The Challenge
The guys from WhipCar came to us with a new and exciting online venture based on the idea of car sharing. What if this could be taken to a level beyond yourself and your friends?
With the cost of running a car becoming a bit too much for a lot of ordinary folk, the guys at WhipCar wanted to make car hire more accessible by allowing anyone to rent their own car to anyone else. Tangent One was delighted to be involved in an innovative start-up that was driven by the need to service the local community. With a background in local marketing and expertise in building robust online platforms we really felt like this was a match made in heaven.
The Solution
Whip car allows those with a car to get their vehicle listed on the site. WhipCar run the vehicle details across a third party database to establish the car’s accident history – no cut and shuts here! Once they’re happy, the car will be listed with it’s images, pick up location and cost to hire, which can be set according to the owner’s preferences. They can even hire their car out by the hour if they wish.
I know what you’re thinking – what happens if someone crashes my beloved little run-around? That’s no problem – WhipCar cover your insurance for the duration of the hire, so even if there’s a small incident with a shopping trolley/traffic bollard/4x4 then your no claims history remains unscathed.
On top of insurance, Whipcar automatically covers everything including:
- Breakdown Cover
- Payment Processing
- Booking Alerts
Having the insurance completely separate, owners have no worries over their insurance cover as its temporarily replaced by WhipCars' fully comprehensive insurance.
Here is a video:
The Results
Since it’s launch in June 2010, WhipCar have achieved an astounding amount of press coverage, with features in Wired, The Independent, The Financial Times and several other major national and international publications. They were awarded a Europa award for Best Cleantech/Environmental Tech Startup 2010 and were invited to speak in The Economist’s Innovation Awards 2010.
They now have a fleet of over 1000 cars available for hire in over 450 towns across the UK.
What people are saying
As a brand new concept, Whip Car was always going to be talked about. We were very happy with the buzz surrounding WhipCar a few of our favourites:
The Guardian's write up - on launch
Awards
Whipcar has won a few awards including
Best Cleantech Startup award for 2010
According to judges, WhipCar "has the potential to change the nature of car use to one which is many times more efficient and ‘green’ than it is today."