Hacker News Reader

Comment by kylec | Hacker News Reader

This might be interesting if there’s no long-term commitment. While leasing and financing would obviously be much cheaper, those involve three to five year terms. If I could pay $3000/month and drive a 911 for a summer I might be very tempted to do that.

View on HN

At 3k / month you could buy a new one in under 3 years. Looking at resale prices a ~2-5 year lease would only be ~1k / month.

However, if you are say taking the summer off to do a road trip then I could see spending quite a bit more to avoid a long term obligation.

You're forgetting the 3k includes maintenance (fluid, brake pad and tire replacement are of particular note here, if we're comparing it to cost of ownership in the first 3 years) and insurance, both of which can be significant on a sports car.

Although if I were in the position to decide between using this service and purchasing (I can dream, can't I?), I would purchase the vehicle (well actually I would buy a Dodge Demon, still dreaming here).

Maintenance in a new car at Porche level the first few years will not be much, so don't get fooled by it.

That's why I noted consumables, which you will need to replace more often and will be more expensive in a sports car.

yes, but not in a summer, which is how long OP wants to use one.

Check out Fair.com also; Los Angeles only right now but also offers no-term flexibility. There is a 'start payment' but all said and done, Fair may be cheaper than this depending on how long you keep the car.

Disclaimer: I work for Fair.

How does Fair compare to Turo?

Turo is great for extremely short term rentals (days to a few weeks). Fair makes more sense for monthly to yearly relationships.

Would love to hear feedback if you've played with the app! (username @fair.com)

Disclaimer x3: I work for Fair :)

Turo is a short term car rental marketplace. Fair is a flexible "long-term" car leasing service. They have two different business models and are serving two different problems.

Ostensibly true but what you wrote glosses over all of the interesting details because the services are not that black and white. I'm more interested in the areas where they overlap — the gray area between renting and leasing. Use cases like getting a car for a few days per month or just a month or two, where services like Zipcar are also competitors. Fair's marketing claims "pay as you go, walk away at any time" in the App Store description which suggests to me it is possible to "own" a car off Fair for a month or two.

You're correct, @tedmiston. With Fair, you can return your car anytime (with a 5 day notice). So, you could keep the car for 1mo, 7 weeks etc. Fair will pro-rate the last month. Fair probably doesn't make sense for folks who just need a car for a few days. Happy to field more questions here (or email me: username @fair.com)

By the way, with my referral code (SHAANR100) you can save $1,000 off the start payment until 10/31/17.

Disclaimer x2: I work for Fair :)

Thanks, that was very helpful. Is there a minimum period of time for keeping the car — one month?

There are no minimums. We just needs a five day notice (maybe that's technically the minimum?).

Disclaimer x4: I work for Fair :)

Volvo is starting something similar (Care By Volvo). However, that looks and smell like a leasing rebranded and slightly streamlined than what you are thinking of.

Volvo is a 2 year contract, no option to buy and also no option to customise the vehicle. The price is in the same ballpark than a lease. Volvo throws in: insurance and tax all included (less common in personal lease in Europe) and for like 10 days a year, the possibility to loan a different, larger Volvo.

I'll refrain being overly skeptical, Uber is just a taxi app streamlined and rebranded, but that makes all the difference. Buying a car, or worse, leasing one is not exactly streamlined, there is definitively some streamlining value in there somewhere.

Also I guess that is just the beginning - I guess if they could push the commitment down to 1 year (or 2 years with possibility to switch to a different car every year) that could become interesting.

You can always customize the vehicle, you're just required to return it to its original state. Obviously this means no racing wings that require drilling into the trunk, but you can add a roof rack if you've got the spring mounts in the roof for it, you can wrap the car or swap out OEM tiers/lighting, etc to your heart's content.

Sorry, by customising I meant change the option list - eg: it comes with rear camera, but you want to add 360 camera instead. Even the colour of the car is set to "black" only and only the base trim is available.

To be fair, the information currently available is more marketing level than practical. Right now it seems they are closer to long term rental than an easy lease. This thread is filled with alternative services that on paper look much better, so we really have to see what Volvo end up to do in practice to compete.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com