Car & Away takes off with it's AirBnB for car rental service

by Startacus Admin

Car & Away, is a peer-to-peer car rental startup allowing car owners to monetise their vehicle whilst travelling to & from the UK, with London Gatwick announcing it is the first UK airport to host the new peer-to-peer car rental scheme. Think AirBnB for car rentals. 

Following a successful trial period, London Gatwick airport is partnering with innovative, sharing economy startup company, Car & Away, to provide a new ‘Rent & Earn’ service for passengers.

Renters will now be able to find Car & Away’s available vehicles via the company’s partner, Rentalcars.com, when searching for rental cars from Gatwick. Once a suitable match has been found, the vehicle is available for collection from dedicated Car & Away parking bays, located in the valet arrivals area of the South Terminal.

Small vehicle owners can expect to earn up to £80 per week in rental income, while owners of larger cars can expect to earn up to twice that amount, with Car & Away also ensureing all rental vehicles are fully insured, cleaned and meet Royal Automobile Club (RAC) approved vehicle roadworthiness checks, before being offered to renters.

Then once the renter returns, the vehicle passes through the same checking processes and is waiting for the owner in the dedicated Car & Away parking bays upon their return from holiday. Nice.

Car & Away Founder and CEO, Andy Hibbert, said:

“We’re all used to, and comfortable with, the sharing economy. Many of us share our homes via Airbnb and some even share their most personal of possessions - pets - via the likes of borrowmydoggy.com! So, sharing a car while people go away isn’t such a big step. Especially when owners not only make money out of it, but benefit from dropping the car right next to the terminal and get a professional valet to boot!

“For renters we provide a great alternative service that saves time, money and provides you with the exact car you book – not a ‘similar’ one. Our early customer feedback really shows us why these things matter. When it comes to renting cars, together with our partners, we provide a service where everyone wins.”

Car & Away was one of three startups to be chosen to take part in the latest Easyjet (Founders Factory  partnered) travel tech accelerator programme, with startups WeTrip and FlightSayer also chosen.

For what it's worth, we think this is one shared economy, peer-to-peer service that has the potential to really take off and kudos to London Gatwick for giving the green light to this innovative initiative. 

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• #peer-to-peer
• #car rental
• #easyjet
• #gatwick
• #car & away
• #shared economy
• #sharing economy
• #car
• #motor

Published on: 26th February 2018