Getaround

So far, I’m really optimistic about my upcoming experience. I’ll be visiting Portland and have a vehicle reserved for a 24-​hour period.
There was a booking snafu with applying my Groupon credit, but a «Customer Happiness» team member contacted me via phone and email… literally…within the hour… and I was at work… at night… late! So BIG KUDOS for alleviating my, «Crap! I wonder if I’ll hear from someone maybe tomorrow during ‘normal business hours’…,» fear immediately. They canceled, rebooked and correctly applied my actual total and that’s that.
I will update my review… hopefully with the highly coveted 5^th Star once I’ve completed my experience. I’m cautiously optimistic (per others’ not-​so-​great experiences), but I LOVE that I’m saving some serious dough for the cost of my rental. I’m not a big fan of Ford… LOL…but I’m grateful that the car I’ve got reserved is on the new side (2014), so I’ll refrain from drinking too much haterade… until the trip is through.

This review is for my experience while renting my car out on Getaround.
If you want to have to use an app to unlock your car any time you want to use it when it’s not being rented by people, and then wait for the app to try to contact their server, and fail repeatedly, particularly when it’s slightly overcast, Getaround is your dream technology! Your car also might not start if the app isn’t working and you have the «extra security» feature enabled.
The concept is nice. You leave a key in your car, renters sign up to rent your car via an app, then use the app to unlock your car, retrieve the key, and do whatever they’re doing that day, then drop it back off in the same general location.
That said: some renters will return your car with a ¼ tank and/​or full of trash. When I’m getting about $ 25 from their 8 hour rental and then spending $ 37 to refill the tank and an hour to vacuum and clean it, that sucks. And it also sucks that the gas situation happened 2 months ago, and I filled up and sent in the receipt immediately… and the issue has not been addressed by Getaround yet, as it is still «being considered by the billing department, and there are no notes on the file yet yet» after my second call to inquire about this. It happened again last month, for a smaller amount — surprise — no info yet on either.
You might get some very sweet renters who seem like they drive stick well, and then you might get some teenage boys who sound high when they call you, frustrated because they don’t know why the car is locked with a key in it. You can’t screen renters. I wonder how my clutch is feeling, honestly.
When you call Getaround for help, you will be on hold for several minutes. Someone will finally pick up after some sort of electronic telephone relay system kicks in, and they will sound like they’re in China (though they’re in SF). They will be VERY confused and ask you the same questions repeatedly, and not know what car you’re calling about. And they take 40% of the rental income for this impeccable service… and apparently the «insurance» described by a renter in a recent review. Sounds crappy.
One star because I get a few bucks while my car is otherwise sitting in the neighborhood. One more star, because that one time I rented a tiny pickup truck to move a couch, it was pleasant and easy.

My first review goes to Getaround because of the frustrating experience I’ve had recently. I decided to try it out, thinking it would be a great way to receive some supplemental income. Getaround told me I would receive the Connect in my car for three months for free, while I tested it out. After one month, I realized it wasn’t for me.
I called Getaround to cancel my subscription. I spoke to a representative, cancelled it and they said someone will contact me to remove the Connect. I’ve called multiple times and still no response other than one phone call saying they’ll email me (still haven’t received that email).
Last week, I checked my bank account and I was charged over $ 100 from Getaround, not sure why but I’m assuming to cover the cost of the Connect (that I already cancelled). I’ve called, emailed, and no one has an answer for me. Currently, I’m out $ 100 and the Connect is still attached. My experience with Getaround has been pretty frustrating.

Getaround was awesome! My boyfriend and I needed a car to go visit Multnomah Falls while vacationing in Portland. We reserved the car on Saturday and used it on Sunday for a day trip. Great experience.

So I feel I need to review getaround for perspective owners as well as renters, post-​Portland launch of their on demand Connect service. This is where there is no owner approval of renters and owners get a text message someone will be renting your car in 15 minutes (I am an owner).
The technology is sound, the owner stashes a key and the renter’s app unlocks the door. Boom — 5 stars, well done. But there are issues — for one a renter drove well over 200 miles (the daily limit), but getaround said the gps recorded less than 200 miles. I’m stumped on that one — my odometer is correct, and gps does drop out. No big deal, I’ll deal with that, but getaround did not believe me they exceeded 200 miles, so I docked them a star for that.
The customer service reps always pick up if you have a problem — very cool and kudos to their responsiveness.
When renters neglect to fill the car it’s a pain to fill up and send in the receipt for reimbursement. There is no visible feedback system for renters/​owners so you’ll never know if the renter is problematic (or owners for that matter). But I believe it was an honest mistake, I can’t imagine that being a huge problem as we’re all trained to fill up rental cars before returning them to the airport.

Getaround is great if you know what you’re getting into. Because the vehicles available are actually owned and maintained by your neighbors, you have to deal with that. It may not be the cleanest or the nicest looking car, or maybe your neighbor’s a neat freak, or maybe they have cds of a band you never heard of but turn out to really, really like, or maybe they keep a knife in the side door that your grandma finds when you pick her up, or maybe their house is really hard to park near, or maybe they have a walrus mustache and want to meet you before they hand over the key, or maybe they left the key in a hiding spot but forgot to tell you so you end up waking up their roommate on Thanksgiving morning, or maybe you unlock the car with your phone and get the key out of the glovebox. Basically the rental process is as diverse as there are car owners, but the variety of vehicles available can be a bonus since you typically can’t rent a hybrid or SUV/​truck this cheaply. Although gas is not included, it’s much cheaper than Zipcar and there are no member fees. The system suffers somewhat from the user/​owner ratings, which is like eBay – A++++ would definitely rent again – and not very revealing of the car’s actual condition.
I have used Getaround several times and recently my request for a two day rental was accepted within minutes, even though the rental start time was only a few hours away. Typically it is better to request at least a day in advance. I think only two of my requests have ever been denied or ignored. (The owner’s response rate and average time is listed on their car page.) You can also include several cars in one request, then the first owner to respond gets your business and you can avoid multiple holds on your credit card. Vehicles that feature Getaround Connect can be unlocked with a smartphone, fyi.

After a totally miserable experience with Budget (think over 4 hours spent retrieving and returning the car), seemed like time to try something else for our next weekend out of town. I read an article about Getaround and it sounded like a dream come true. Dozens and dozens of cheap rental cars right in our neighborhood! What could go wrong?
On one hand, the car that we rented was fantastic. The owner was very organized and communicative and approved my request within minutes. The car was parked a five-​minute walk from our house, in great condition, got excellent mileage, and handled well on a weekend-​long road trip. It even came with a couple of nice bonuses, like an assortment of cables to hook up our phones to the aux input. The Getaround app made it really easy to check out and return the car — it took about ten seconds. Oh, yeah, and it cost less than half of what a Budget rental would have cost. Take that, Budget!
On the other hand, finding a car to rent was an epic pain in the ass. I put in eight rental requests over four days before being approved by an owner; half of them got declined, the other half were just ignored, with no response from the owners when I sent them follow-​up messages. (Incidentally, each rental request places a hold on your credit card, which takes time to release after the request is declined — kinda sucks to have a half-​dozen $ 80 holds on your card simultaneously.) The car that we ended up renting was our last shot; if we hadn’t gotten approved by this owner, and hadn’t had such a seamless experience after that, I would have given up on Getaround and gone back to Budget.
Verdict: great concept, shitty quality control. If you’re a first-​time renter, be prepared for a lot of rejections before you find a decent owner — and once you do, stick with them!

I like Getaround! The staff picks up the phone fast in my experience and the cars were available for what I needed (surfing!). It is so easy that I got uneasy and called like 4 different times I with my little worries and the getaround staff members went over each step and while doing so having a calm and sweet tone. There is any car you need or want and me having a tiny car you can not take on longer trips, bring friends in or ski/​surf with I was very happy with this concept. It was easier for me than a rental place and waaaay cheaper! Plus I am putting money into the hands of a community based system rather than an ugly nationwide company :)
The car owners are honest and also helpful. Plan your trip ahead! I found that people that own the cars like a good heads up and that is fair! And leave the car the way you found it. I am still trying to figure out how the car got opened with my phone call! I thought that was the coolest thing with the whole getaround adventure! Hahaha!

I’ve rented out my car over 60 times on Getaround. A typical rental is for 6 hours and I net about $ 25 after Getaround and their insurer take their cuts. My renters have all been great.
If you have a sometimes-​idle car, this is a great way to put it to work and earn some extra cash flow.

I struggled with renting a car as a first time user. My first request was declined, without reason, but the calendar said the car was available. My second request was declined, even though the calendar was open and the owner said it was being used. My third request was never responded to and instead the owner emailed me to tell me the car was in the shop. I expected better communication from the owners. My fourth request was finally accepted and I had a great experience with the owner and the car.
The Getaround app did not recognize the credit card I had saved while on my laptop so that was a pain in the ass when trying to finish the transaction from my phone.
When I wanted to extend the rental the app said to contact Getaround. I called multiple times, waited on hold, left a message and never talked to a live person. Meanwhile, my rental time is running out. I finally get an email from the company, not a phone call, saying I need to contact the owner about an extension. So why didn’t the website say that in the first place? Unfortunately the owner was busy and didn’t get back to me in time.
Lesson learned: plan ahead. Getaround didn’t work for me last minute and I was scrambling throughout the whole process.

Great service. Ive been w zipcar and car2go and tjis was just as easyAND cheaper. Actualky have cars closer to my house than Zipcar!!!

I have been sharing/​renting my truck through GetAround since it first came on the scene here in Portland. I’ve had nothing but great experiences with the GetAround folks and only once out of over 20 renters did someone treat my truck like it was from Avis — all the other renters have been great. If I haven’t been able to rent the truck for the exact time someone requests it, I can call them and see what we can work out.
Because these are people’s real cars, they are not always available and it’s up to us to post that on our user page. If a car is in bad shape, just give them an honest review and if egregious, report them to GetAround, who wants everyone to have a good experience.
I recommend GetAround 100%. They are constantly trying to improve their service and the website, so if they aren’t perfect yet, remember that you probably aren’t either, yet.

I have been car-​free for six months. I use Getaround as a supplement to Zipcar. I commute by bike and public transit mostly, but use Getaround and Zip for errands, nearby getaways, and things that are too much of a hassle to get to by public transit or bike.
The thing I like most about Getaround is that is definitely more affordable than Zipcar. Also, I like how there are no mileage restrictions (you can’t go more than 180 miles a day with Zipcar). I find it actually easier to reserve a car through Getaround. Aside from just waiting to hear back from the owners (and I’ve never waited more than an hour), I’ve found there are more options that are more readily available than Zip. I also like that some of the cars have a little personality to them — like great CD’s or little knick knacks on the dash board.
There is a little laundry list of items I don’t like, however. The biggest one being that for Carkit cars, (which is a great, convenient idea) you have to have a smart phone. I have no desire on earth to have a smart phone, and it’s really inconvenient to have to either call the support team or call my girlfriend to press the online button to unlock it. Zipcar has a magnetic card that I carry in my wallet and I prefer that.
This leads me to my second dislike: I’ve found that calling the support line is hit or miss whether or not someone will answer! This is really disconcerting in terms of thinking of breaking down or having an accident. I’ve called the line to have them open the car and no one has answered. I was just standing outside the car like umm… Eventually the owner came out and unlocked the car for me.
A one-​up that Zipcar has is that my fiancée and I share an account and even if I rent the car, she can drive it. With Getaround, only the person who rents the car can drive it, which kinda sucks when thinking about taking a getaway trip.
Another thing I don’t really like is that some of the cars I’ve rented have been trashed. One car even smelled like a really gross wet dog or something. This is something I would be fine with if I knew what I was getting into, but owners don’t usually mention this in their descriptions or message you to tell you. I had one conscientious renter who messaged me to warn me about the car being messy before I rented, which was really nice and it didn’t matter since I was just picking some groceries or something. But I wouldn’t want to pick up a date or go to a job interview in a car that smelled like a zoo and was covered in pet hair.
Lastly, the website needs some work. It’s prone to glitches as another reviewer mentioned and missing a lot of key information. I was kind of confused how the rental worked and was expecting the website to have a «how it works» section, but it didn’t. I wrote an email to the support team asking them a bunch of questions before I signed up. I got clear answers back very promptly, but I feel like it should have been online already.
Below are my questions that I asked and short, paraphrased answers.
All in all I like that Getaround is here and that is more community-​based. I hope they continue to grow and improve, because it is a great concept and really helps out us carless folk!!!
Questions I had to ask Getaround:
1. If a vehicle is not a «carkit» vehicle, does the owner have to come unlock it for me? (a: yes)
2. I don’t have a smart phone, so on carkit vehicles I would call 1−866-Getaround to get access into the car? (a: yes, but hope they answer!)
3. Do I have to call the 1866# every time I need to get into the car, or is that just an initial thing to start my reservation then once I have the key, I can lock and unlock the car anytime I want during my reservation? (a: just to start the reservation, you can access the car using the key after that)
4. What do I do with the key once I’m done with the car? (a: leave them where you found them or whatever you and the owner discussed if it is not a carkit vehicle)
5. Is 1−866-Getaround a 24-​hour #? (a: yes, but whether or not someone answers has been hit or miss in my experience)
6. Is the roadside assistance a representative through Getaround or do you work with outside companies, like AAA for instance? What if I break down 5 hours outside of Portland? (a: «just call Getaround» was the answer I got, not really a clear answer to that question)
7. Is there a charge for returning a car late, or trying to extend a reservation when someone else has the car reserved, etc. (a: $ 50 per hour late, and you can call and extend pretty easily, if they answer!)
8. How responsible am I for the cleaning of the car (aside from the obvious of not leaving it completely trashed)? For example, if I take it into the mountains and get mud on the exterior, or what if I got some mud on the interior — am I required to take it to a carwash, wash the interior, etc? What happens if the interior gets stained — do we report that as damage? (a: «leave the car exactly as you found it»)

Getaround continues to impress me! With their newly implemented Instant Rental program, they are now competing with Car2Go and Zipcar… which is fantastic considering that many of us non-​car owners need more options! Through the Instant Rental program, renters are now able to access cars without having to coordinate with car owners! So, no need to contact the owner and confirm the rental, just book it, pick it up and GO! With the addition of instant rentals, Getaround is definitely the best car sharing service in Portland! Plus, I really feel great about financially supporting individual people rather than contributing to a sea of shareholders I will never know.

I’ve used it to go skiing and surfing — awesome.
My parents just came to town for 10 days and rented a great, solid, no-​frills Toyota. It was less expensive than a rental car, and just like the one they have at home, and the people renting it through Getaround were really friendly.
Plus it feels good to not be supporting the churning-​out of new cars just to fuel the rental car industry, where they sit mostly unused in big lots until peak weekends when they all get rented.

It worked for me! I’m a Getaround user in SF (I even wrote a review because it worked so well and was cool) and had some business in Portland so I gave it a go while there.
I’m not sure how the other reviewer did it but I bundled my request (requested 5 cars at once) from a selection of cars close to my hotel which was next to the Convention Center and within 10 minutes had a car, which was just a block away :-)
As a public transportation user it was a breeze to hop a «train» to the convention center and from there across the river to downtown, the car was actually for a «Day Off» to check out the Columbia River not for biz, so it was awesome that I didn’t have to rent and deal with a car the whole time. The car was «Carkit» equipped and although I had the rental till 8 a.m., I left it parked in the designated space after coming back from the river around 11 p.m., locked it, and walked to my hotel to sleep in till I had to jump on the MAX for PDX to SFO :-)
Portland, TriMet and Getaround — I’m a Fan! Thanks!

Same negative experience from the other reviewer below me.
Just because the listed cars are supposedly available for rent at the time you requested does NOT mean you will be approve.
The car owners can (and will) easily decline your request for whatever reasons at their convenient. I’ve tried for a whole week trying to get a car, truck, SUVs, and not a single owner will accept. There’s nothing wrong with my part. I have a decent legit picture on my profile, a good credit, and a clean driving history.
This amazing idea would work out beautifully if more car owners follow through by honoring their available rental time.

From a renter’s perspective, Getaround PDX is not ready for prime time. First off, the website is glitch-​prone and iPhone app downright useless. Second, many of the purported cars for rent aren’t actually available — I’ve had one person tell me they’re not ready to rent theirs yet and another who was removing her car to sell it. Last and foremost, you’re completely at the whim of the car owners, who are allowed to reject any request if need be. I’ve had over a dozen or so such refusals during a week of trying to reserve a car, and was in fact unsuccessful in obtaining one.
One gets the sense that many supposed «renters» are taking the Getaround cash incentive and running. Love the concept, unimpressed with the execution.

My wife and I have used Getaround to share our Honda Civic Hybrid several times and our experience has been totally positive. It’s got an easy-​to-​use on-​line interface and I like the fact that we have total control over who we do or do not share the car with. Most importantly, Getaround elegantly solves the insurance problem that’s always been a lurking worry in the past when we’ve borrowed or lent out vehicles. And when we’ve had questions, staff have consistently been quick to respond.
I also like the fact that Getaround screens drivers in multiple ways (
), not just through FB, as suggested by another reviewer. And whenever someone requests to use our car, we have the chance to say Yeah or Neah as we see fit.
Initially, we just used Getaround to share our car with friends & neighbors. But over the past month or so we’ve shared it with folks we don’t know too — and it’s worked out just great. We make a little $$ during times our car would otherwise be sitting in the driveway, and we’ve gotten to meet some nice new folks when we hand off the key.