Car-sharing app aims to cut ownership

● Firm enables drivers to make money by loaning out their vehicles to strangers

A firm hopes to trigger a carsharing revolution in Scotland which it said would improve access to vehicles and make ownership less attractive.

Turo, which launches north of the Border today, is the biggest app in Britain pairing car owners with drivers seeking short-term rentals.

Likened to Airbnb, it hopes to increase the 150 carson offer in Scotland to 2,000 within two years.

Turo, founded in San Francisco in 2009, has signed up 4,000 owners, most in London, since its UK launch last September.

Unlike car-sharing clubs like Enterprise, which owns its own vehicles, peer-to-peer operators such as Turo enable drivers to make money by “sharing” their vehicles with strangers. Turo takes a 25 per cent cut. Others include Hiyacar and Drivy, but they have far fewer cars available in Scotland.

Turo said owners earned an average of £130 per trip, with five of these a month enough to cover their vehicle repayments, vehicle excise duty and insurance.

UK director Xavier Collins said the app enabled drivers to choose the exact model they wanted rather than face a lottery at car rental firms.

He said it also made it easy for people to try out different types of cars, including electric vehicles.

He said :“In the US, it has reduced car ownership by encouraging better utilisation of vehicles.”

However, some motoring groups expressed scepticism.

Neil Greig, the Scotlandbased policy and research director of IAM Roadsmar t, said: “Loaning out your car seems to make perfect sense when it’s just spending most of its life parked. However, it remains to be seen if there is enough trust between Scottish drivers for apps like Turo to really work.

“Would you let someone drive your pride and joy when you have never met them before?

“I am sure the taxman will also be watching developments with interest if people star t to make a business out of it.”

But Phil Gomm of the R AC Foundation was more positive :“Cars, on average, sit idle for 96 percent of the time, gathering dust and rust. Given how much money owners spend on their vehicles, any practical and safe way there is to unlock some value must be attractive to all parties.”

Dr Richard Dixon, director of environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “The sharing economy is going to be really important in many areas of life and making better use of the cars already available, rather than having large fleets of hire cars sitting about idle most of the time, is a good idea.

“Of course, we would like people to walk, hire a bike or use public transport as their first preferences, but making more efficient use of existing cars for those journeys that really do require a car also makes sense.”

Colin How den, director of sustainable transport campaigners Transform Scotland, said: “The critical factor will be whether schemes such as this do lead to reduced car use.

“There is good evidence in Scotland that people who are members of car clubs also tend to walk, cycle and use public transport more than average.

“However, there is also an ever-increasing evidence base that car sharing services offered by the likes of Uber and Lyft can lead to increases in road traffic.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency said :“Car clubs and peer-to-peer sharing apps do have a role to play in promoting shared transport, giving people access to cars on an ad-hoc basis.

“We are fully committed to building a cleaner and greener transport system that benefits our health and well being and the sustainable travel hierarchy promotes walking, cycling, public transport and bike, car, or ride sharing to reduce the number of single occupancy car journeys.”