FlightCar
One of the things that I don’t like about vacations is arranging my travel plans to and from the airport. My options are -
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Park the car near the airport - This roughly costs around $15 a day and is usually an open parking spot (under the sun).
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Uber - This puts a small hole in my pocket if I travel alone.
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CalTrain and Bart - While this is a cheap option, this takes more time and also limited to the usual day hours.
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Ask a Friend to drop and pickup - Ideally the best option :)
Recently, I had an early morning flight (travelling alone) from San Francisco International airport and I wasn’t happy with the above 4 options. Then I heard about FlightCar from my colleague and this seemed promising. FlightCar lets you park for free by renting out your car to approved members. If you’re willing to let your car be rented out, this seems like a good option.
What I liked about the experience
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Hassle-free - No paper documents and everything was electronic.
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Cheap - It’s not just free but you get to make a few dollars too depending on how many miles your car was driven.
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Quick - Within 10 minutes, I reached the airport during drop-off and I was also picked up within 10 minutes during pickup.
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Free Carwash - Both the interiors and exteriors looked clean.
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E-Mail Updates - This is where I was impressed the most and I had received the right amount of email notifications (always hard to get this right) -
a. The first email with the drop-off receipt along with the mileage and gas information.
b. The second email when my car was rented out (yay, I’m gonna make some money).
c. The third email when my car was returned (phew, my car is safe!)
d. The fourth email when my flight landed with the pickup instructions.
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Insurance Coverage - Covered by a million dollar insurance policy.
What can be improved
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Drop-off and pick-up at airport - A paid option to drop my car at the airport and also have it ready to be driven off from the airport.
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Control audience - Price variety depending on the driving history of the renter.
Kudos to FlightCar for a great experience and looking forward to more improvements in the future.
Kaushik Rangadurai
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