Pimp Your Ride. Or: OnStar Allows Perfect Strangers To Open Your Car With Their Cell Phones
Need some extra money? Want to work from home? Easy: Sell her to perfect strangers, by the hour. You will receive assistance in pimping her as long as she’s an OnStar-equipped Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac.
According to a GM release, GM OnStar subscribers can now rent out their idle vehicles through the RelayRides marketplace, and “potentially earn hundreds of dollars a month to offset the cost of owning a vehicle.”
You don’t even need to see the john renter face to face, because “renters can unlock reserved OnStar-enabled cars simply by using their smart phones” says the press release.
Scary:
“Through OnStar’s proprietary API, RelayRides developers were given access to key vehicle-centric features such as location and remote door lock and unlock. This means renters can unlock the doors with their smart phone or by replying to a text message.”
I’d rather sell my soul for a few hundred bucks.
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As Mr.Barnum was wont to say, "There's a sucker born every minute."
Seems like an extremely limited market. 50 bucks/hr vs $50/day at any of the car rental joints. I know it's more for a premium vehicle but you get my point-extremely limited market.
While this takes some faith in humanity for those who own their car, those who lease might be much more willing to rent out their car if they aren't facing the cost of the pre-mature aging that might take place on their vehicle. Considering that it doesn't sound like there is much investment on GM's part, this looks like a great idea from them to include the functionality. It will probably help people's perception of GM too. Looking at Getaround.com, 28 of the 30 cars shown are imports, and the 2 domestics are a Saab and a Tesla. GM's smart to seed these types of conquest buyers and users if they believe in the quality of the vehicles they are producing. Thumbs up!
Wow! This is a great idea! What's the problem with losing a GM car anyway? GM is doing you a favor. Let someone else have your problems. Maybe the steering wheel will fall off in their lap instead of yours. Or maybe, since there are no brake pads in the front, they won't get stopped for a train instead of you. Then you can file it on your insurance and go get a real car. But you probably don't deserve one, since you wanted a GM POS in the first place.