Hagerty DriveShare Is An Enthusiast Peer-To-Peer Car Rental Company

We all know how car rental companies work, you reserve your car, pay the fee and then you get to go drive around in someone else's car. Hagerty is rolling out an auto rental service that uses cars that it doesn't own. With the new service, called DriveShare, you can put your own enthusiast auto up for rent and then rent it directly to another enthusiast for a set fee per day. This isn't an entirely new service, it was originally called Classics & Exotics and Hagerty recently purchased it and renamed the service.

"DriveShare gives people an easy way to get behind the wheel of cars they've always wanted to drive," said McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty. "Our goal is to provide a common platform that connects enthusiasts and owners to expand the community of people who love cars."

Classics & Exotics was founded in 2014 in Cape Cod, Mass and is described as the Airbnb of vintage and exotic cards. The people who rent these cars are pre-screened, presumably to prevent thieves from using the service and to ensure the renters don't have a history of speeding and accidents.

DriveShare says of the screening process, "Renters are required to be vetted and approved by DriveShare. To be an approved driver, you must go through our signup process and submit your driver's license information. We check your driving history to ensure it meets our eligibility requirements and if it does, you can drive during any DriveShare reservation. Currently, rental drivers must be at least 30 years old. Should a non-approved driver be allowed to drive the vehicle, the renter will become fully liable for any damage and fines that may occur."

"I started this company so people could try out these amazing vehicles and owners could make a little money to defray the cost of ownership, and that's still the mission today for DriveShare," said Classics&Exotics founder Peter Zawadzki, who has joined Hagerty as director of DriveShare. "It's a great way to bring more people into the hobby. What we've seen is that people who rent these cars often become classic car owners themselves."

DriveShare rentals include a $1 million insurance protection policy and access to full-service roadside assistance for classic vehicle. After checking out the Driveshare catalog, it's a bit lean in my home state of Colorado. The only offering in the entire state is in Boulder and is a 1998 BMW M3 at $140 per day rental. If you are in California the catalog is much broader with Lamborghini, VW, BMW, Rolls-Royce, and lots of other cars available. The most expensive rental I saw on the California listings was a 2015 Lamborghini Aventador in Venice, CA for $3,300 per day. The least expensive was a 1989 KITT replica from Knight Rider for $174 per day in LA. The minimum security deposit is $500 and delivery is set up between the owner and the renter.