They rented their cars out online. Then things fell apart

A car with the car sharing company Getaround at a parking garage in Washington, DC, on March 18. The economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic is hitting startups hard. The so-called sharing economy in particular has been hobbled by the reaction to the pandemic. — Getty Images/AFP

Los Angeles resident Matt Hauer has been renting out his Toyota Corolla to strangers since last May using the popular car-sharing app Getaround Inc. Occasionally his renters got parking tickets or left messes, but he was always satisfied with how Getaround addressed the issues.

Then last month, his front bumper partly fell off and began dragging – which he said his mechanic assessed as the result of a renter’s fender-bender. But this time, Hauer’s attempts to get Getaround pay the US$1,200 (RM5220) bill degenerated into a string of unanswered emails and long stretches of waiting on hold. His last interaction with the company was a phone call last week. "They told me they’d call me back in 10 minutes,” he said. "I have yet to hear back.”