When not in use, Saudi hosts can now rent out their cars

ekar, the Middle East’s first and largest personal mobility company, has launched peer-to-peer carsharing in Saudi Arabia. When their personal vehicles are not in use, Saudi ‘hosts’ can now earn money by renting them out on the ekar platform. Vehicles that have previously been inspected and outfitted with a telematics unit or ‘health tracker’ by the ekar operations team can be instantly activated on the ekar app. The ekar app allows ekar’s 270,000 members to book, unlock, and pay for the rental of personally owned vehicles.

In contrast to traditional peer-to-peer companies, ekar’s digital peer-to-peer solution eliminates the need for the host and renter to meet in person for the clumsy and often time-consuming ‘key handover.’ Ekar’s peer-to-peer network is completely contactless. The car keys are securely locked in an otherwise immobilized vehicle, and are only accessible through the app’s direct integration with the vehicle’s onboard computer, allowing the hosted car to be unlocked and driven. Cars are locked, completely immobilized, and will not start without the app‘s authentication, preventing unauthorized access or theft. ekar’s proprietary AI constantly monitors and analyzes a vast amount of data, including location, time, driver information, driver behavior and scoring, and vehicle identification. Cars are also fully insured in the event of damage during or between rentals.

There are two types of peer-to-peer hosting: short-term and long-term. Short-term hosts commit cars for a minimum of eight hours, eight days a month, from their preferred location, which is usually outside of a home or office. Bookings can only be cancelled within the system-generated geofenced area in which the car was first activated. This system is a station-based rental, which benefits the host who will want easy access to their vehicle once the booking is complete. The renter will be penalized if the car is driven for more than the allotted host’s booking time. The average number of rentals required to pay for a vehicle’s monthly cost is nine.

Long-term hosts, or ‘ekar Entrepreneurs,’ dedicate their vehicles to Riyadh’s ekar free-floating carsharing system for a minimum of one month. Depending on the car type and hosting duration, these committed cars can earn up to 10,000 Riyal per month. All hosts have remote access to ekar Mobility OS, which provides them with instant performance and earnings metrics for their cars.

“Ride-hailing companies did an excellent job introducing the gig economy to car owners, allowing them to become chauffeurs and make additional income. ekar hosts, on the other hand, can inject their cars into ekar’s platform from the comfort of their couch, and we handle the rest. A car owner can now spend their valuable time on other activities, rather than chauffeuring, and enjoy high yielding passive income on assets they already own,” explains Vilhelm Hedberg, Founder of ekar. 

“In today’s environment, with new car production nearing an all-time low and fuel prices nearing an all-time high, peer-to-peer carsharing is an ideal solution that benefits both the entrepreneurially-minded host and the cost-conscious renter. ekar’s peer-to-peer service targets the more than two million Saudi-owned cars that fall within the peer-to-peer regulation in the Kingdom, namely vehicles that are less than five years old, wholly-owned, and fully insured. This massive addressable market of cars will enrich the breadth of vehicle choice, and ekar carshare members can now access an almost endless fleet of vehicles from economy to luxury,” furthers Hedberg.

Founded in 2016 by Vilhelm Hedberg, ekar has grown from a 15-vehicle pilot program with Etihad Airways to a multi-country service with over 270,000 registered members and 1.7 million trips booked. ekar currently operates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Malaysia, with plans to expand into Egypt and Turkey.