Getaround is an online

car sharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pr ...

or peer-to-peer carsharing service that connects drivers who need to reserve cars with car owners who share their cars in exchange for payment. Getaround launched to the public on May 24, 2011, at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Before ceasing US operations on Feb 12, 2025, the company operated in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area, New Jersey, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Denver, and Washington D.C. The company continues to operate in several European markets.

History

Getaround was founded in 2009 by Sam Zaid, Jessica Scorpio, and Elliot Kroo. In May 2011, Getaround won the TechCrunch Disrupt New York competition. In 2012, Getaround began serving

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

with the aid of a $1.725 million grant from the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

. In November 2016, Getaround reached an agreement with City CarShare to take over its fleet, parking spaces and member base. In August 2018, Getaround raised $300 million in fundings from

Softbank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

. In April 2019, Getaround absorbed the carsharing platform Drivy for $300 million and rebranded as Getaround six months later. In May 2022, Getaround announced an agreement to merge with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) to start selling shares of the organization on the New York Stock Exchange. Listed as ‘GETR’, the company would have a equity value of $1.2 billion. On February 11, 2025, Getaround announced the cessation of its U.S. operations while maintaining its European business, citing liquidity challenges. The decision affected both its car-sharing and HyreCar operations in the United States.

Financial difficulties

In January 2020, The Information reported the company planned to lay off approximately 150 staff members or about 25 percent of its workforce. Bloomberg reported in March 2020 that demand had dropped due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and that the company was short on cash and looking for a buyer. Getaround’s 2022 SPAC merger valued the company at $1.2 billion, but the company's stock soon fell, and by 2024 the company's market cap was roughly $24 million. In February 2024, Getaround laid off 30 percent of its staff, this after the company vacated its San Francisco headquarters in 2023. In July 2024, the company's stock was delisted from the NYSE and transferred to the OTC Markets.

Criminal use

Criminals have used Getaround, along with other peer-to-peer car rental services such as Turo, for illegal activities. In February 2020, the ''Washington Post'' reported that thieves were finding available cars using the Getaround mobile app, which displayed the exact locations of vehicles for rent. Victims have reported that thieves could break into a car, destroy the Getaround Connect device that is intended to immobilize the car and report its position, and take the keys that had been locked inside the vehicle. Of the 787 cars stolen in the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

between October 1, 2019, and February 4, 2020, the

Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPDC), more commonly known locally as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and, colloquially, DC Police, is the primary law enforcement agency for the Washington, D.C., District ...

estimated that 49 of the thefts involved car rental apps such as Getaround. In July 2021, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia announced a settlement with Getaround that required Getaround to pay the district $950,000, to pay

restitution Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...

to users whose vehicles had been damaged or stolen, and to make other changes to its platform. In February 2020, NBC News interviewed eight Getaround users whose cars had been stolen, damaged, seized by police as evidence, or otherwise misused. Many of the owners were not fully compensated by Getaround's insurance for their losses. A former Getaround employee told NBC News that the company has known since 2017 that its GPS tracking devices were not tamper-proof.

References

{{Vehicle rental brands Carsharing Companies based in San Francisco Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States Peer-to-peer Online marketplaces of the United States 2009 establishments in California Softbank portfolio companies