It is not the car sharing we are used to but neither is it the classic car rental. The startup from Bologna Auting, founded two years ago by Matteo Menarini and Lorenzo Osti, is rather the Airbnb of automobiles: that is a car sharing platform between individuals, which connects the owner of a car and a temporary user, called a driver. A completely new formula, different from car sharing (in which private cars are not used) or other sharing economy platforms such as Uber, where the car owner also offers to give a lift to the other user (ride sharing) . “In other countries such as the USA and France, similar realities have existed for years – explains Menarini -: here in Italy we are culturally a little behind but we are growing: by now we have almost 7.000 active registered users, who have given rise to hundreds of shares mainly between Bologna , Turin, Milan and Rome”.
The novelties of 2019 are two: the launch of the app, "that tomorrow, with a view to increasingly dematerializing a process that today still requires the physical delivery of the keys, will also be used to open cars", and the introduction of the ad hoc insurance policy designed by Reale Mutua, which has also been a partner of Auting since 2018 and which offers total damage protection, the protection of the owner in the event of a civil liability malus due to the fault of the driver, completely free 24-hour roadside assistance in affiliated workshops, even abroad (Auting only works with cars registered in Italy, but which can also be driven abroad), and for the driver – i.e. the temporary user – a maximum deductible of 500 euros (lower than the average for car rentals) which in some cases can even be cancelled.
“In reality, we are exploiting a regulatory vacuum – says Menarini -: to date in Italy there is no specific law on car sharing, which however is being examined by Parliament. At the moment a business like ours is lawful because it is not prohibited, but it will soon be expressly authorized". In the meantime, the only constraints for sharing your car on Auting are: the transfer of the car for a period not exceeding 30 days, in accordance with the current highway code; for insurance reasons that the car is no more than 15 years old; and that it is equipped with a RCA free-driving, or which also provides for use by people other than the owner, such as already proposed today by various insurance companies. In some cases, even a leased car can be shared: “Normally yes, but it depends from contract to contract. We need to verify, this does not depend on us, we limit ourselves to putting people in touch".
Just like it happens for Airbnb apartments: the platform identifies supply and demand and hypothesizes an indicative price, "based on the type and age of the car, even if it is then up to private individuals to agree and everyone is free to do as you want". The only constraint, on the part of Auting, is a commission corresponding to 30% of the amount collected for the owner and an addition of 5% for the driver to the agreed sharing price, “primarily needed to cover insurance costs and customer service costs”. For the duration of use of the car, in fact, the driver is covered by the specific policy of Reale Mutua, which overlaps his own Rca (if he has one) and that of the vehicle owner, replacing it for that limited period. And customer service expenses are an item that should not be underestimated: at the moment we are dealing with a handful of people who, however, follow the sharing step by step. "Especially now that we are at the beginning, we have rejected the idea of chatbots: we want to give a sign of closeness and trust to people who approach the platform", specified Menarini, admitting that at the moment the profit margins "are minimal" .
The average price today it is just over 30 euros per day for a sharing, which for insurance reasons cannot be less than 24 hours: "That's why at the moment we are closer to car rental in terms of type than car sharing, which is usually used for a few tens of minutes or hours". The average sharing of Auting is instead of about 4 days, a time comparable among other things to that of apartments on Airbnb, testifying to the analogy between the two platforms: not a tool to be cooked and eaten but not for too long periods either . “For short durations it is difficult for insurance reasons but also as long as the material delivery of the keys takes place. However, we are working on a system for opening cars using the app, which will make everything quicker and more agile. For long durations, on the other hand, it depends on people's needs: by agreeing independently, the formula could be more or less convenient depending on the period compared to traditional car rental, which has an algorithm that takes into account seasonality".
Though the type of users is clearly occasional: "In some cases, these are families with two cars, who perhaps for a certain period can share a second car, or people who go to work by bicycle or public transport from Monday to Friday and use the car only on weekends". Limited periods according to needs, therefore, and the possibility – as for Airbnb – of giving availability only for certain days of the week or only for certain periods of the year. What about reliability? Even that depends a lot on the attitude of the customers, who however have so far responded quite well: “We are still at the beginning, but for now I can say that we haven't had any major problems in this sense. Accidents are covered by the insurance while for situations such as fines, we limit ourselves to assisting the owner and possibly protecting him in case the driver refuses to pay. But in two years there has only been one such case”.
For the future, pending the new legislation, increasingly defined assistance services are being studied while already now – along the lines of what happens for all sharing economy platforms, such as Airbnb but also BlaBlaCar – the focus is heavily on a review system that can account for the reliability of both car owners and their users: “We urge people to leave as many judgments and reviews as possible, in their interest and in the interest of the platform. After all, the customs clearance of Auting is all a cultural question: as it is understandable that it is, there is initially a great deal of reluctance to share one's own good, especially in a country like Italy where the car until a few years ago was still a status symbol to be jealously defended”. But now things have changed: the average cost of a car in Italy (in addition to the purchase) varies from 3.500 to 7.000 euros a year, and on average a car is stationary 92% of the time. Who doesn't want to lend it for a few days every now and then, safely, recovering part of the expenses?
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