|
Hey folks. For the majority of you who don't know me, I'm Ian and I used to help out around here. These days, I'm launching a new startup that AI readers might appreciate: Joule turns car ownership into a service. Think Netflix DVD for cars. We take care of all of the maintenance, insurance, licensing, etc, and all you do is drive. If you've checked out a Prius from us but need a pickup truck, open your smartphone and summon a replacement. Depending on where you are, your car can be swapped in under an hour. Imagine driving to Ikea in a compact car and having it swapped for a Sprinter while you shop! Best of all, it costs about the same as what you're paying today to keep your car on the road--often even less. Plus, now you can sell that spare car or truck and just have one ride in your driveway. That's nice. Why do I care? If you're in Seattle, you can join our pilot! We're shaving $200/mo off during the pilot for people who sign up now. Imagine if your bank said they'd shave $200 off your car payment each month just for participating in a beta. More generally, I'm looking for people to take this quick survey about spare vehicles. If you have a minute, we'd love to get your feedback. If you have any questions about Joule, I'm happy to answer them! isnoop fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Jun 5, 2015 |
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 00:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 00:26 |
|
|
Will you deliver a vehicle to Ohio for me to drive? Or at least send me some swag? Also, you misspelled your link: isnoop posted:
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 00:50
|
|
EVERYWHERE 
|
meatpimp posted:Will you deliver a vehicle to Ohio for me to drive? Or at least send me some swag? Doh! Thanks for the link check! We'll be nationwide before long. We don't have any swag just yet, but we will in a month or two. I should do a little giveaway!
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 00:58
|
|
|
This is interesting, but the FAQ doesn't really address fun car availability and mentioning a prius as an example just makes me think this is more for people looking for driving appliances than something I'd want to drive. I filled out your survey though since I'm in your area of coverage. Good luck!
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 05:53
|
|
|
Will there be Miata's? There had better be Miata's. Best of luck!
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 07:07
|
|
|
Yeah, I hope that you'll offer "fun" cars to people who are into cars. V8 Mustang GT to Ikea, and then swap it out for a Sprinter Van.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:01
|
|
|
Did I miss the actual monthly cost somewhere? Or is just based loosely on what you are currently driving?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:17
|
|
|
Obviously not all cars are going to cost the same. I don't see how this could be cheaper than just leasing a car unless you have 10 dui and can't get insurance or have terrible credit. I could see this working as a premium service but it would have to cost the price of two leases per month so there is good inventory of AMGs and M3s available. Probably going to be a lot of Nissan Versas.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:27
|
|
|
How do you handle insurance? The same way a rental place would insure their fleet? edit: took the survey CornHolio fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Jun 5, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:30
|
|
|
Ziploc posted:Did I miss the actual monthly cost somewhere? Or is just based loosely on what you are currently driving? In the faq, it uses the prius as an example with an estimated cost of $450 monthly plus insurance. A lease straight from toyota is $209 a month/24 months with $2400 down, 12000 miles a year with 2 years/25,000 free maintenance, so $309 a month plus whatever tags are. 2 years saving $150 a month could buy and maintain a decent used truck if that's something you need. I would imagine the target audience is somebody wealthy and lazy who doesn't like cars but is "too good" for public transit, so pretty much everybody in seattle.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:42
|
|
|
Crap. Thought this was the general chat thread. Deleted.
meatpimp fucked around with this message at 16:33 on Jun 5, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 14:47
|
|
|
Filled out your survey but it isn't terribly AI as you probably know. Personally I think it's an interesting idea for ride sharing but the cost is more than my current car payment on a car I like, not a prius. Do you have an estimate on what the Tesla would be monthly or a cost schedule on any fun cars you might be "sharing"?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 15:13
|
|
|
I'm helping   I feel like having AI fill out your survey will skew the results.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 15:20
|
|
|
Thanks for the great questions!Mat_Drinks posted:This is interesting, but the FAQ doesn't really address fun car availability and mentioning a prius as an example just makes me think this is more for people looking for driving appliances than something I'd want to drive. I filled out your survey though since I'm in your area of coverage. Good luck! Ziploc posted:Did I miss the actual monthly cost somewhere? Or is just based loosely on what you are currently driving? Maksimus54 posted:Filled out your survey but it isn't terribly AI as you probably know. Personally I think it's an interesting idea for ride sharing but the cost is more than my current car payment on a car I like, not a prius. Do you have an estimate on what the Tesla would be monthly or a cost schedule on any fun cars you might be "sharing"? CornHolio posted:How do you handle insurance? The same way a rental place would insure their fleet? Elephanthead posted:Obviously not all cars are going to cost the same. I don't see how this could be cheaper than just leasing a car unless you have 10 dui and can't get insurance or have terrible credit. I could see this working as a premium service but it would have to cost the price of two leases per month so there is good inventory of AMGs and M3s available. Probably going to be a lot of Nissan Versas. Powershift posted:In the faq, it uses the prius as an example with an estimated cost of $450 monthly plus insurance. A lease straight from toyota is $209 a month/24 months with $2400 down, 12000 miles a year with 2 years/25,000 free maintenance, so $309 a month plus whatever tags are. 2 years saving $150 a month could buy and maintain a decent used truck if that's something you need.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 16:07
|
|
|
quote:
Per your site it does not include the insurance. You might want to change that e. Not trying to be a dick, it is an interesting idea and I can see taking advantage of it if I needed a long time loaner car Maksimus54 fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Jun 5, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 16:18
|
|
|
Maksimus54 posted:Per your site it does not include the insurance. You might want to change that Startup life. So many things to do, so little time.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 16:30
|
|
|
Insurance in and unlimited mileage makes the math work for the customer, i can't imagine how much meat is left on the bone for you though. Is there an added cost to using non-prius vehicles? like say your regular vehicle is a prius and you need a pickup for 3 days. is your monthly cost increased based on the value of the pick-up?
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 16:35
|
|
|
Powershift posted:Insurance in and unlimited mileage makes the math work for the customer, i can't imagine how much meat is left on the bone for you though. Is there an added cost to using non-prius vehicles? like say your regular vehicle is a prius and you need a pickup for 3 days. is your monthly cost increased based on the value of the pick-up? $15 * 27 Prius days + $22 * 3 F250 days = $471 for the month Remember that these prices vary from person to person, but they are pretty close to what any of us would pay.
|
|
#
?
Jun 5, 2015 16:45
|
|
|
This is certainly an interesting idea, but I can see from here a couple of potential problems. First of all, I have worked in corporate aviation and in a fractional ownership operation, and I can tell you that unless you get your ducks exactly in a row, money can be hard to come by. The biggest problem there, as it suspsect it will be here, will be utilisation. Like aircraft, cars are expensive, depreciating assets that only make money while they're moving. So the plan is to keep your vehicles moving (with paying passengers) as much as possible. The problem with that, obviously, is that if most of your cars are in use then your clients might not be able to get the vehicle they want, or even need for that matter. This drives up costs as it requires you to maintain a much larger fleet than you have customers. Most aircraft fractional ownership get around this typically with a combination of three things; First is that the hourly rate charged is a fair bit higher than the actual operating cost (but it might be lower than the cost of an ad-hoc charter). Second, on top of any flying you pay for, there is a typically a yearly management fee charged to clients, from which a smart company will pay most of their indirect operating costs (hangars, staff, marketing, etc). Third is that you pay for what you fly; if you opt for a cheap aircraft, you would (obviously) pay less than someone who opts for an expensive aircraft. How this might apply in your case is having tiered memberships; a basic one that gets you use of a basic package of cars/trucks, and higher tiers that get more exclusive offerings - never underestimate the willingness of people to pay more for something that is perceived to be more exclusive. My thought is that pricing this at roughly the cost of ownership, while attractive to customers, won't do anything for you except empty your pockets in short order.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 17:57
|
|
|
This is a very, very cool idea. I think you're probably starting it in the best spot in the country you could.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 19:46
|
|
|
I still think this is pretty interesting and I hadn't even thought about the "swap out for a pickup for a few days" option, which would be an awesome/convenient way to have a fun car when I need it and a pickup the few times a year I need one for big hardware store/dump runs. I don't know that I'd pilot, but keep us in the loop regarding inventory and how the go live goes.
|
|
#
?
Jun 6, 2015 20:13
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 5, 2024 00:26 |
|
|
MrChips posted:Third is that you pay for what you fly; if you opt for a cheap aircraft, you would (obviously) pay less than someone who opts for an expensive aircraft. How this might apply in your case is having tiered memberships; a basic one that gets you use of a basic package of cars/trucks, and higher tiers that get more exclusive offerings - never underestimate the willingness of people to pay more for something that is perceived to be more exclusive. This was covered: quote:$15 * 27 Prius days So the prius is $7 cheaper per day than the F150 I find the idea interesting, it would be great to have the cheapest car to get to work every day, then have something more interesting on the weekend and day trips. The pickup for garden clearance and DIY trips is as good idea too. Would the prices be seasonal to accommodate demand?
|
|
#
?
Jun 7, 2015 20:30
|
|
