Lyft And GM Team For Express Drive Rental Program

GM and Lyft have announced a new program that the two firms have teamed up on called Express Drive. The goal of the Express Drive program is to give Lyft drives access to a rental car when needed at an affordable rate. The Express Drive program lets the drivers rent cars under an all-inclusive program.

Express Drive will kick off later this month starting in Chicago and will later roll out to Boston, Washington D.C., and Baltimore along with other metro areas during 2016. Lyft says that in Chicago alone 60,000 people applied to drive with Lyft but lacked a qualifying car. The Express Drive rental program eliminates the issue of not having a qualifying car.

Active Lyft drivers who meet a certain ride count each week won't have to pay a weekly rental cost. Express Drive also includes insurance and standard maintenance. Drivers can rent cars on a weekly basis for up to eight weeks at a time. Express Drive will be free for drivers who give at least 65 rides per week.

Drivers who give 40 rides per week will pay $99 per week and drivers who give less than 40 rides per week will pay $99 week and 20 cents per mile. Any personal driving time in the vehicles is billed at 20 cents per mile. The example rental car given is the Chevrolet Equinox, it's unclear if other rentals are available as well. The Express Rental program is a good deal for drivers who give lots of rides per week with no out of pocket cost to them, but drivers who are less busy could be better off buying a car compared to the around $400 per month fees and mileage associated with renting the car.

SOURCE: Lyft