• Ford Motor Credit Company announces a new car-share pilot that will enable thousands of customers in the U.K. to rent out their cars to other drivers
• 12,000 London customers are invited to join peer-to-peer car-share scheme that offers to owners a source of income, and to renters a convenient, cost-effective mobility solution
• Pilot is expected to suit Millennials that surveys show are open to car-sharing; reflects trend for platforms that provide extra income, flexibility
• Ford Credit is working with car rental marketplace easyCar Club in London, and also launches scheme in six cities across the U.S.

Ford Motor Credit Company today announced a new car‑share pilot that enables customers to rent out their vehicles to other drivers.

The company has invited 12,000 London customers to join the peer-to-peer scheme that will provide extra income to owners; and for pre-screened renters – a convenient, cost-effective way to rent a vehicle. A further 14,000 retail customers in the U.S. will be able to join car share programs.

Ford Credit is exploring how innovations in vehicle financing could help create a convenient, high-value service to meet the changing demands of today’s younger drivers. The company will work with easyCar Club in London, and in the U.S. with Getaround. Renters search the easyCar Club site for a nearby car and book online. The keys are collected from the owner, or accessed from a safe, and members drop the car back to the same location.

Surveys show that Millennials – those born between 1980 and the mid-1990s – are open to car-sharing opportunities that can save them money and make increased use of resources; and a recent influential report also has identified that people typically use online platforms to find extra income and flexibility.*

“There is consumer interest in sharing the cost of vehicle ownership, and this programme will help us understand to what extent that interest extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle,” said David McClelland, vice president, Marketing, Ford Credit. “Realistically, most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time. This pilot will help us gauge our customers’ desire to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use.”

Ford Credit customers in London can now enroll to participate in the six-month pilot on the easyCar Club website now, offer closes Aug. 1.

Ford Motor Company recently announced it will begin making its London-based GoDrive car‑sharing service available to the public. The service offers flexible, practical and affordable access to a fleet of cars for one-way journeys with easy parking throughout the city.

Earlier this year, the company announced Ford Smart Mobility, the company’s plan to leverage technology and innovation to take the company to the next level in connectivity, mobility, autonomous vehicles, the customer experience and big data. This includes car-sharing experiments in Germany, India, and the U.S. that will help the company determine how to best serve global customers as they face new mobility options in the future.

Other Ford car-sharing experiments include:

• Ford Carsharing, Germany: The first manufacturer-backed, nationwide car-sharing programme incorporating dealerships, has run for two years and recently expanded to 40 dealers in 67 cities with 135 locations. In partnership with large, multi-partner car-sharing company Flinkster, the service allows Ford Carsharing customers to use about 3,600 Flinkster vehicles, and Flinkster’s 270,000 customers to use the Ford fleet. Starting in 2015, customers can access a vehicle with a smartphone app, rather than a customer card
• Share-Car, Bangalore, India: Ford is working with Zoomcar to test a sharing concept that would allow small groups, such as co-workers, apartment dwellers and families, to share a vehicle among multiple drivers. The approach helps consumers who can’t afford a car but want the benefits of owning one. The pilot programme is expected to expand to two more communities later this year
• Dynamic Shuttle, New York and London: Exploring a shareable service that will offer point-to-point pick-up and drop-off on-demand. The experiment aims to better understand the social dynamics and routing requirements of shared transportation for city dwellers

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* www.kpcb.com/InternetTrends