Ford Credit has launched a pilot car sharing programme for select customers in six US cities and London named ‘Peer-2-Peer Car Sharing’.
As part of the pilot, which runs until this November, Ford Credit is inviting 12,000 customers from London to sign up to rent their Ford Credit financed vehicles to pre-screened drivers for short term use, which will offset some of their monthly payments.
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A total of 14,000 people from Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Chicago and Washington D.C. will also be invited to take part.
Over the past six months Ford has been gathering data and consumer insights on connectivity, mobility and autonomous vehicles as the initial stage of its ‘Smart Mobility’ plan. The p2p scheme represents the next step in this.
David McClelland, Ford Credit vice president of marketing, said: "Consumers tell us they are interested in sharing the costs of vehicle ownership, and this programme will help us understand how much that extends to customers who are financing a Ford vehicle."
"As most vehicles are parked and out of use much of the time, this can help us gauge our customers’ desires to pick up extra cash and keep their vehicles in use."
In London, the scheme is being run in conjunction with easyCar Club, while in the US it is being run with Getaround.
Announcing the pilot, Ford also revealed research by Penn Schoen Berland, which found that half of Millennials are were open to sharing rides with others, and that half of millennials and generation Z consumers point to money savings as the top advantage of sharing goods and services.
