Vintage cars are alluring. They represent the simplicity, or craftsmanship, or louche sleaziness of a bygone era. They are also—and I say this as the proud owner of four old vehicles—fussy, dangerous, and excruciatingly unreliable. Not everyone enjoys this kind of constant crapshoot in their daily drive.
Fortunately, a trio of “sharing economy” apps allow occasional access to well-maintained classics. DriveShare, Turo Inc., and Vinty Inc. all function like Airbnb, but each has a unique position. Owners list their vehicles, upload information and images, set a rental price, and provide guidelines on things such as mileage, security deposit, and delivery instructions. Users need to meet a minimum age requirement: For Turo and Vinty it’s 21 with supplemental insurance, 25 without; for DriveShare it’s 30. They must upload their driver’s license, and in some cases a Social Security number, then await security and safety screening and verification, which can take as long as 72 hours. Once approved, users can scroll, click, and finalize the details.
DriveShare is a subsidiary of Michigan classic-car insurance company Hagerty, which represents hundreds of thousands of vintage vehicle owners, most of whom use their cars only occasionally. “Many classic cars spend a lot of time in garages when they could be earning their owner some revenue,” says Peter Zawadzki, the app’s founder. “A lot of people want to drive a classic, particularly for special occasions, but don’t have the resources or time to own, maintain, and store one themselves.” This creates a win-win, especially because old cars like to be exercised regularly. It keeps their vital fluids circulating, their batteries charged, and their components from drying out.
Turo is the giant of the trio, a company founded a decade ago by a Harvard Business School student that now operates in 5,500 cities with some 350,000 cars. Turo acts mainly as a peer-to-peer option to Hertz Corp. or Alamo Rent a Car, renting newer cars to business travelers or vacationers, but vintage vehicle offerings give it differentiation and cachet. “It’s not the majority of our business, but it’s certainly a part that’s very aspirational,” says Chief Executive Officer Andre Haddad.
Vinty is the small indie. Where the other two apps have a national profile, the backing of a national insurance company (Liberty Mutual Group owns a stake in Turo), and a large vehicle pool, Vinty has 1,250 classics that are mainly clustered in Southern California, where the company is headquartered. This is strategic. Although individual customers are welcome, the company and its “hosts” derive most of their revenue renting vehicles for film, TV, and commercial shoots, as well as special occasions such as weddings or corporate events.
“We tell owners, either you can let someone else drive, or you can just bring the car for an event and have customers take photos with them and have them act as a prop,” says company founder Pierre Lapointe. This ability to act as on-site steward, and not have the car driven much, is attractive to many fussy old-car owners, for whom their vehicles are their babies. (DriveShare allows movie/event rentals as well.)
Test-Driving DriveShare and Turo
So what’s it like using these apps? As with all things involving old cars, the results were unpredictable.
My first rental, a 1990 Jaguar XJ-S from DriveShare, was flawless. For $200 a day for a three-day rental, the owner met me curbside at LAX in the white, V-12-powered coupe—a car I’ve pined for previously. We retreated to a nearby parking lot to go through the vehicle and its quirks and take some “before” photos, then I was off.
Despite a reputation for abysmal reliability, the Jag was steadfast. The car started up every time, the AC blew cold, and the suspension absorbed impacts, physical and emotional, on L.A.’s mean surface streets. The drive also reinvigorated my search for an XJ-S of my own. Not surprisingly, this is one of Hagerty’s noted use cases: potential buyers taking a vintage car out for an extended test-drive prior to considering purchase.
I didn’t have time to try out Vinty, but I did get to experience Turo, renting a bright orange 1969 Ford Bronco. Delivery wasn’t available, so I picked it up at a lot adjacent to the San Diego airport. There, I met an attendant from Luso, a company that owns hundreds of cars and rents them out via the Turo app. I received no instruction about the Bronco. Having paid my $249 a day for five days (with 350 miles included), I was just given the keys and set loose.