Canada’s only peer-to-peer carsharing platform says it can help OEMs
Seen by some as a threat to car sales, the carsharing economy can actually benefit OEMs and dealers, said panelists at an event marking the first anniversary of Turo, the only peer-to-peer carsharing marketplace in the country.
“What we find in the research, is that OEMs benefit from the sharing economy,” said panelist Vibhanshu Abhishek, Professor at Carnegie Mellon University who conducted a study which was the focus of discussion at The Evolution of Car Ownership and Mobility event held at Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District event in April.
Abhishek, whose research focused on the U.S., explained that dealerships can become “local facilitators” of the peer-to-peer business model, where an individual rents out his or her car to another individual, by “potentially mobilizing” the cars sitting on their lot.
A renter can also buy a more expensive car, because that person can now subsidize some of that cost by sharing it on Turo, he said. The benefits to dealers will come from sales, but depend on local market conditions including demand, he added.
“Let’s say five people were going to buy a Ford Focus and now because they can share this car, only one of them needs to buy it — in that case there will be one car sold, not five, so it really depends on the context,” he said.
“This platform is a way for dealers to provide extended test drives, but also for people to test drive cars they normally wouldn’t be able to for a longer period of time,” said Cedric Mathieu, Turo Director of Canada, who introduced the panel.
Mathieu echoed Abhishek regarding the “huge fleets of cars that are not used” which they both say dealers could rent out. “If that could help sell them more cars, that could be interesting.”
Mathieu said Turo’s first year in Canada has been promising with 130,000 members having signed up; 2,800 cars being listed on the platform; Turo is available in 225 cities; offers 410 different makes and models; while 10 insurance companies have “evolved their policies” to allow Canadians to list their vehicles on the platform.
Turo has not yet explored what OEMs think about the possibility of renting from a dealer’s lot.
Since launching in the U.S. in 2010 under its former name, RelayRides, Turo has focused on its core market of individual car owners, who “have really high ownership costs, parking costs, maintenance and very high insurance, especially in a city like Toronto,” said Mathieu.
He added that having “direct” relationships with OEMs and dealerships is something Turo will want to explore as things move forward.
Carsharing and autonomous vehicle proponent Jaye Robinson, Toronto City Councillor and Chair of the Public Works & Infrastructure Committee moderated the forum. The panel also included Alex Benn, Turo President and COO, Chris Reid, Director of Strategy, Intact Financial, the insurer that
provides coverage for Turo rentals and Christian Noske, Partner, BMW i Ventures.
Noske said that BMW i Ventures is partnering with Turo in a “strategic way” without any current financial investment.
He called Turo a natural model for i Ventures, as mobility services have been a major focus for BMW since 2011. Noske said i Ventures is conducting many experiments with ReachNow, a carsharing service operated by BMW Group and DriveNow, a carsharing service offered by BMW and car rental provider Sixt.
