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GM Car Owners With OnStar Now Can Be Their Own Rental Agencies

Posted by timothy on from the what-an-enterprise dept.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the world of micro-rentals just got a whole lot more crowded, with the introduction of a nationwide partnership between GM and ride-sharing company RelayRides. RelayRides has been arranging short-term car sharing in just a few cities for several years; car owners can sign up to make their own cars available for short-term rentals to others, so their expensive investment (especially in cities where parking is like a second apartment's rent) isn't sitting idle. Now, the two companies are rolling out that system in a much larger market: the rest of the U.S. Owners of GM cars new enough to be equipped with OnStar monitoring systems will be able to sign up to take part with the OnStar system providing the ability to unlock and track those cars remotely, which might make the bargain more attractive to many owners who'd like to earn money from their cars (and reduce the total number of cars needed in a given area), but reluctant to hand the keys to a stranger. (Cars without the system can still be enrolled, but will require a key hand-off.)

4 of 195 comments (clear)

  1. Still Evil by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Even though this seems like a good thing, there is a corporation involved so I'm sure there is evil involved.

    Gentlemen of Slashdot, affix your tinfoil hats and let's start dissecting this!

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    1. Re:Still Evil by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

      "2) Social engineer the car to be a part of this "rental agreement"."

      Uh-huh, because if you want to strip a car, you're not just going to smash the window and hotwire the car with the little box you bought off of e-bay in under 5 minutes. Riiiight.

      Of course not. That little box you bought on eBay likely came from some sweatshop in China and, for all you know, contains lead (a product known to the State of California to cause Cancer).

      A little social engineering is pure, American made goodness (or maybe Nigerian, but hell, we're all free marketeers here, right?).

      Why do you hate America?

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  2. Re:Why just cars? by Higgs+Bosun · · Score: 3, Funny

    And my sock drawer is a virtual gold mine!

    I'm just glad it's not your underwear drawer.

  3. Re:Sweet by NatasRevol · · Score: 1, Funny

    Free!*

    *$1200 monthly mortgage or rental agreement required

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