DriveShare will let you rent out your classic ’57 Chevy
Say you have a ’57 Chevy. Sky blue and white. It’s a beauty. But it sits in your garage most of the year. That’s where DriveShare comes in. Backed by Hagerty, the collectible car insurance company, this peer-to-peer rental service lets owners rent their classic and exotic rides.
The idea has been done before. Peer-to-peer car rental is not new. There’s Getaround, Turo and several other services that lets owners rent cars to other drivers. It’s the company behind DriveShare that makes this service stand apart.
Each vehicle rented through DriveShare will come with a $1 million in insurance protection from Hagerty. If there’s a company that knows how to hand insurance claims on classic cars, it’s Hagerty and that should make users of DriveShare feel a little better about putting their classic car up for rent. Hagerty is the largest insurance agency specializing in collector cars. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Traverse City, MI, the company insures more than a million vehicles and is specifically targeting the collectible car market.
Hagerty purchased the peer-to-peer service Classics&Exotics and retooled the service into DriveShare. Launched in June 2014, Classic&Exotics was part of the initial Techstars Mobility program out of Detroit. The company raised $280k from several funds and angels investors. It’s unclear how much Hagerty paid for the startup though I’m told investors made money. Classic&Exotics’ founder Peter Zawadzki is staying on as the director of DriveShare.
Right now, at the launch of DriveShare, the amount of cars available for rental is relativity limited. For instance, there are only eight cars available in Hagerty’s home state of Michigan, 27 in California, and 44 around New York. The cars are impressive, if a little pricey. Want to drive a 1976 Porsche 911 Rally Tribute decked out in Gulf Oil livery? That’s $435 a day. Or a 1951 Pontiac Chieftain dropped to the ground? That’s $500 a day.
The future of automotive transportation lies in electric, autonomous vehicles. I don’t think anyone is arguing that. But even in the future, if it’s 5 years or 35 years, it’s my hope the joys of hearing a V8 rumble is not lost and startups like Classic&Exotics, now DriveShare, will help keep this love alive by helping owners defer the rising cost of owning such a car.