Jeep kicks the tires on car-sharing and subscription services

Jeep will play host to a three-month pilot for car sharing and a subscription service. The brand’s North American-market head, Tim Kuniskis, told the Detroit News in a report last week that both pilots kick off by the end of January on a trial basis in Boston.

Turo will power the car-sharing model and Jeep has actively searched to recruit owners to participate in the pilot program to rent their vehicles out. Turo is a platform that lists thousands of privately owned vehicles for other users to rent out for a fee and pitches itself as a way to offset a monthly car payment. Jeep parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Detroit rival, General Motors, has already launched a program via its Maven brand called Peer Cars to incorporate car sharing into its business.

CHECK OUT: FCA to dabble in car-sharing, subscriptions with Jeep

The separate subscription service will be a pilot partnership between FCA and Avis. The automaker will offer a three-month subscription to Jeep owners with the ability to swap into a few other vehicles, such as a Ram pickup or Dodge Challenger. FCA’s decision to use Avis could help spare FCA dealers the cost of vehicle depreciation.

Participants in the subscription  will be able to swap vehicles up to six times during the three-month period. Two of the times will include delivery. For the other swaps, the subscriber will need to pick up the car on their own. The mixed bag of services and avenues is on purpose, according to Kuniskis. The idea is to pull a few levers at once to see what customers like and what they don’t care for as the automaker pursues its options.

Both pilot services will be limited to the first 100 Jeep owners that sign up for each.

Source: Read Full Article