Editor’s Note: RelayRides currently has no affiliation or partnership with the MBTA to provide this added functionality. Company reps tell us it still works perfectly, however.
Get into a BMW Z4 from RelayRides with your CharlieCard!
No, it’s not a new device for thieves. On the contrary, the team at Cambridge-based startup RelayRides are working hard to build trust and community across the Charles River.
The company is taking car sharing we were introduced to by another Boston startup, Zipcar, and making it even more eco-friendly and sensible. With RelayRides, Cambridge residents can rent a myriad of privately owned vehicles on an hourly basis thanks to a quick hardware addition the RelayRides team installs. It allows customers to unlock the vehicles they reserve in advance. People volunteering their cars for the program choose when to make their vehicles available, and get paid each time someone rents them.
Recently, the company made it possible for people identify themselves to RelayRides vehicles using the CharlieCards they already use to pay for T and bus rides around Boston and Cambridge.
“RelayRides membership cards and CharlieCards use similar smartcards, so our technology can read the unique signature of a CharlieCard,” says RelayRides CEO and Founder Shelby Clark, a recent Harvard Business School grad. “This doesn’t allow us to access any personal information for the user, but it does provide a unique identification card that we can associate with the member’s RelayRides account.
“If you have a CharlieCard, we have you swipe it over the sensor on a RelayRides car, we capture the signature of the CharlieCard, and your CharlieCard can now function as your RelayRides membership card as well. We’re pretty excited about this because this means that one card can satisfy all of your transportation needs, making it even easier for Cambridge residents to live without a car. Also, this allows you to rent a car the same day you sign up — otherwise, you’d have to wait up to a week to receive a membership card in the mail before renting.”
Of course, customers cannot actually pay for the car they’re renting with their CharlieCards, and only the specific CharlieCard of the renter will allow access to the rented vehicle. The CharlieCard feature simply lets the company identify that you’re there to rent the car. Users simply place the CharlieCard (or, alternatively, the RelayRides membership card) on the windshield above the dash and the RelayRides card reader inside will sense the unique signature of that card, unlocking it.
If you haven’t heard of RelayRides yet, you’re missing out on one of the hottest local startups launched in 2010.
The company officially launched this summer with a full-time staff of four, and the project was founded after Clark found himself pedaling past hundreds of privately owned cars on his way to a Zipcar he rented; biking to your rental car is not ideal, especially when there are so many cars in the city that go unused for long stints. He admits he’s a fan of Zipcar, but says he thinks RelayRides just makes more sense for some people.
For those of you concerned by the thought of renting your car to customers through the Internet, consider the fact that RelayRides kicks approximately 65% of the rental fee back to you. That can add up to as much as $8,000, says Clark, and even if you just rent your whip occasionally, you can use that dough to pay off your car faster or offset the cost of insurance.
Speaking of insurance, if you’re worried about putting your car in the hands of unknown motorists, Clark says don’t be.
“After over a year and a lot of work, we finally secured a $1M insurance policy that protects us, our car owners, and our car renters,” he says. “Securing the insurance policy was certainly the biggest challenge. This was uncharted territory, so we actually had to invent a new insurance product that worked perfectly for us. Finding a carrier to underwrite this was incredibly difficult as insurance companies are, by definition, risk adverse.”
Additionally, RelayRides provides 24-hour roadside assistance and phone support to renters, just like any other rental car agency.
Clark says renters love RelayRides because it’s straight-up cheaper than Zipcar, and there’s no annual membership fee. Most of the cars in the RelayRides fleet go for $6-$12 per hour. Plus, your selection is not nearly as limited as it is when you use Zipcar.
Says Clark: “We have enough cars to provide most people who live in Cambridge (and some surrounding areas) access to a car with less than a 10-minute walk. We only launched about a month ago and we’re adding new cars every week. This week we added a Honda Civic Hybrid, a Nissan Versa, a BMW Z4, and an Audi A4. So, we should continue to expand our reach and availability with every passing week.”
Because the operating costs for RelayRides are so much lower than those of Zipcar, the company looks like it has more potential for expanding into more dispirately populated regions of the United States. For now, it’s only available in Cambridge, but Clark says he hopes that will change over the next few years.
“Right now we’re completely focused on our operations in Cambridge,” he says. “We’re trying to learn how to run a great service that our members love. We’ll likely raise a Series A round of capital towards the end of the year, then begin to think about what other cities RelayRides would serve well.”
Clark says some RelayRides users are even renting out their own cars at the same time they rent a different specialty vehicle they need — like a van on moving day. These users are essentially trading vehicles for the day if they earn what they pay. It’s a use-case that gets to the heart of the community-centric model RelayRides operates on. When a customer gets into one of the privately owned vehicles in the RelayRides fleet, they’re met with a personal welcome letter from the owner about the vehicle. Clark calls it person-to-person sharing, and BostInno loves it because it’s all about the people involved in the transaction.
Give it a whirl. You might find yourself unlocking your neighbor’s car with your CharlieCard.
Have you tried RelayRides yet? What was your experience like? Is your car in the fleet? Tell our readers what you think in the comments section below.
To learn more about RelayRides, follow the company on Twitter or like it on Facebook.
Tags: CharlieCard, Company News, Company Profiles, RelayRides, Zipcar
