ago

As much as I hate to agree with anything senior guitar slammer has to say in the comment section, he is 100% on point today. Add to the failing app/business model the need to have owners of real “classic” cars hand over the keys to something that by it’s very definition is much more than a “car.” ??? Two words for this plan” dead money.

James Alexande
James Alexande
7 years ago

This is so much more expensive than Turo. Hard to see this taking off with current selection and price point.

Bill Bain
Bill Bain
7 years ago

Datsun 240Z, Fiat Spider

JAMES R SCHUMAN
JAMES R SCHUMAN
7 years ago

I have three great vintage cars — would be fun to just “trade” with someone else for a day — the service should put people that want to do that together as well as a straight rental.

Adam@Avants
Adam@Avants
7 years ago

That’s the whole premise behind Avants (avants dot com). Members swap cars for a short period of time (a day, weekend, week). Much better than a peer-to-peer car rental model since you are pre-qualifying who can drive your car. No riff-raff. And much cheaper too since you aren’t paying a rental fee. Plus, you meet some really cool people. Currently live in Seattle. More markets launching soon.

GuitarSlinger
GuitarSlinger
7 years ago

Yeah thats brilliant . Take a failing financial black hole business model yet to of shown a dime of profit … applying it to a segment in the depths of a major bubble about to burst .

Yeah … that’ll work out real well … in some delusional alternative reality . To the creators .. please accept my condolences … in advance . 😎

Pininfarino
Pininfarino
7 years ago
Reply to  GuitarSlinger

Ebulliophobia (from Latin ebullio, “bubble”, “boil”) is the fear of bubbles

Vic
Vic
7 years ago
Reply to  GuitarSlinger

I think it’s a cool idea for the renters but for the car owners? No way.
I like the thought of renting an old 911 and taking a weekend in Savannah but if I owned a 911 I probably wouldn’t loan it to a guy that looked like me.

You think the classic car market is about to have another downturn? Granted, I haven’t had a close eye on prices lately but I didn’t think it’d gotten back to pre-’08 levels again, has it?

Petrolicious Newsletter