Welcome to the age of the sharing economy! Launched in 2010, Drivy is the leading peer-to-peer car rental company in France which function pretty much like Airbnb and many other sharing platforms. With a fleet of more than 40,000 vehicles today, you can easily find the perfect car for the much-needed weekend getaway in France without burning a hole in your pocket. Whether you want to start renting your car or rent a car, you might want to read my reviews of Drivy before trusting them with your limited vacation days.
Really, sharing my car??
Initially, I was pretty skeptical about renting my precious car since I was particularly concerned with my car getting stolen or even damaged. However, like other p2p car rental sites such as OuiCar, RelayRides, and GetAround, Drivy handles the escrow services and insurance liability for potential car owners, which at least helps to allay my unfounded fears.
My brain has a tendency to permutate all the different possibility of what might go wrong; therefore you are just as paranoid as me, I would highly recommend you read Drivy's detailed FAQ before plunging head-on into unchartered territories.
Change of oil, checked!
Windscreen wiper functioning, checked!
Gas tank full, checked!
With my checklist done to make the driving experience as enjoyable as possible for my potential renters, I listed my beloved 8-year-old Renault Clio 3 on Drivy with all my fingers crossed.
Drivy has a pretty user-friendly interface which definitely helps car owner out a lot.
Initial Encounter
Bleep, bleep, bleep! My phone buzzed incessantly and I received my first ever car rental on Drivy on 13th of April. Like a young boy who received an unexpected gift, I was excited with the request of my potential car renter.
The message reads,
"Bonjour en vacance sur le havre pour profiter de la région avec ma femme? Meeting details: Peu importe le rdv mais près de la gare ou jenner car connais pas bien la ville. Cordialement. (Translation: Hello, holidaying in le havre with my wife. Meeting details: no specific rendezvous but close to the train station because I'm not familiar with the city.)"
Honestly, I felt that the request was rather impolite and the renter did not use the magic word "please." For the sake of trying out Drivy, I decided research more on my renter's profile. With a past record of 11 reviews and 14 previous car rentals, my potential "car sharer" seems reliable enough to placate my initial annoyance of his rude request.
"D'accord. On rdv à XXX? ça vous va?" Heck, I'm going to try this out. If it doesn't work out, I know can always stop this activity in the future.
Handling over the keys
A man dressed in a blue hoody came up to me at the rendezvous point, "Vous êtes Monsieur Soh? J'ai réservé votre Clio 3 pour 4 jours..." The man seemed like a decent guy despite his initial rude request to rent my car. So we laid out the rules and went through all of Drivy's procedures so we don't have any unpleasant surprises at the end of the rental period.
Within 10 mins, everything was settled with signature on a contract printed off Drivy's platform.
Returning of the car
After 4 days, the renter returned my car to the designated location with no physical damage on my car. Everything seems fine except that the car wasn't returned with full fuel tank, which the renter later recompensated me for the cost of diesel.
2 thumbs up for the successful car rental!
Payment
I have to wait for 2 weeks to receive payment for renting my car out. Honestly, I feel it's an awfully long time to wait especially if you depend on it to pay your rent. Besides, the 30% commission is huge. This is an area which I feel Drivy can improve on to incentivize more car owners to rent their cars on Drivy.
Conclusion
I would rate Drivy as a pretty reliable platform if you are looking to generate additional side-income to hasten your way to your financial freedom.
Hopefully, my review of Drivy can give you a better understanding of what it's like from a car owner's perspective.
Note: Drivy has enabled rental contracts to be done via your smartphone. Now, you don't have to print physical copies of Drivy contracts anymore. Please read Drivy's FAQ if you intend to become a car sharer on Drivy
Feel free to ask me any questions, or follow me 