SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Need to rent a car for a couple of hours? Forget Hertz, Avis or National -- now you can just rent a car from someone nearby.
A new service called Getaround allows anybody to rent out their very own car to anyone they want.
You can rent a 2008 mini cooper for $5.50 an hour, or a 2010 328i for $15 an hour, and for you big spenders, how about a Tesla for 50 bucks an hour? Matt Barre says it was a sweet ride.
"The whole thing about it for us is it's so convenient. A nice website, so you go on, say when you need a car and where," Barre said. "You can do it by the hour. It's not like a daily rate sort of thing. I need a car two hours, hop in, go and come back."
Matt found Getaround.com while researching a trip to Napa, but the start-up is now in San Diego. It's a rental car company with a twist -- they're renting your car.
"Essentially we enable car owners to list their cars and rent them out when they're not using them," co-founder Jessica Scorpio said.
The company runs DMV checks on renters to make sure they're safe drivers, and Getaround's insurance takes over once a rental starts, so your insurance is off the hook. Renters also have to return the car as clean as they got it, and with the same amount of gas. Getaround says it's rarely an issue.
"People are really responsible and bring it back washed and with more gas. People are extremely thankful that other owners are sharing their cars so they're very glad about it," Scorpio said.
Getaround has an app that shows you where currently available cars are located in your area. Renters can rent right through the app, and even unlock the car with it, so the owner doesn't have to be there.
"With our model that uses personal vehicles, it can bring car sharing to areas that have not been able to have car sharing before," Scorpio said.
Car owners set the price, then Getaround takes 40 percent. Matt says he's already thinking about renting that Tesla again, but would he rent out his own car? He's thinking about it.
"You know you're going to be home on the weekend and put it up online and see if someone grabs it, make a little money on the side," he said.