Fetch: Failed Truck Rental Platform

Fetch Review:

Fetch was a peer-to-peer marketplace for self-service truck rentals. However, the site experienced a financial crisis in late 2023 and has since shut down.

Company founder Adam Steinberg wrote something of a farewell note on LinkedIn, explaining the series of events that necessitated the site’s dissolution. These included one of the site’s biggest partners pulling out of the site and a reluctance among private truck owners to make their vehicles available for same-day rentals. (Same day rentals accounted for nearly half of Fetch’s revenue.)

In interest of maintaining a historic account of this site, we leave our review explaining how Fetch worked below.

However, if you currently want to rent out your truck or van, we’d suggest you check out Turo or Giggster.

How Fetch Truck once worked….

The trucks were provided by side hustlers and fleet owners, who determined when their vehicles are available and what to charge for the rental.

Fetch suggested prices — $10 to $25 per hour/$50 to $150 per day. But, the actual rental rate was up to the owner.

How it works

You sign up and give the details of the vehicle you’re willing to rent out, determining both price and availability.

Fetch markets trucks and vans through the platform and collects rental fees. Owners are paid the proceeds, minus site commissions, twice a month.

Fees & Insurance

The site’s basic fee is 20%. But that fee assumes the owner has commercial liability coverage for their vehicle outside of the site. If you want Fetch to provide coverage, you’ll pay between 35% and 50% of the rental amount, depending on the coverage you choose. (You need commercial coverage if you rent out your vehicle, in addition to your ordinary personal liability coverage. That’s because standard auto insurance policies do not cover losses when someone is renting your car.)

Keyless device

Fetch used to require that vehicle owners install a bluetooth-connected device that locks and unlocks your car doors and turns on the engine. The site now allows owners to list without this device. However, if you want renters to be able to access your vehicle without a key, the bluetooth device is available for a $169 fee, plus $9.99 per month for connectivity.

This device can be self-installed and removed, if you choose to take a vehicle off the platform.

Potential earnings

Fetch founder and CEO Adam Steinberg says vehicles that are available full-time generate about $1,500 in rentals a month.

When this platform first launched, we gave this platform a neutral Husl$core because a similar rental platform had technical woes with its keyless devices. And Fetch was too young to know whether it would too.

Now that the site has more operating experience, we are less concerned about the keyless devices. And the site has made the keyless device optional.

Insurance

Fetch offers commercial coverage for your rental. However, for the coverage to apply, you must file a claim within 24 hours of the rental’s completion. So, while you may not need to be there to drop off keys, you should inspect your car promptly after each rental. You also need photographs of the vehicle’s condition before and after the rental to establish your claim.

The policy has a $1,000 deductible and a $35,000 cap on property damage. Steinberg says renters are responsible for paying for any damages, presumably from their own insurance. If they’re unable to pay, the site’s coverage kicks in.

But that potentially leaves the owner shouldering the first $1,000. Steinberg says they get roughly one damage claim per 1,000 rentals.

Recommendations

Other sites that will help you rent your vehicle: Turo and Giggster.

If you want to know all the things you can rent — watercraft, parking spaces, camera equipment, etc. — check out our post “8 Ways to Make Money Renting Your Stuff.”

Updated 8/17/2024