“This is basically a free car rental... at least with the current pricing.” - Chris

Lyft just announced that the company is getting into car rentals, improving upon the headache that often comes with renting a car. 🚘

How it works: You can rent a car on a whim from your main Lyft app, and the company will even provide a $20 ride credit to make sure you don’t pay extra getting to and from the car pickup point. There are no mileage limits and you don’t need to fill the car back up with gas when you’re done using it — Lyft will do that for you and only charge the local market price. Folks have to be 22 in order to rent a Lyft car, and the company doesn’t seem to be charging the “young person fee” that traditional car rental companies have historically tacked on for drivers under 25.

The idea is a transportation app to rule them all (and eliminate personal car ownership); Lyft expanded its ride options last year to include bikes, scooters and public transit routes.

The company is starting the service in San Francisco in Los Angeles, where their cars are currently available for rent for as a little as $35 per day. 👀

Beyond traditional car rental companies, Lyft rentals is competing with car rental apps like Getaround (which Uber partnered with and then un-partnered with) and Turo. It a smart move by Lyft, considering car rental companies have been losing money to the ridesharing industry to the point where they’re even investing in their own ridesharing tech.

“We do business models all day. The web can have something that’s just disposable fun.” 

Check out Yap, an ephemeral, chatroom gift to the internet (only six people allowed at a time). 👏