While vehicle renting has brought on-board a sense of equality by enabling non-vehicle owners to 'own' and drive vehicles for Uber, it is also an opportunity for vehicle owners to also put their vehicle on business by renting it out for Uber or Lyft services. Also for those vehicle owners who are either Uber or Lyft driver-partners and would wish to take a week or two off the road could still put their vehicles to work by renting them out and still earn them an income.
This also gives people the opportunity to test the waters; whether this job is for them or they can only do it on a short-term basis or even give them the opportunity to try out different rides before they can decide to buy their own.
To some, making weekly rental fee payments sounds more convenient especially if the deal is you pay for instance only $149 (like Express Drive) which only covers the rental fees waiving maintenance and insurance fees. In some cases, the rental fees can also be waived if you hit certain ride milestones of the service provider. The following are some of the vehicle rental options available:
Enterprise and Hertz
Apparently, Hertz has partnered with both Uber and Lyft with nearly the same services but slightly different rates and also the cities in which these are offered. With Uber-Hertz one pays a weekly rental fee of $180 as a base rate and no credit check is required for this. Also with Uber-Hertz, one has unlimited mileage, a $250 refundable deposit, and an insurance waiver. The types of vehicles one would find in this program include Toyota Corolla and such similar cars as interpreted by the partnership.
The Lyft-Hertz Rent and Drive program compared to Uber-Hertz, is slightly cheaper with a base rate of $165 weekly rental fee and still through this program one has access to the Lyft's perks such as the Power Driver Bonus and Average Hourly Guarantees thusly a driver for this program can entirely waive their rental fees by hitting a certain target of rides a week as determined by Lyft.
Uber Enterprise a rental program that kicked off in 2015 dominated in such cities as San Francisco, LA, Boston, Denver, New Jersey and San Diego provided a base rate of $215 weekly charges plus taxes and other fees. Also with this program one pays a $40 "startup" fee for that first week they rent a vehicle. This program also has a $250 refundable deposit, unlimited mileage, and an insurance waiver. Just like Hertz, Enterprise minimum number of rental days is always 7 days and a maximum of 28 days. The vehicle types available in this program include Toyota Corolla, Chevy Cruze, Ford Focus, Hyundai, Honda Civic, Elantra and Dodge Dart.
It is clear that Enterprise has higher base rates than Hertz but has a variety of vehicles, and also they charge a $40 "startup" fee which is not available in Hertz. The program as much as it sounds decent was meant to end in 2017 although Uber assures continued support to the program's representatives.
Lyft – General Motors Express Drive
This is a partnership program between Lyft and General Motors that is aimed at making vehicle rental easier and offers weekly rates of between $135 and $250. It is a service available in Baltimore, Boston, Washington DC, LA, Chicago and San Francisco and is also expected to expand to other areas where the Lyft Market is dominating.
Drivers who sign up for this program enjoy a lot of benefits including the $0 weekly rates upon hitting 75 rides in that week, therefore calls for full-time engagement in driving for Lyft. Every driver that signs up for this program get enrolled for the "Rental rewards Program" which give them the provision to hit milestones that enable them to make the $0 weekly rental fees rates and also the waiving of the mileage fees. Maintenance and insurance charges are also waived and deposit refunded.
Vehicles for this program range from Chevy Cruze, Equinox, Malibu, Impala and much more from General Motors.
Uber Xchange
Just like Enterprise this program started in 2015 but shuttered in 2017 although it important knows and understand the service it provided. Uber Xchange Leasing offered car leasing programs where drivers could lease cars for short-term, and it aimed at giving convenience to those people that had poor credit. The drivers for this program are required to pay $250 as a deposit before they start and make the rest of payments as weekly payments over 3 years.
Other: 3rd Party Vehicle Rental Options
There exist other 3rd party vehicle rental services like the HyreCar which is a peer-to-peer ridesharing service and has also partnered with Uber and Lyft in connecting drivers and car owners on rental terms prescribed by car owners themselves. With this program, no sign-up fees are incurred, and also there are no contracts involved. The program can be flexible in that one can pay as less as $35 as a daily rental rate. To rent a car on HyreCar and drive for Uber or Lyft, you simply have to create an account on HyreCar and proceed to request a vehicle. After passing HyreCar's motor vehicle's record check, you will be charged a one-time nominal fee of $29.99 before a vehicle is given to you.
Depending on your location you may want to check what rideshare vehicle rental options are available in that region and you might find several others offering flexible services that have not been described above such as WorkCar (basically in San Francisco), FlexDrive and Ubit International.
The other 3rd party program known was the Evercar which was the most ever convenient and flexible program ever to exist that allowed one to rent a car by the hour. The vehicles for Ever were also set to drive for Lyft and Uber, but unfortunately, they ceased their operations as of October 2016. An alternative suitable hourly rental ridesharing program can be Uber + Getaround program which offers $5 hourly vehicle rentals for drivers.
Remember the ones we have mentioned are the ones that have always dominated the industry but still there exist other flexible programs not mentioned that could suit your needs.