Inside the black Acura, I caught a distinct whiff of marijuana, not fairly obscured by cleansing merchandise. I believed this was attention-grabbing, as a result of the car-sharing app I used to be utilizing prices a $300 charge for smoking.
“Pot smell in car,” I reported within the app, “and no it wasn’t me.”
As you’ve got most likely heard, it’s the summer time of the carpocalypse. Rental vehicles are in brief provide, due to the pandemic, whereas additionally being in excessive demand, additionally due to the waning pandemic. Sky-high rental charges are rewriting the foundations on how we get our vehicles — like the studies of vacationers driving U-Hauls in Hawaii — or whether or not we rent in any respect.
Last month I flew to Chicago to attend a marriage ceremony in South Bend, Ind. Our plan was to spend Friday and Sunday nights within the Windy City, staying with mates, and rent a automotive Saturday and Sunday to get to Indiana. When I searched 47 days upfront, the going charge for a midsize sedan was a whopping $225 for 2 days. I initially made a reservation at a Hertz neighborhood location, which might be a lengthy Uber or transit journey from the place I used to be staying close to Wrigley Field.
Fortunately, Chicago is a scorching spot for peer-to-peer car-sharing providers like Turo, which mainly applies the Airbnb home-sharing mannequin to vehicles in additional than 5,500 cities. I made a decision to experiment with car-sharing for this story, however I saved my Hertz reservation in case something went incorrect.
Three weeks upfront, I discovered vehicles for rent everywhere in the North Side of Chicago on Turo’s web site. There’s the whole lot from econoboxes to luxurious vehicles, and a ton of Teslas that begin at round $150 a day — as a result of, should you purchased a Tesla, you may want assist paying for it.
I settled on a seemingly good match — a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee about a 15-minute stroll from the place I used to be staying. It had fashionable options and a excellent five-star ranking for the host, “Jordan.” It would price $198 for 2 days, with 400 miles included. I reserved the Jeep, and was prompted by Turo to write a private be aware about my plans. “Sounds great! Thanks for reaching out!” Jordan replied.
Four days earlier than the marriage, Jordan canceled my reservation, explaining that the Jeep was broken in a latest storm and wanted repairs. At least typical rental corporations usually will not depart you excessive and dry. I discover that the Jeep is now going for $125 a day on Turo, plus charges.
Getaround runaround
By now, last-minute leases in Chicago have been within the $300s and up. I scanned Turo and located a sporty 2015 Honda Civic Si with a stick shift for $189 — and it was parked proper on the block the place I used to be staying. But wait: The itemizing had zero critiques, the one picture was a generic shot of the mannequin in a showroom, and the proprietor, “Chase,” wrote issues like “You can really feel the torque!”
Get outta right here. I wanted to get to a marriage ceremony in a automotive I may rely on.
So I checked out Getaround, which is a lesser-known model of Turo in 27 cities. Semi-affordable vehicles popped up throughout Chicago. I landed on a black 2013 Acura ILX, which was a 12-minute stroll from my crash pad and value $196 for 38 ½ hours. It had a 4 ½-star ranking (a considerably middling rating within the sharing economic system) and 127 critiques, although I could not really click on on the critiques and skim them. Getaround did not have me write a private be aware to the proprietor.
At 8:30 a.m. on the marriage day, I walked to the Wrigleyville car parking zone the place the Acura was ready. Guided by the Getaround app, I did a walk-around picture inspection of the sedan, which had the standard minor scuffs of an eight-year-old automotive with 80,000 miles. There was tape the place a rear spoiler had been eliminated.
Then the app magically unlocked the automotive, and I obtained the hidden key. Getaround’s course of felt like a well-oiled machine — so long as the Acura was, as nicely. Once inside, I reported the weed odor within the app.
If you’re taking away one factor from this story, it’s do not attempt to drive to a 1 p.m. (ET) marriage ceremony in South Bend from Chicago. Two Saturday-morning accidents plus toll slowdowns had us striding into the church moments earlier than “Here Comes the Bride.”
The Acura was enjoyable to drive, although it scraped the street on bumps and vibrated above 70 mph, suggesting an alignment challenge. On Sunday we checked out of the Irish-themed Innisfree B&B in South Bend, toured the Notre Dame campus and loved the Lake Michigan waves at Indiana Dunes National Park. At 10:30 p.m. I refilled the gasoline tank, vacuumed out any sand and returned the automotive to its lot.
Getaround instantly hit me with a $14.20 cost for 3 tolls that I had already paid. Getaround had said that tolls could be billed robotically together with a $2.50 charge per toll. In actuality, the Indiana Toll Road would not let me cross with out paying. Via the app and Twitter, I contacted Getaround’s “Happiness Team” — what their buyer service division is named — and the corporate refused to refund me. And that, of us, is the story of how I deleted the Getaround app from my cellphone.
Risk tolerance
My largest challenge with car-sharing is insurance coverage. My private auto coverage covers me, however the primary, free degree of protection supplied on Getaround included an onerous $3,000 charge for a harm incident. Many bank cards supply rental-car collision insurance coverage, however double-check in case your card covers car-sharing. My Chase Sapphire Reserve, which has saved my bacon prior to now, will not cowl Turo or Getaround.
Ultimately, all of it relies upon upon your private urge for food for danger. You can find extra, uh, attention-grabbing vehicles at decrease charges, however the potential for one thing to go incorrect is larger. My Chicago-South Bend journey went nicely general, however amid a carpocalypse, I most likely ought to have simply pushed my very own automotive.
Simon Peter Groebner • Instagram: @simonpeter6