Detailed description (English): Did you know that on average, you only use your car 5% of the time? Moreover, owning a vehicle is becoming more and more expensive: insurance, maintenance, taxes, parking fees... the minimum monthly cost of owning a car easily exceed 350 euros. Do the maths: every year, you pour nearly 4000 euros down the drain! CarAmigo has an innovative response to these clear facts: renting out your car with others when it is not being used.
According to a recent study conducted by the University of California , every carsharing vehicle removes up to 13 other vehicles from the road while contributing to a reduction of up to 54% of CO2 emissions. This is clearly a plausible and efficient response to global warming and to the congested roads which are all too familiar.
After a successful launch in Belgium , CarAmigo now officially launches Bulgaria’s first platform for carsharing amongst individuals, available on www.caramigo.eu.
This innovative initiative is based on the principle of saving through sharing, where having goods or services at your disposal takes more and more precedence over ownership: rather than dealing with a private vehicle which spends most of its time in the garage or in a parking space, the user/renter has access to a vehicle which he pays for solely for the time he requires it.
The rest of the time, the car is used by its owner or by other members of CarAmigo. "Our platform connects vehicle owners with people who need one temporarily” says with enthusiasm co-founder Miroslav Mihaylov. "The user can therefore choose a car which is convenient for him, wherever and whenever he wants!".
Insure, assist, reassure!
CarAmigo gives the owner the opportunity to recoup some of his car expenses, with peace of mind since CarAmigo has set up a complete system of guarantees to secure all carsharings:
1. Casco insurance: CarAmigo has partnered with Groupama, Bulgaria’s most innovative insurance companies, to ensure have each car covered during each rental by casco insurance
2. Assistance: in addition to the insurance, all cars benefit from a 24/7 roadside assistance all across Bulgaria
3. Trust & security: while a recent study made by Ford stated that a whopping 55% of Europeans (including Bulgarians!) like the idea of renting out their car, they will effectively do so if they have enough trust in the system enabling such rentals ; that’s why CarAmigo set up the following trust & security measures:
• Verification of all renters: every single renter registering on CarAmigo will undergo a thorough verification of his profile: address, phone, ID, driving license, etc.. all of which will be checked; no rental can take place until the renter’s check has been done
• Rating & reviews: in addition to the verifications done at the time of enrolment, every renter is given a rating from 1 to 5 after each rental. A car owner can therefore easily check the trustworthiness of a renter before accepting a booking
• Secured payment: impossible for a member to rent a car without having prepaid the rental. And if the rental is prepaid, it means it is insured too!
Please note that www.CarAmigo.eu will be in “beta” version until the end the summer. During this time, you can register your vehicle(s), but it won’t yet be possible to actually rent cars.
CarAmigo, instructions for use
• Alexi owns a vehicle, which he registers free of charge on the CarAmigo platform
• Dessi does not own a car. But this weekend she needs one for a few days.
• Dessi starts a search for a car which meets her needs (Alexi‘s car!) on www.CarAmigo.eu. She sends a booking request to Alexi through the site, and Alexi agrees to the request (or not)
• Alexi & Dessi meet on D-day to hand over the keys and for a final check (condition of the car, vehicle papers, Dessi‘s ID...)
• And off she is ! As of that day, the casco insurance and by a 24/7 roadside assistance provided by Groupama start covering the rental for its entire duration
A video is worth a thousand words! To watch how CarAmigo works, click on www.youtube.com/embed/fE_NH67hmnU?hl=bg&cc_lang_pref=bg&cc_load_policy=1
Target group(s): City users: people who do not have a car, but need such in some occasions
Families: who own a car, but sometimes need a bigger one
Tourists
Expected Outcomes: Reducing the ownership of cars and therefore reducing CO2 emissions.
Partner: Groupama Zastrahovane EAD, Bulgarian subsidiary of the French insurance group Groupama.