Airbnb for cars is here. And the car rental giants are not happy.

They have fleets of hundreds of thousands of vehicles and generate multi-billion dollar revenue streams.

But in the rapidly changing transport landscape, even the goliaths of the car rental industry – some of the world’s best-known brands – fear being left behind.

This may explain why some of the biggest car rental companies have spent several years waging a quiet legislative war against start-ups led by a company called Turo that are trying to change the way people rent and own vehicles. Turo is a peer-to-peer car-sharing company – think Airbnb for cars.

Like Uber versus the taxi industry, this fight is a clash between an old-school business model and a modern technology platform inspired by the sharing economy.

The traditional model is managed by corporate brands that promise security and predictability. At any airport in the country, for example, a customer is assured that he will get a car (“Nissan Sentra or similar”).

The new model offers a more personalized experience. In a process that mimics online dating, a customer can choose this flashy Tesla for a ride or this Ford F-150 to haul garden mulch.

While each offers a way to rent a car, the ultimate factor in their long-term success may actually hinge on changing attitudes about the value of car ownership.

In the United States, the average price of new vehicles has soared to over $33,000, leaving people wondering if there is a way to get more value out of them.

Turo and other car-sharing companies say they offer car owners a way to maximize the value of these expensive assets, or even help pay for them, by making money off them as they go. could otherwise remain parked. For drivers, they offer flexibility and convenience.

If you’ve rented a car at an airport, you might understand why these start-ups think they should come out on top. After landing and collecting your luggage, you queue for a shuttle that takes you to a rental car company, sometimes miles away.

Once there, you may encounter another line, as well as paperwork and prices which may vary depending on the city and demand. Sometimes the process goes smoothly, but other times when the weather is inclement or rambunctious children strike, picking up a rental car can be the punctuation mark of an exhausting day of travel.

Jon Norris, 42, a former car rental company employee who lives in Bethesda, Md., and works in cybersecurity, believes this kind of unnecessary stress explains the growing appeal of Turo, a sharing network peer-to-peer car rental he’s been using since November to rent out his two Audis. He often meets his clients at the airport, handing them the keys to their rental as soon as they leave. There’s no paperwork, no credit cards and no hassle, Norris said.

“When I do curbside delivery, everything gets uploaded to the app ahead of time, and literally within two or three minutes they’re in the car and on their way,” said Norris, who earns about $1. 500 dollars per month by renting his vehicles. “At the airport, people want to take the car and leave.”

The ease of the transaction, which is done entirely using a smartphone, may explain why airports have become the front lines of a budding war between companies such as Enterprise and Hertz and relatively upstart Turo. unknown in Silicon Valley with about 180 employees.

Turo allows its 200,000 members to post vehicles online and rent them for as little as $10 a day. Turo officials say their company is a technology platform that allows car owners to earn extra money, not a car rental company. Because Turo doesn’t own any vehicles, they say, the company shouldn’t be subject to the same regulations as traditional rental companies.

These rental companies, represented by the American Car Rental Association, claim that car-sharing companies such as Turo are clearly car rental companies. The only difference between Turo and Enterprise, officials say, is that Enterprise complies with state and federal laws governing car rental companies, while Turo has so far avoided them.

“If you are leasing a vehicle to another person for a fee, that is a car rental transaction,” said ACRA lobbyist Gregory Scott. “Just because I tell you it’s not a duck doesn’t mean it’s not a duck if it looks and acts like a duck.”

Instead of waiting for the competition to comply, the rental industry has introduced bills filled with new regulations for car-sharing companies in more than a dozen state legislatures nationwide. If made into law, these regulations would treat car-sharing companies like traditional car rental companies.

ACRA officials, who support attempts to regulate car-sharing networks, say their aim is to level the “rules of the game”. The networks gain an unfair advantage and put public safety at risk, says ACRA. Their members could bypass annual inspections and not follow recall notices, making the roads more dangerous. They also operate freely at airports rather than designated areas, adding to the chaos and congestion.

The trade group is backed by the airports, which have a big stake in this dispute: the billions of dollars they take in each year to lease land to rental companies. But Turo, the most vocal opponent of the legislation, says the car rental giants have another goal in mind: to destroy competition by stifling innovation.

If car-sharing networks are allowed to thrive, experts say, legacy rental companies might have cause for concern.

“The advantage of peer-to-peer compared to traditional rental companies is that they don’t own the fleet and are lighter and more adaptable and have a better understanding of the local market,” said Alexandre Marian, director of the automotive sector and industrial practice at the consultant AlixPartners. “Car rental companies see this as a potential threat. And they should if they want to stay in business.”

Founded in 2009, Turo and Getaround — another popular service that ACRA accuses of circumventing the law — are the best-known start-ups in the peer-to-peer market. While rental car prices differ depending on demand and location, these companies allow members to determine the price of rentals.

The average homeowner, they said, makes about $500 a month from the service.

Nearly 5 million people have signed up to rent vehicles through Turo over the past two years, and the business is already valued at around $700 million. Getaround operates in 14 US cities and claims to have over half a million users. The business model turned out to be so promising that even General Motors and Ford, one of Getaround’s early investors, took notice.

In March, GM confirmed plans to launch a pilot program that will allow owners to lease their vehicles when not in use, generating revenue that will be shared with the huge automaker.

ACRA officials say traditional businesses support the peer-to-peer model and recognize its growing popularity. In a statement emailed to Washington PostEnterprise Rent-A-Car – one of ACRA’s most vocal members on this issue – said it was itself “an industry disruptor 60 years ago” and that the company has “always been open to new ideas and innovation”.

“However,” the statement said, “we believe the level playing field should be a level playing field for everyone involved in ground transportation – and that’s especially true when it comes to safety issues such as designated locations. pick-up airports as well as any legal restrictions regarding recalls of the manufacturer’s vehicles.”

Although largely unsuccessful outside of New York, the bills generally seek to impose taxes or regulations on Turo, such as requiring the company to engage in annual vehicle inspections and registration. additional.

In Maryland, a bill introduced by Enterprise would require Turo to collect sales tax, introduce safety inspection and remove cars with recall notices from their site. The bill under discussion would also require Turo to follow the same authorization process at airports as car rental companies.

Airports have become the front line in the battle between car sharing and rental companies. For decades, car rental companies have paid airports an average of 10% of their gross receipts – an amount worth billions – for the privilege of settling in. For ignoring this traditional arrangement and running into customers on the sidewalk, Turo was sued by the city of San Francisco and received a cease and desist letter from the Maryland Department of Transportation, which operates Thurgood International Airport. Marshall of Baltimore/Washington.

“Enterprise Rental Car is a multi-billion dollar company with so many perks thrown at it, and they’re trying to stifle this tiny little startup that barely has a foothold in Maryland,” the government relations manager said. from Turo, Michelle Peacock. “It does not mean anything.

“Does Airbnb have to get lead paint certification for every home listed on its site?” says Peacock. “No, they don’t.”

Without access to vehicle titles and VIN numbers, Turo does not have access to recall notices, Peacock said.

But Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability, said Turo management is unaware of the potential disaster that awaits if a single recalled car on the Turo platform results in a fatal accident.

The company should, at the very least, require users to verify their VIN number before they can join the platform, Shahan said. Often car owners are unaware that their vehicle is under recall, and the moment they find out there is a “body count”.

“All it takes is one high-profile accident and their name – that’s what they’ll be known for,” she said. “I hope they can learn from the experience of other companies. Whatever they think they’re saving, it’s not worth it.”