Car-Sharing Platform Comes to Denver
A peer-to-peer car-sharing platform is launching its services in Denver, Colorado.
Getaround aims to allow car owners to make money from their vehicles via its smartphone app by lending them to people in their neighborhoods who do not own a car but need one temporarily. The company promotes itself as “a major part of the sustainability movement” and claims it can “reduce traffic and congestion” in “cities like Denver”.
Getaround CEO Sam Zaid claimed the service would offer the city’s residents “accessibility, variety, and instant gratification” at a time when they wanted to visit relatives and the nearby ski slopes. General manager Zach Houck said he saw Denver’s downtown core as a potential growth market for the company as a considerable minority of households there do not own cars but many of those that do own cars for individual ski trips.
Houck said Getaround could enable those households to “instantly monetize their primary car, or extra car that’s used occasionally”. The leasee is purportedly able to locate and unlock the lessor’s car via the company’s Getaround Connect app.
