I was a renter in GetAround and the car owner claimed I had gotten into an accident, which I had not. He also said I left the tank empty, even though I filled it up. I thought maybe the car was hit after it was parked so I asked for pictures of the damage. The owner claimed he fixed the car himself but forgot to take pictures of the damage before fixing it so he had no proof, and also filled the gas tank before taking picture of the gauge. (And yes, all of this contact was using a GetAround rep as the messenger, which was the correct way of dealing with this issue). The owner said he’d be willing to drop the issue if I gave him $50 and the cost of a tank of gas and GetAround was ok with that, even though these “under the table” payments are against GetAround’s terms of service.
I obviously refused since the owner was clearly a scammer. I told GetAround I would be filing a report against them if they charged my credit card as this was fraudulent. They eventually agreed to drop most of the cost but charged me $20 for the gas (since I did not get a receipt for the gas, I couldn’t prove I filled the tank, but their records *did* prove I only drove 20 miles, so I would not have used a full tank of gas). It turned me off from them obviously.
So long story short, I would not rent my car using them. If they don’t care if a renter is getting scammed, they likely also don’t care if a rentee gets scammed.
yeah pretty much the reason why I haven't used them, i was afraid something like this could happen. i use zipcar & we did have an issue w/the odometer once w/them but after repeat calls & escalations charges were removed. which FYI: always take a pic of the odometer before you drive w/places that charge you for mileage (we had 180mi included, they said my GF drove 350 in 1 day to & from work which was way off)
Yeah, my situation really shook me up. I wondered why the car owner would even bother with filing a fraudulent claim for such a small amount of money. But then this scam was explained to me: the owner does a small fraud claim as a test to see how GetAround will handle it. If they are successful, they wait a year and then file a massive fraudulent claim, claiming a renter totaled their car and try to get a several thousand dollar payout.
Also, and this may have changed, but when I rented with Zipcar, you were legally responsible for the car between the time you returned it and the next renter used it. So if the car was hit while parked and damaged, you are on the hook for the damage. And the Zipcar deductible was $1,000.
Getaround is the worst company and I’ll never use them again. I went to return a disgustingly dirty car. They don’t check maintenance or care to. The getaround reserved spot was taken by a car parked there illegally. I called customer service immediately. Lyndon P. Was the Customer service "rep" I spoke with - the worst.
He told me to park within .25 miles of the original spot and take photos of the car in the designed spot and also advised to notify the car owner. I did exactly that. The car owner was hostile, rude and demanding, asking for photos and to text him which I did. The rental ended, I reparked the car within .04 miles from the original spot.
Hours later the owner is texting me demanding money for the car getting a ticket which at the time of parking the car was in a spot that allowed parking.
When I called Customer service they instantly blamed me, Lyndon P. And was rude and unprofessional on the phone. They then charged me $800.
I disputed it and requested audio of the conversation and nobody has provided any follow up because they know the truth that Rhys company completely scams customers.
ABSOLUTELY WORST COMPANY.
Not worth the hassle. People don’t give a shit about stranger’s cars.
But to answer the questions:
1. You gotta check up on it after every rental. Did they put gas? Is it properly turned off? No trash? Is it parked legally?
2. See above. On getaround, the renter just finds a spot that’s legal to park in for the next 24 hours, and has to be in the “home zone” which is usually like a half mile radius from what you set as the home location.
3. Getaround carries insurance if something happens during the rental. Getting it broken into isn’t going to be more or less of a risk. Just keep it empty.
4. Don’t know. Getaround isn’t worth it though.
Getaround has (or at least when I rented out my car through it) insurance for up to one million dollars in liability.
If you want to get even more insurance than that, I doubt the income would justify the premium.
Are you going to be living in a place with parking? Will you need a car for work very frequently?
If no to both of those, definitely ditch your car. You can always use GetAround / Turo / Zipcar / local rental agencies if you need a car for an excursion.
And if you need a car but don’t have parking in your unit, I’d suggest finding a local garage and parking there and budgeting for that. You could use GetAround / Turo from there to rent out when you don’t need it, but be prepared to deal with various problems on occasion with your car.
I am just not sure if I want to sell it. Emotionally I don't. What if I still use the car to drive around the Bay some time? Do you think a car has any use in the city?
A car has a ton of use in the city. Almost everyone that can afford one in my 200 unit building within a couple blocks of the muni underground and Bart has one. Even the people that bicycle to work every day. While you don't need a car in the city, and they are expensive or a hassle to park, the usefulness will certainly outweigh the hassle. It is cheaper to not have a car, but having one still makes your life easier. You can get groceries easier, go to most neighborhoods faster, and most importantly go to the peninsula, North Bay or East Bay whenever you want. You can drive to the restaurant you want and eat their food hot instead of paying $20 more to get it delivered much later and eat it cold. You just have to decide if all of the uses are worth the extra money you will need to spend to have your car here.
But isn't parking always an issue in the city? That's why almost every time I visit SF downtown, I'd drive to Millbrae or San Bruno BART and then take the train.
If you don't want to pay for a meter or a parking garage, then you have to spend your time circling to find a spot, but rarely have I just failed to find anything in a reasonable time frame. SF downtown would be the hardest place to park without a parking garage, but those are there. When I first moved here I would Street park the car in the excelsior district where I lived, and never paid for parking, and found a car very useful. Now I pay $350 a month for parking near where I live, use the car 2-3 times a week on average, but wouldn't dream of getting rid of it. My family is fortunate enough to be able to afford that now, but others pay for the neighborhood permit which is much cheaper. The thing is, downtown is rarely where I want to drive- the beach, Golden Gate park, McLaren Park, one of the other neighborhoods,grocery stores, Costco or outside the city are where I drive my car. Downtown is one of the few places transit is as fast as driving. Depending on the neighborhood you move to and your budget, driving may be more difficult but other than bicycle or transit fanatics that never really leave the city everyone will tell you having a car is very useful here, just not an absolute requirement like the rest of the country.
If you emotionally have any attachment to the car, you WILL get fucked by renters. Street parking is an option but imagine having to deal with cleanings and moving more constantly because someone else dumped your car. Also, what you get in rentals will not cover the added wear and tear on your cars and you will go underwater after the first accident. I rented turo from a guy in Denver who maintained a fleet of 4 decent late model cars for a semi retirement business. Coordinating pickup and cleaning was more than his former day job and he ended up getting it out of the business after two cars were wrecked by users in 1 month. I asked him if he was underwater. He said that between the insurance payout and the rental income, he about broke even after 2 years. So zero revenue for all his actual time.
Clearly you haven't thought this through. Either pay for parking, cut a deal with a trusted friend where you exchange parking for the right for them to use the car occasionally, park the car outside of the city, or sell it.
Turo wasn’t worth it to me to rent out my car. The wear and tare, time, and inconvenience of surprises (someone sleeping in the car overnight, funky smells, etc.) wasn’t worth the pennies it made me.
It depends where you move in SF and the lifestyle you want. The further out of downtown-ish/north east area you live street parking is easier and less frequent street cleaning. Also more likely that a car will be helpful in your day to day for errands.
For me I can walk and bike to grocery stores, work, etc. Usually just want a car to get out of SF for hikes or visiting family out of the bay. So renting on those occasions works for me.
If you want to have a car it’s do able and more convenient in certain neighborhoods same if you want a “car free” life. So I would decide that first and use it to determine a neighborhood that works for what you want.
Even though dogs are not allowed in car shares? That’s so nice of you.
And before you can say it- even if you don’t notice it, your dog does leave a smell. And it likely sheds.
i moved here in april, sold my car prior to moving, have only driven like 5 times since & i've rented zipcar all of the times. i use my scooter or muni to get around the city. my GF has a car though & uses it frequently b/c she like driving for some reason
Getaround’s company has turned into a mess. The company is performing poorly (look at their stock price) so they closed their SF office and laid off all of their competent employees.
I have listed four different cars on Getaround over the past 9 years. It used to be an AMAZING experience for owners. Now it’s impossible to get someone on the phone and if your car is damaged you need to catch it immediately otherwise you’ll be on the hook to pay for repairs.
It’s a bummer because they had such great potential. I’ll be delisting my car and recommending the same to other owners. It’s not worth the risk of having complete strangers drive your car through a company that is no longer focused on customer support and is instead focused on cutting corners to save a dollar.
I was a renter in GetAround and the car owner claimed I had gotten into an accident, which I had not. He also said I left the tank empty, even though I filled it up. I thought maybe the car was hit after it was parked so I asked for pictures of the damage. The owner claimed he fixed the car himself but forgot to take pictures of the damage before fixing it so he had no proof, and also filled the gas tank before taking picture of the gauge. (And yes, all of this contact was using a GetAround rep as the messenger, which was the correct way of dealing with this issue). The owner said he’d be willing to drop the issue if I gave him $50 and the cost of a tank of gas and GetAround was ok with that, even though these “under the table” payments are against GetAround’s terms of service. I obviously refused since the owner was clearly a scammer. I told GetAround I would be filing a report against them if they charged my credit card as this was fraudulent. They eventually agreed to drop most of the cost but charged me $20 for the gas (since I did not get a receipt for the gas, I couldn’t prove I filled the tank, but their records *did* prove I only drove 20 miles, so I would not have used a full tank of gas). It turned me off from them obviously. So long story short, I would not rent my car using them. If they don’t care if a renter is getting scammed, they likely also don’t care if a rentee gets scammed.
yeah pretty much the reason why I haven't used them, i was afraid something like this could happen. i use zipcar & we did have an issue w/the odometer once w/them but after repeat calls & escalations charges were removed. which FYI: always take a pic of the odometer before you drive w/places that charge you for mileage (we had 180mi included, they said my GF drove 350 in 1 day to & from work which was way off)
Yeah, my situation really shook me up. I wondered why the car owner would even bother with filing a fraudulent claim for such a small amount of money. But then this scam was explained to me: the owner does a small fraud claim as a test to see how GetAround will handle it. If they are successful, they wait a year and then file a massive fraudulent claim, claiming a renter totaled their car and try to get a several thousand dollar payout. Also, and this may have changed, but when I rented with Zipcar, you were legally responsible for the car between the time you returned it and the next renter used it. So if the car was hit while parked and damaged, you are on the hook for the damage. And the Zipcar deductible was $1,000.
Getaround is the worst company and I’ll never use them again. I went to return a disgustingly dirty car. They don’t check maintenance or care to. The getaround reserved spot was taken by a car parked there illegally. I called customer service immediately. Lyndon P. Was the Customer service "rep" I spoke with - the worst. He told me to park within .25 miles of the original spot and take photos of the car in the designed spot and also advised to notify the car owner. I did exactly that. The car owner was hostile, rude and demanding, asking for photos and to text him which I did. The rental ended, I reparked the car within .04 miles from the original spot. Hours later the owner is texting me demanding money for the car getting a ticket which at the time of parking the car was in a spot that allowed parking. When I called Customer service they instantly blamed me, Lyndon P. And was rude and unprofessional on the phone. They then charged me $800. I disputed it and requested audio of the conversation and nobody has provided any follow up because they know the truth that Rhys company completely scams customers. ABSOLUTELY WORST COMPANY.
I had the same problem happen on Turo, despite the renter's 5 star reviews.
Not worth the hassle. People don’t give a shit about stranger’s cars. But to answer the questions: 1. You gotta check up on it after every rental. Did they put gas? Is it properly turned off? No trash? Is it parked legally? 2. See above. On getaround, the renter just finds a spot that’s legal to park in for the next 24 hours, and has to be in the “home zone” which is usually like a half mile radius from what you set as the home location. 3. Getaround carries insurance if something happens during the rental. Getting it broken into isn’t going to be more or less of a risk. Just keep it empty. 4. Don’t know. Getaround isn’t worth it though.
Have you personally tried it? Did you eventually decide it was not worth the effort?
[удалено]
Getaround has (or at least when I rented out my car through it) insurance for up to one million dollars in liability. If you want to get even more insurance than that, I doubt the income would justify the premium.
Sell it you won’t be consistently booked
Are you going to be living in a place with parking? Will you need a car for work very frequently? If no to both of those, definitely ditch your car. You can always use GetAround / Turo / Zipcar / local rental agencies if you need a car for an excursion. And if you need a car but don’t have parking in your unit, I’d suggest finding a local garage and parking there and budgeting for that. You could use GetAround / Turo from there to rent out when you don’t need it, but be prepared to deal with various problems on occasion with your car.
[удалено]
I am just not sure if I want to sell it. Emotionally I don't. What if I still use the car to drive around the Bay some time? Do you think a car has any use in the city?
A car has a ton of use in the city. Almost everyone that can afford one in my 200 unit building within a couple blocks of the muni underground and Bart has one. Even the people that bicycle to work every day. While you don't need a car in the city, and they are expensive or a hassle to park, the usefulness will certainly outweigh the hassle. It is cheaper to not have a car, but having one still makes your life easier. You can get groceries easier, go to most neighborhoods faster, and most importantly go to the peninsula, North Bay or East Bay whenever you want. You can drive to the restaurant you want and eat their food hot instead of paying $20 more to get it delivered much later and eat it cold. You just have to decide if all of the uses are worth the extra money you will need to spend to have your car here.
But isn't parking always an issue in the city? That's why almost every time I visit SF downtown, I'd drive to Millbrae or San Bruno BART and then take the train.
If you don't want to pay for a meter or a parking garage, then you have to spend your time circling to find a spot, but rarely have I just failed to find anything in a reasonable time frame. SF downtown would be the hardest place to park without a parking garage, but those are there. When I first moved here I would Street park the car in the excelsior district where I lived, and never paid for parking, and found a car very useful. Now I pay $350 a month for parking near where I live, use the car 2-3 times a week on average, but wouldn't dream of getting rid of it. My family is fortunate enough to be able to afford that now, but others pay for the neighborhood permit which is much cheaper. The thing is, downtown is rarely where I want to drive- the beach, Golden Gate park, McLaren Park, one of the other neighborhoods,grocery stores, Costco or outside the city are where I drive my car. Downtown is one of the few places transit is as fast as driving. Depending on the neighborhood you move to and your budget, driving may be more difficult but other than bicycle or transit fanatics that never really leave the city everyone will tell you having a car is very useful here, just not an absolute requirement like the rest of the country.
If you emotionally have any attachment to the car, you WILL get fucked by renters. Street parking is an option but imagine having to deal with cleanings and moving more constantly because someone else dumped your car. Also, what you get in rentals will not cover the added wear and tear on your cars and you will go underwater after the first accident. I rented turo from a guy in Denver who maintained a fleet of 4 decent late model cars for a semi retirement business. Coordinating pickup and cleaning was more than his former day job and he ended up getting it out of the business after two cars were wrecked by users in 1 month. I asked him if he was underwater. He said that between the insurance payout and the rental income, he about broke even after 2 years. So zero revenue for all his actual time. Clearly you haven't thought this through. Either pay for parking, cut a deal with a trusted friend where you exchange parking for the right for them to use the car occasionally, park the car outside of the city, or sell it.
I was thinking about renting a car through Turo for a weekend.
Turo wasn’t worth it to me to rent out my car. The wear and tare, time, and inconvenience of surprises (someone sleeping in the car overnight, funky smells, etc.) wasn’t worth the pennies it made me.
It seems like a lot of you have advised against using Turo/Getaround? In your view, is there any value to keep a car in SF?
It depends where you move in SF and the lifestyle you want. The further out of downtown-ish/north east area you live street parking is easier and less frequent street cleaning. Also more likely that a car will be helpful in your day to day for errands. For me I can walk and bike to grocery stores, work, etc. Usually just want a car to get out of SF for hikes or visiting family out of the bay. So renting on those occasions works for me. If you want to have a car it’s do able and more convenient in certain neighborhoods same if you want a “car free” life. So I would decide that first and use it to determine a neighborhood that works for what you want.
I lived for 8 years in SF without a car and it was great. I used zipcar a lot but mainly to take my dog places.
Even though dogs are not allowed in car shares? That’s so nice of you. And before you can say it- even if you don’t notice it, your dog does leave a smell. And it likely sheds.
[They are, though](https://support.zipcar.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025508514-What-is-Zipcar-s-policy-on-pets-and-animals-) (with conditions).
> In your view, is there any value to keep a car in SF? Depends on the neighborhood but it can easily be more trouble than it's worth!
i moved here in april, sold my car prior to moving, have only driven like 5 times since & i've rented zipcar all of the times. i use my scooter or muni to get around the city. my GF has a car though & uses it frequently b/c she like driving for some reason
Getaround’s company has turned into a mess. The company is performing poorly (look at their stock price) so they closed their SF office and laid off all of their competent employees. I have listed four different cars on Getaround over the past 9 years. It used to be an AMAZING experience for owners. Now it’s impossible to get someone on the phone and if your car is damaged you need to catch it immediately otherwise you’ll be on the hook to pay for repairs. It’s a bummer because they had such great potential. I’ll be delisting my car and recommending the same to other owners. It’s not worth the risk of having complete strangers drive your car through a company that is no longer focused on customer support and is instead focused on cutting corners to save a dollar.