Davis: Hubber brings peer-to-peer sharing to the airport, matching outbound car owners with inbound

Posts Comments You are here: Home / Interviews / Startup Q As / Recently-launched Hubber brings a unique approach to peer-to-peer car sharing Recently-launched Hubber brings a unique approach vacation rentals gulf shores alabama to peer-to-peer vacation rentals gulf shores alabama car sharing
Davis: Hubber brings peer-to-peer sharing to the airport, matching outbound car owners with inbound car renters. It is a step beyond car rental by using a virtual fleet from outgoing passengers and using Internet technologies to guarantee a specific car, and eliminate the need for car rental lines and checkout procedures. It’s a step beyond peer-to-peer or car sharing operations by having a physical airport vacation rentals gulf shores alabama presence where the two parties converge.
Owners have an option they never have had when traveling to the airport:  a service that pays them for that convenience instead of shelling out on long term parking, a taxi, or car service, while also getting some rental revenue, and a washed and fueled car upon return. Inbound car renters get car rental with better vehicles, new levels of service with their selected car having vacation rentals gulf shores alabama valet parking, and all car options like GPS bundled in and insurance included.
Davis: vacation rentals gulf shores alabama Hubber differs from rental car companies because we use a virtual fleet where we use cars that city residents use instead of stripped-down rental cars with no vehicle features or personalities. Our cars have options like GPS, satellite radio, bike racks, leather seats—whatever vacation rentals gulf shores alabama an owner might have in their car that fits into the environment of that city. For example: LAX with surf racks and Tahoe with ski racks and snow tires—when we expand there.
Davis: Hubber was founded in 2012, with operations officially launching at LAX in June 2013. At first, we immersed vacation rentals gulf shores alabama ourselves in market research on an analytical level to gain a deep understanding of the rental car and car sharing market. Additionally, we spent time using and testing the services of the competition, car rentals, vacation rentals gulf shores alabama and car share organizations to find best practices. From that, we learned what we could do better.
Davis: The ‘aha’ moment came when I was renting a ski house and took my car up there for the season, as rental cars meant having vacation rentals gulf shores alabama to get snow chains and ski racks specific to each rental. I paid for airport parking in between trips because it was cheaper than outfitting rental cars. A friend was traveling up during the time I was back home, and realized it benefited me if he used it, as it meant I didn’t have to pay airport parking. Also, it benefited him because he didn’t have to pay for a rental car.
Davis: On a macro level, vacation rentals gulf shores alabama we base out of airport hub locations. We see larger airports as our target. On a micro level, a hub is a central place that brings people vacation rentals gulf shores alabama together, which is essentially what we are doing with these vehicles: locating in the key spot to facilitate vacation rentals gulf shores alabama the exchange of vehicles matching dormant vehicles with people that need them.
Davis: It’s an exciting time; we are right on the brink of this movement towards a shared economy and we are seeing the public embrace vacation rentals gulf shores alabama of the concept expanding dramatically right now. We are just in the middle of summer travel season at L.A., which is the right time to be in business, and L.A. is a car city, vastly spread out with poor public transportation options. It also has a budding startup industry—Silicon Beach—with an innovative population looking for new ways of living and conducting business.
Davis: Insurance and awareness. On the insurance front, there are almost no insurers willing to write on peer-to-peer car sharing companies—it is too new for them to have loss histories to be able to underwrite, and they are not fast-moving vacation rentals gulf shores alabama entities. Awareness is also tough because you have to attract not only the owners but also the renters. The owners need to be convinced that they have no financial risk; the renters need to become aware of us versus the multinational companies already established at airports.
Davis: We are focusing on a West Coast expansion and are working with favorable vacation rentals gulf shores alabama laws that enable sharing without risk for owners in California, Oregon and Washington. vacation rentals gulf shores alabama Our goal is to expand vacation rentals gulf shores alabama our services on a national level, at all major domestic airports in the U.S.
Car sharing can be fantastic if it suits the sharers. It does require a degree of co-operation and reduced flexibility (i.e. you re going to have to do the same hours as your sharer) but the financial vacation rentals gulf shores alabama savings are significant enough to make it a serious option for people to consider. I share with two other people and my fuel expenses are 40% of what they would be if I drove in separately. Its nice that employers are proving incentives for this, but I dont think this is totally necessary. All that is required is the system to find sharers and the flexibility to enable sharing and the individual should be enabled to do it. The additional vacation rentals gulf shores alabama savings I make on my commute mean I m able to afford a car for the weekends too.