DENVER — It sounds too good to be true: what if someone paid you to leave your car at the airport, while you’re on vacation? You would actually make money, instead of paying to park.
A new company just opened for business at Denver International Airport, promising to make all of that possible.
But there is one catch: you have to be willing to go into the rental car business.
Flightcar will rent out your car to a stranger, while you’re out of town.
“Basically you drop your car off airport with us, and we take you to the airport and you park for free the entire time you’re gone, and while you’re gone, somebody can then rent your car at a discounted rate and we cover the insurance up to a million dollars on that vehicle, and the person who allowed their car to be rented makes a percentage of revenue from the rental itself,” said Ryan Adlesh, Head of Expansion for Flightcar.
It’s a peer-to-peer rental car company – sort of like VRBO or AIRBNB – websites that allow you to rent your house to strangers.
In this case it’s your vehicle, that would just be sitting there at the airport, costing you money anyway.
Tyler Moore tried Flightcar for the first time last month in Los Angeles, and loved it. He said it’s way different than your normal rental car experience.
“It was definitely a little weird. In a way it was kind of cool though, because it kind of felt like a friend was loaning you their car, and you weren’t in a sterilized 2015 Camry or something,” he said.
Right now, Flightcar is operating out of the lobby of the Cambria Suites Hotel near DIA. A clerk handles all the details there, taking your car and then allowing another traveler to use it, just like it was Hertz or Avis.
“Worst case scenario, if someone doesn’t rent your car, you receive free airport parking the entire time, (and a ) washed, cleaned, vacuumed car when you come back,” Adlesh said.
Flightcar actually has celebrity backing – both Ashton Kutcher and Ryan Seacrest are investors.
To learn how to rent out your car, go to Flightcar’s website here.