Getaround Drives Innovations In Carsharing By Improving Marketplace Quality And Consumer Protections

In Partnership with APG

AI models drive Getaround’s efforts to build high customer trust while reducing insurance and claims costs by 30% to 50%.  

Getaround pioneered the world’s first digitally connected carsharing marketplace more than a decade ago. Since then, the global carsharing movement has taken off, with Getaround offering a connected and contactless digital experience through its marketplace of approximately 72,000 cars and trucks. 

With insurance options and vehicle bookings offered for as short as an hour to multiple weeks, Getaround enables guests to instantly book a car, unlock it with the app and be gone in 60 seconds, avoiding the wait times of other rental car alternatives. 

Challenges with Car Ownership 

New car prices recently topped an average of $47,000 while used cars average $27,000. With purchasing, maintenance and other high costs, many people simply cannot afford to own a car or are choosing to live car-free or car-light.

On average, cars are often underutilized, parked and unused for 95% of each day, equating to 30 billion car hours wasted daily. Consequently, their value depreciates as owners continue incurring loan payments, insurance premiums and maintenance costs. 

Building Trust in a Marketplace 

Getaround allows an alternative to vehicle ownership and offers a wide range of environmental and societal benefits, including reduction of traffic, pollution and carbon emissions. Marketplaces like Getaround also provide economic opportunity to communities by enabling users to earn additional income by listing their cars for rent. 

However, carsharing is still in its infancy relative to the broader societal need and economic opportunity. An important component of that is the psychology many consumers have behind personal vehicle ownership and exclusive use; it takes time and education for them to develop trust in sharing their own car or using another person’s vehicle. 

Getaround has long stood out from its peers by pioneering an all-digital, instant and fully contactless experience that aims to provide the strongest and most transparent carsharing transaction. Since Getaround’s inception, the safety of its guests (renters), hosts (car owners) and cars on its marketplace has been paramount, with an emphasis on innovation to optimize user experience for ease of use and on providing a safe, convenient and secure transaction. 

Getaround has enhanced its carsharing marketplace with several features, including roadside protection, vehicle tracking and a robust identification verification process for users. New innovations, including artificial intelligence (AI) modeling, are continuously being developed to promote an even safer and more affordable experience for drivers. As Getaround continues to grow and evolve, its goal is to inspire trust in its users. 

Getaround TrustScore 

Getaround maintains a continuous flow of data from the connected cars on its marketplace. With the goal of improving satisfaction and protection for both guests and hosts, one of Getaround’s newer initiatives is the “Getaround TrustScore.” This next-generation AI model leverages the rich data streams unique to the company to predict a trip’s loss rates due to low trust and risky behavior. 

With the Getaround TrustScore, the company more accurately prices the cost of risk on every trip, providing upfront transparency for what guests should expect to pay and reducing its insurance costs. As a result, the Getaround TrustScore helps build trust on both ends of the carsharing transaction, increasing consumer satisfaction and symbiotically helping to drive the company’s bottom line. 

Dynamic and Optimized Pricing 

Coupled with Getaround’s dynamic pricing and calculated by AI-enabled machine-learning mechanisms, the Getaround TrustScore allows Getaround to improve users’ overall satisfaction by disincentivizing bad actors and bad behavior and increasing the likelihood that cars remain active on the platform. 

Additionally, Getaround minimizes costly claims processes, which can elevate the earning potential of hosts and the availability of additional higher quality vehicle options for guests. Furthermore, the company expects even more protection for hosts and their vehicles through lower risk transactions and thus greater safety and satisfaction for hosts and guests. 

By properly aligning risk factors and pricing transactions through a combination of booking fees and security deposits, Getaround is reasonably and responsibly driving down the costs associated with offering carsharing to communities across the country. 

No consumers will be prohibited from driving a specific vehicle based on their trip’s Getaround TrustScore. All participants in the marketplace, from hosts to guests, will be offered the most efficient and optimized pricing. 

Testing and Learning Leads to Reduced Insurance Costs 

Getaround recently deployed its Getaround TrustScore initiative to test, learn and optimize it and is innovating with new updates, factors and features to the algorithm. Getaround is already seeing reductions in the number of claims. The company expects that insurance and claims costs will be reduced by 30% to 50% using this next-generation AI system. 

Innovation to Improve 

“Getaround has an image of being the pioneer in carsharing and stands out as a tech savvy company who supports their hosts. I put my first car on the platform 10 years ago and have been aggressively growing my fleet ever since,” said San Francisco-based host, Alfonso Acevedo. “By implementing the Getaround TrustScore, Getaround is working to reduce costs and potential car damage and, overall, prevent headaches for its hosts. I’m looking forward to continuing to work with Getaround as they advance their trust and safety offerings.” 

The Getaround mission – to empower people to carshare anywhere – is based on innovation. Its connected carsharing marketplace benefits communities for both guests and hosts, bringing many environmental, economic and social benefits. In the end, innovations like the Getaround TrustScore continue to improve the Getaround experience for customers and stakeholders through greater savings and transparency.  

About Getaround

Offering a 100% digital experience, Getaround makes sharing cars and trucks simple through its proprietary cloud and in-car Connect® technology. The company empowers consumers to shift away from car ownership through instant and convenient access to desirable, affordable, and safe cars from entrepreneurial hosts. Getaround’s on-demand technology enables a contactless experience — no waiting in line at a car rental facility, manually completing paperwork, or meeting anyone to collect or drop off car keys. Getaround’s mission is to utilize its peer-to-peer marketplace to help solve some of the most pressing challenges facing the world today, including environmental sustainability and access to economic opportunity. Launched in 2011, Getaround is available today in more than 1,000 cities across the United States and Europe. For more information, please visit https://www.getaround.com/.

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