Express Drive will roll out later this month in Chicago and be expanded to additional cities including Boston, Washington D.C., Baltimore and others.
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For $99 a week, a Lyft driver can rent a Chevy Equinox SUV for $99 a week, insurance and maintenance included.
With Express Drive, drivers who complete 65 rides a week in Chicago will be able to access a vehicle at no weekly rental cost.
Express Drive is a flexible all-inclusive rental program that provides Lyft drivers with access to cars at affordable rates.
Speaking to reporters on a conference call Tuesday, John Zimmer, president of Lyft, said that more than 150,000 applicants to drive for his company have been declined because they don’t have a four-door auto of the specifications that qualify.
This is the first joint venture program by GM and Lyft since their relationship started two months ago when they announced that they would develop on-demand, driverless cars.
Drivers can rent cars for up to 8 weeks at a time.
The companies said 60,000 people in Chicago applied to be Lyft drivers but did not have a vehicle that qualified. GM and Lyft will pay for insurance and maintenance as well.
While Lyft is also operating a pilot program with Hertz in Denver and Las Vegas, Uber’s various rental options are available in about 10 major cities, with base prices of about $210 per week for models like a Toyota Corolla.
GM invested US$500 million in the service. Regular drivers at Lyft, however, will not need to pay that rental fee, while those who drive more will not have to pay the full amount over time.
GM is supplying Express Drive with Chevrolet Equinox crossover utility vehicles (CUV).
While the two companies have not disclosed the financial terms for this new venture, Julia Steyn, vice president of urban mobility for GM said that they are still assessing how big the rental program will be.
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GM lately has been trimming the proportion of cars it sells to daily rental fleet, since those sales generate less profit than retail sales to individuals. The cost of renting this vehicle goes down as the driver complete more Lyft rides. It offers millions of possible drivers a new way to earn money while they drive under the Lyft program.
