Typical car rental process

Once the car is registered in our system (to register, go to vehicle registration form ), most rentals will happen like this:

•  Reservation system: Your car will be featured on the reservation system and offered to renters.

•  Secure Platform checks: Spagg will screen out only legitimate renters that meet strict identification, insurance and payment verifications.

•  Contact vehicle owner: Once an interested renter meets the Secure Platform's verification steps, Spagg will send you a message (SMS, email) with timing and location of potential rentals. A rental request is a time-sensitive customer process, and we request that you answer our message within 1/2 hour.

•  Rental confirmation: If you confirm the rental, Spagg will process the payment verification and send you detailed information about the meeting location, timing and the identity of the renter.

•  Vehicle pick-up: You will receive a rental package ready to use and with all of the information necessary to guide you through the rental. The rental package will contain your rental contract. You will need to sign it at the moment of the vehicle drop-off. The contract will stipulate all the details about the vehicle's condition (existing scratches), and restrictions (smoking, pets, mileage limits).

•  Vehicle return: You will meet the renter back to have your vehicle returned at the agreed time and location. You will fill out another form -- the return check, that will parallel the information from the rental contract. You and the renter will verify any differences in the vehicle's condition relative to the contract at the moment of drop-off.

•  Payment: When you submit the report of differences to Spagg, we will calculate the final payment due from the renter, including incidentals (gas, mileage charges, etc.). We will charge the payment from the renter's card on file and deposit your rental fees via PayPal.

•  Feedback: You and the renter will get a feedback form.

Common myths about renting your car… debunked

Peer to peer car rental is an innovative commercial transaction. As all other innovative transactions, it faces misunderstanding from many people. Here are some common fears about P2P car rentals, and what is true in them:

•  Renters are reckless, the chances of accidents are high: Not true. There is definitely risks of accident, but they are probably no larger than you driving your own vehicle. All renters will be verified by Spagg's Secure Platform , and as humans they will be also trying their best not to get involved in any accident. Renters are often new to the city, so they end up taking double as much care when driving your car for rental. In case the misfortunate accident happens, you will be covered by the renter's insurance policies (all Spagg Network rentals are covered for property and third party liability).

•  Renter may "trash" my car: It depends on what you consider trashing. Trashing rental cars is actually not common in the US , but the large majority of the cases happening involve smoking or having pets inside the car without proper authorization. In case that this unlikely event happens to your car, we will charge a "deep cleaning" fee to the renter and transfer the money to you so that you can have your car shining as new. The rental fees will by large more than cover normal wear and tear that will happen as your vehicle gets miles. But "trashing" mechanical parts on a vehicle is actually really difficult, even if you try it hard. Modern cars have brakes, engine and transmission designed to support well driving conditions in American roads. And if anything happens, you are again covered by the renter's insurance policies.

•  The renter may run away with my car: This one is funny and not supported by real facts. Car robbery in the US is a common and easy criminal practice ... but too easy for any criminal to bother using the Spagg Network for that. If someone wants to steal your car, they will just grab it anytime at a parking lot or on the street. The Spagg Secure Platform verifies identities. The last thing a criminal will do to get your car is to submit information to a secure platform and give us their names, credit card information matching their home address in secure databases and show you their faces at the moment of pick-up. Even identity theft is unlikely: who wants to spend time creating an elaborate ID theft scheme that may or may not trump our system, and then show up for an appointment with us? This makes using the Spagg Network to get away with your car very unlikely (but it's a great idea for a Hollywood movie! :) ).

•  The renter may refuse to pay: Not possible. Before we even schedule your rental meeting, the Spagg Network will have pre-authorized the renter's payment through financial system, covering for the total rental costs plus a hefty margin for incidentals that may happen.

Maximizing your rental experience

We have put together some tips to help you configure your Spagg profile to Make sure you are getting all the chances to rent as your car deserves. Here are the main areas that you should pay attention:

•  Car availability: Spagg provides you with a system to manage your vehicle availability online. Although you should definitely block certain days in the week where you absolutely need your car, we recommend to keep those periods open if you are unsure. That will maximize your chances to rent your vehicle and include you on long term rental researches (long term= more than 1 week). If you configure any days of the week as unavailable, you will not receive those more profitable long term rental requests.

•  Pricing: Pricing your car for rental is not an exact science. It depends on numerous factors, including your willingness to rent and the going rates for that type of car at the moment. As a general rule, we recommend you to start low, and then work your price up if you get too many requests. That way you get the chance to cumulate a couple rentals for experience in the beginning and optimize your approach to the marketplace.

•  Feedback: As in most online marketplaces, customer feedback is very important in the Spagg Network. Your renter will have an opportunity to rent the vehicle and your service at the end of every rental. Vehicle cleanliness and functioning, punctuality and friendliness are the most important factors.

•  Location: The car rental customers select neighborhoods in your city where they would like to pickup the cars. When you register with us, we walk you through the list of possible neighborhoods in your city, for you to decide where you can drop-off the car. Therefore, the greater the number of neighborhoods, the higher your exposure to customers and the higher your chances to rent your car. Once you are registered, do not hesitate to give us a call to change your neighborhoods list if you want: 1-877-SPAGG-BUZZ (Hint: Airports are frequently the highest volume of rental requests in a city. It is often worth to make a trip to the airport for longer term rentals. ).

Tips for pricing your daily rental rate

Renting your car with the Spagg Network can generate some good extra cash for those additional expenses in college. Renting your car 3-4 days can generate enough money for you to pay books, lunch for more than a week, or give you a good start on the tickets for the spring break...

Defining what rate you will rent your car is an important decision to make. You need to consider how much you will make, but you also need to take a look at the going rate on the market.

Spagg can guide you through the choice of the price for the daily rental, but you remain the ultimate decision maker in this process. We suggest you to take a look at the rental rates for equivalent vehicles rented at priceline.com and expedia.com. From that reference point, we suggest you discount the daily rental rate down 5 to 10$, depending on the age of the vehicle.

We also have a long term discount system in place to incentivize renters to rent for longer periods of time. Once you define your daily rate, here's how Spagg calculates longer term rental rates:

•  A full week of 7 days is charged 6 days only.

•  Every period of 4 weeks is charged only 3.5 weeks.

•  For instance: Suppose you choose the rental rate for your car to be $25/day. If the rental is for a period of 7 days, you will charge 6 X $25 = $150.00 and if the rental is for 4 weeks you will charge 3.5 X $150 = $525.00.

If you are unsure on what rate you will rate your car, don't worry. A trained Spagg representative will walk you through the process at the moment of the registration of your car.

How to manage your car's availability on the system

Spagg utilizes an electronic scheduling system to determine whether your car is available for rental for the customers. We recommend the vehicle owners to keep the availability of their cars current in the system. You can tells us exactly when your car will be available for rental. You manage your availability by telling Spagg which days you would like to block your vehicle for rental. You have 3 basic methods to block your vehicle for rental:

•  Availability management form

•  Email: email availability@spagg.com with your unavailability requests

•  Phone: use our hotline 1-877-SPAGG-BUZZ to talk to one of Spagg representatives

Please keep in mind that if you block your vehicle at specific days for every week, your vehicle will almost never show up as a result in long term rentals (rentals for more than 1 week). If you want to receive long term rental requests, keep your availability schedule open. If you receive a short term rental request for a day where you'll really need your car, you can still refuse it when Spagg sends you the rental request.

How meeting places are defined

•  At the moment of the car registration, Spagg will walk you through the list of possible neighborhoods in the city. You will tell us which neighborhoods you accept to take your car for pickup.

•  Spagg will use this list of neighborhoods to match you with potential renters. Once a renter is interested in your vehicle, you will receive a message with the timing and neighborhood.

•  Once you accept the rental with the neighborhood requested, it is up to the renter to choose which meeting point they accept in the neighborhoods you choose. They can choose from a list of pre-determined meeting points. The meeting points are chosen for their convenience and safety. These are most frequently free parking lots in retail stores, gas stations and airports.

•  When the rental is confirmed, you will receive an email with all the details, including address of the meeting place and a link to the Google Maps locator.

List of meeting places in Los Angeles by neighborhood

For each neighborhood chosen by the renters, Spagg suggests some convenient meeting places. Here is the list of current meeting places that we recommend: