Lyft and GM team up for car rentals

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By Larry Banks

Companies such as Lyft and Uber could, in the not-too-distant future, make owning a car an obsolete concept, as having access to a ride when you need it makes it less necessary to own a car.

A new program from ride-sharing company Lyft could help its drivers avoid having to own a car too.

“We’ve now made car ownership optional on both sides of the market”, said founder and President John Zimmer during a conference call on Monday. “If you look now on the driver’s side, you also don’t need to own vehicle”.

The new program is called Express Driver, and launches in Chicago on Tuesday. The scheme is a partnership with General Motors, in which drivers can rent cars from GM for one to eight weeks. If a Lyft driver has more than 65 rides in the week-long period, it’s completely free including maintenance and insurance.

The firm had in the past seen potential drivers being rejected because their car was too old or they didn’t own it themselves, says Zimmer.

In Chicago, the firm saw more than 60,000 people who wanted to work but who didn’t have a car that met Lyft’s standards, hence the new partnership with GM.

GM will supply the 125 Chevy Equinox SUBs that will launch in Chicago, and will also cover the maintenance on the cars. GM and Lyft will split the cost of insurance but there’s no revenue share between the two.

Express Drive is also set to expand to Boston, Washington D.C., Baltimore and other cities depending on demand.

SOURCE: Business Insider.

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