Shelby Clark, the Founder and Chief Community Officer, of the revolutionary peer-to-peer car sharing network RelayRides has announced he is stepping down from his role at the company. He will remain on the Board of Directors for RelayRides though. Mr.Clark sent out this Tweet on his Twitter feed yesterday;
4+ yrs after founding @relayrides, Im moving on to start my next company! Staying involved on BOD. Inspired for the next startup
For those that don't know RelayRides allows people to rent out their personal vehicles to individuals. To some this might sound a bit crazy, but for those follow this blog you might remember that I wrote about Relay Rides opening up the service nationally. From what Shelby Clark told me he and others enjoyed using RelayRides and it has benefited many people who don't have easy access to cars. They are other services like ZipCar but you need to drop off and pick-up those cars at specific locations while with RelayRides a neighbor can rent you their personal vehicle.
I have not heard what Shelby Clark's next plans are but I am sure whatever he does he will do great considering his success at RelayRides.
I thought I would share an important milestone with all the fans and readers of my humble blog, Adam's Auto Advice. This blog is now 2 years-old as of today. Happy Birthday… to myself I guess! 🙂
It's amazing to think that my blog is 2 years old! Honestly it feels like I have been blogging and writing about cars forever, but it really has not been that long.
Probably the best thing I have written about on this blog was my road trip from Irvine, CA to back to Baltimore. It was an amazing trip and I hope to do many more road trips and a cross-country road trip again soon.
You know, I started this blog and didn't have set high hopes for my writing but look at me now! I am a full time auto journalist and blogger. I was able to go from writing as a hobby to writing about cars professionally.
Looking back at my first post, and some of my early writing such as this Top Gear editorial my writing has come a long way and fast. I am fortunate to be able to be doing something creative and love what I am doing.
I feel proud of everything I have been accomplished with this blog and other writing I have done.
As well sharing my experience when I appeared on Anderson with Anderson Cooper for the TV show's New Year's Special. I performed “Auld Lange Syne” with my singing dogs, Cody and Sierra, which was an amazing experience which I shared on this blog. (Of course it had nothing to do with cars, but I did drive up to New York-City with my dogs.)
I am glad to have had all these interesting and varied experiences. I hope to share more auto news, advice, tips & tricks, product reviews, with everyone via Adam's Auto Advice. I know I will continue to grow and experience more amazing automotive experiences in the future.
I also appreciate all the people with a shared passion for cars I have meet along my journey. We have exchanged web advice, writing tips, and personal stories of “Auto Awesomeness!”
Someone who deserves credit for my blog is my brother Jason. He helped me get this blog up and running and switch from Blogger to WordPress. He's also helped keep this blog going and updated. Thanks Jason!
I certainly have not crossed everything off on my automotive bucket list. I know I have a lot more great experiences ahead of me.
This is actually my 200th post! I didn't plan that, but it is a happy coincidence. There will be hundreds of more great articles and posts along the way. I am going to make an effort to post more and most likely shorter articles in the future.
I hope all of you continue to follow my writing and work. Please Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest to keep updated.
I look forwarding to writing about cars and on this blog for many more years.
RelayRides, the world's first peer-to-peer car sharing service, is breaking out of San Francisco and Boston and is launching nationwide today. “Anybody in the country will be able to enroll their car and rent [out] their cars right away,” says Shelby Clark, the company’s founder and Chief Community Officer. RelayRides introduces us to the revolutionary concept of neighbors renting out their cars to fellow neighbors. A renter can get a car for as little as $5 an hour.
What are the benefits of personal car sharing? It is “more affordable, more accessible, and more efficient,” according to Clark. The average shared car “takes 14 other cars off the road,” thus allowing people to meet their mobility needs using far fewer cars. Clark explained. It is “really good for the environment, community, and local economy.”
RelayRides makes a lot of sense financially in this down economy and in general. Car owners should think of it this way: That car you drive only a few days a week can make you some money when you aren’t using it. On average a car owner using RelayRides can earn $200-$250 a month. (That’s $2,400-$3,000 dollars a year!) Clark personally makes around $400 a month renting out his Yellow Mini Convertible, which he told me is a lot of fun on sunny San Francisco days.
Renters who take part in RelayRides reap benefits as well. “Car sharing is a more attractive alternative to car ownership,” said Clark. On average a person can save $500 a month not owning a car and taking part in car sharing. “It is really convenient and affordable. The car is located right in your neighborhood,” said Clark.
The personal car sharing concept might be hard for some people to understand. When Clark initially pitched the idea to friends he faced a bit of resistance. “People were polite and raised their eyebrows, “So you want a stranger to drive my car?” Clark emphasized the difference in opinion now, “The typical reaction I get from people now when I tell them about RelayRides for the first time is, “Huh, that makes a lot of sense!”
RelayRides currently has 200 cars in the two city fleet and 6000 members. By launching this innovative service nationwide, Clark expects these numbers to grow significantly. “We have learned a lot over the past two years of operation. We feel ready to bring this to the masses,” he told me.
There is a lot of room for growth. According to Clark there are only about 1 million car-sharing members in North America. With 260 million cars on the road, that equals around 1.2 cars per person in the US. Shelby thinks this is incredibly wasteful. He believes that personal car sharing is an ideal solution. Besides, most cars are only used about 8% percent of the time; the rest of the time they are just parked.
RelayRides is covered by a $1 million insurance policy and market-leading security safeguards. It is backed by over $13M in venture capital funding from leading investors, such as Google Ventures and GM Ventures.
What impressed me while talking with Clark was not only his enthusiasm, optimism, and drive to make car sharing a viable option for everyone, but his attitude toward the competition. I thought other car sharing services might be unnerved by the news of RelayRides going national. However, Clark sees car sharing companies as being in this together, working for the greater good. He feels there is room for more than one company and that collaboration could be helpful to everyone.
This is a “big step forward for car sharing,” Clark told me. I think it certainly is and the future looks bright for RelayRides.
