Pegcar is a start-up in Brazil that connects owners who seldom use their vehicle with individuals who occasionally need to rent one. They chose MAPFRE as their insurance company given our positioning and focus on innovation. In this article, its founding partners share with us the keys to this business and their experience.
TEXT Andrea Burgui and Kelly Regina Conde | PHOTOS Pegcar
This is an online platform that facilitates car rentals between individuals and has been a MAPFRE client since 2015. Pegcar’s concept follows the growing trend of the collaborative economy. More than a transport company, this start-up is a social network that facilitates communication between users wishing to make a car they seldom use more cost effective and rent it out quickly and efficiently. In the following interview for The World of MAPFRE, Conrado Ramires and Bruno Hacad, its founding partners, explain the keys to this business model and their experience with us.
What is Pegcar’s business model based on?
The prime objective of Pegcar is to put automobile owners in touch with people who need a vehicle. The business model is based on the MarketPlace* and its revenue comes from the fees charged for the transaction: the driver pays Pegcar 10 percent of the rental cost, while 20 percent is deducted from the money received by the owner.
How does Pegcar work?
This is a network 100 percent online, in which any person with a car can offer it for rent through this platform. Likewise, someone who does not own a vehicle, but occasionally needs one, can go online and rent one swiftly, thus cutting out the paperwork.
To register your vehicle, all you need to do is fill in a form with your personal details and those of your car, send pictures of the vehicle and state the availability period for rental. The vehicle must be less than 10 years old and have less than 100,000 km (62,000 miles). As for the driver, on initiating the search, the results bring up the nearest cars available. At the time of booking, the meeting with the owner is arranged for the handover of the keys.
The rental may be arranged for hours, days or weeks, and payment is made by credit card. The owner may or may not accept the lease agreement, according to the date and the rental period requested. To ensure greater security regarding the state of the vehicle, an inspection is carried out both when the keys are handed over and when subsequently returned.
What is the mission of your start-up?
Pegcar’s mission is to empower people through shared mobility.
What is your customer profile?
Pegcar’s target audience comprises, firstly, people who have a car they use very little and need extra income; and, secondly, drivers who do not have a vehicle, yet for some reason occasionally need one.
In general, they are young people up to 35 years of age, middle class, less attached to material goods and committed to the collaborative economy. Currently, most people who own cars live close to their workplace, work from home or use some other form of transport to commute to work.
How long has Pegcar been a MAPFRE client? And why did you choose us?
We became MAPFRE clients in October 2015. We chose it both for its size and the positioning of the Group; but also for its focus on innovation, intelligent mobility and the collaboration economy. Moreover, it was the only company able to offer us a specific policy for our business model, a specialized insurance policy for P2P car sharing.
What role does insurance play in your business model?
All the transactions made via our platform are covered by a MAPFRE policy throughout the rental period, which covers 100 percent of the FIPE** value and includes collision, fire, robbery, theft, third-party liability and assistance 24 hours a day. The owner is thus protected against any problem with their vehicle and the driver can count on the support of the company in case of incidents during the rental period.
How would you define your experience as a MAPFRE client?
Without a doubt, MAPFRE has supported us tremendously from the outset, offering us an insurance solution which no other company was able to handle. What’s more, we are also developing business on other fronts and Pegcar is currently a member of the Group’s benefits club, which offers unique advantages to MAPFRE clients.
*MarketPlace: is an online service that enables individual buyers and sellers to interact and enter into commercial transactions.
**FIPE Table: a chart which records used car prices on a monthly basis and is used by Brazilian insurance companies as a
