Maven's 'Peer Cars': Your Mobility Future Is Someone Else's Ride

A pilot project we discussed months ago is now up and running in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Chicago. Launched by General Motors’ Maven ride-sharing arm, the new peer-to-peer service goes beyond the existing fleet of GM-owned vehicles (which Maven users can rent for varying periods) and into the realm of the privately-owned car.

Yes, there’s owners who are now letting their car work for them.

Called Peer Cars, these 2015-or-newer GM vehicles appear alongside Maven Cars whenever a Maven user in a participating market takes out their phone and opens the app in search of a low-cost, short- or long-term rental.

The user experience is the same as renting a typical Maven car (read about Bozi Tatarevic’s experience here). Open the app, locate your preferred car, travel to that location, unlock the car with your phone, and drive off. Owners needn’t meet the renter in order to size them up — GM takes care of that. It also installs the necessary unlocking device, takes photos, provides a $1 million insurance policy, and collects 40 percent of the revenue earned from the rental. Owner assistance is available from either Maven or OnStar.

It’s assumed the vehicle owner will make his or her loan payments by putting the car on the Maven rental market, choosing when it’s available, and for how much. GM claims owners can set a price within a range that’s up to 20 percent higher than a regular Maven vehicle — or 20 percent lower.

“Your car is one of the most expensive things you own. Sitting idle, it is a wasted asset,” said Julia Steyn, vice president of General Motors Urban Mobility and Maven, in a statement. “It’s time to put your car to work. Maven’s peer-to-peer offering is a smart way for owners to offset their vehicle investment.”

Of course, racking up extra miles with someone else behind the wheel also means these owners will hit their maintenance periods sooner, as well as add wear and tear to the vehicle — potentially lowering their resale or trade-in value. For lessees, it means using up more of your annual allotted miles. This could earn you a penalty in the event of an unexpected end-of-year road trip, assuming there’s no other option besides taking your own car. We hope would-be Peer Cars owners spend some time with a calculator before taking the plunge.

That said, Steyn’s words could certainly resonate with a number of people who see this as a way of getting out of working a second, low-wage job, or simply as a way of reaching the car payment finish line sooner.

GM plans to collect data from the three test markets before rolling out Maven’s Peer Cars in additional U.S. cities this fall.

[Image: General Motors]