Image Credit: Flickr CC - ell brown
Just in time for the long weekend, car-sharing enthusiasts in the Pacific Northwest got a great victory: The Oregon Senate Transportation and Economic Development Committee unanimously approved HB3149, a bill to establish Personal Vehicle Car Sharing, at its work session last Thursday.
The bill, which would make it legal for private residents to rent their vehicle to friends or neighbors without increased insurance rates or loss of their policy, breezed through the Oregon House back in early April.
“Vehicles sit idle 92 percent of the time," said Ben Cannon (D-Portland), co-sponsor of the bill. " Peer-to-peer car sharing is a free-market concept that allows car owners to recoup costs of car ownership, while those without cars are able to rent a vehicle in their own neighborhood."
Although it may seem like a new concept, peer-to-peer car sharing has been gathering steam for some time now.
Back in early 2010, Jeremey Adam Smith shared findings from the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan that showed more people are sharing cars now than ever before, and it's easy to see why:
Consumers benefit from car sharing by being relieved of ownership costs. Frost & Sullivan research shows that an average car owner who drives 12,000 miles a year at an average driving speed of 30 miles per hour can save US$ 1,834 by shifting to a car-sharing service. Commuters who drive less than 12,000 miles can save more.
California, a state that has struggled to manage its traffic and air pollution, passed the nation's first P2P car-sharing legislation into law in September of 2010. It was predicted that the new law would accelerate the growth of the already fast growing car-sharing industry, and Oregon's bill is the first to fulfill that prophecy.
HB3149 will now head back to Oregon's full Senate for final consideration and is expected to come before lawmakers as early as this week.
If passed, the bill will be a boon to existing P2P car-sharing services like JustShareIt, Spride Share, RelayRides, and Getaround whose growth has been somewhat limited by complicated insurance policies.
If you'd like to start a carsharing program in your community, check out:
Comments
Megan Eastwood wrote on 10.24.11, 6:22pm:
It is great news to hear that the HB3149 has passed the Oregon House and Senate, which means that it would most definitely be signed into law. It shares a lot of similar characteristics with the AB1871. A very important aspect of the carsharing bill is that any transaction should be done through a personal vehicle carsharing company. Another aspect that I actually like is that carsharing should limit the amount of money that the vehicle owner can earn from renting their vehicle to their actual expenses. As a result, people are discouraged from taking advantage of others. Carsharing may help others in saving money from expenses they would have incurred when they own a car, say for example replacing costly parts like a wheel bearing or power steering pump, but this does not mean they can take advantage of this opportunity by charging a lot for letting others rent their cars.
HB3149 has now passed the Oregon House and Senate and will likely be signed into law by the Oregon Governor sometime in late June or July. The law goes into effect Jan. 1, 2012. It is substantially the same as the California AB1871:
- specifies that the transaction has to happen through a "personal vehicle carsharing company"
- defines that the personal vehicle carsharing company must carry a specified amount of insurance on the vehicle and driver during the rental period
- limits the amount of money the vehicle owner can earn from renting their vehicle to their actual expenses
- prohibits an insurance company from cancelling or not renewing one's personal auto insurance if they rent their vehicle out through a personal vehicle carsharing program.
It is my belief that states do not have to pass such laws in order for P2P casharing to safely happen. (After all, RelayRides is operating in Mass. without such a law on the books). However, having such a law on the books is a reassurance to vehicle owners and renters that the insurance issue is covered and should be a "green light" to P2P carsharing companies to operate in that state. See my carsharing industry blog: www.carsharing.us