With Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices reaching new record highs in 2023, car ownership seems to be slipping further and further out of reach for the average Singaporean. As such, more Singaporeans are now turning to car-sharing services like GetGo, Tribecar, Car Lite and BlueSG to solve their personal transportation needs.

Car-sharing, while already a popular service before, has seen a surge in recent years. Industry watchers and car-sharing operators alike expect this growth to continue.

GetGo, for example, launched here in February 2021 with 400 vehicles. It now has more than 2,500 cars and is targeting a fleet of 10,000 by 2030. 

While such pay-as-you-go services are beneficial for those who may only require a car for occasional use, there remains the risk of liabilities incurred should you be accused of damaging these borrowed cars.

Stories abound of users being slapped with thousands of dollars in charges by car-sharing companies, sometimes after being involved in minor accidents. One user was charged a S$9,200 bill after a slow-speed collision which resulted in two broken vehicle plates, reported AsiaOne in November, while Stomp in October shared a story of another driver being asked to pay over S$900 after causing a flat tyre of a rental car.

Some have denounced these as being unfair on the user due to the perceived lack of transparency on the part of the car-sharing companies. 

And based on reports such as these as well as other accounts found online, such incidents do not seem to be confined to a particular operator, but appear to affect users across the various car-sharing providers in Singapore.

The Consumer Association of Singapore (Case) reports that complaints against car-sharing companies have been rising in the past few years, from 48 complaints in 2020 to 196 complaints in 2022. 

For the first half of 2023, Case notes that there have been 106 complaints lodged against these companies so far, prompting association president Melvin Yong to put up a recent blog post recommending that car-sharing service operators improve their practices.

He noted that the most common complaints include pre-existing defects and issues with the vehicles, disputes on damages and repair costs and frustration with the dispute resolution process.

For any car-sharing user in Singapore, there is always that hanging possibility of being hit with a litany of hefty charges in the wake of unfortunate incidents. 

How then can we make car-sharing less of a risk for Singaporeans who want to go car-lite?

1. Make the charges clear and upfront

While most car-sharing service providers do list various charges that users are liable for, they are often tucked away at the bottom of lengthy text blocks or hidden in collapsible sections under their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) pages. 

While it is undoubtedly important for consumers to read the terms and conditions before they sign up and pay for anything, given the quick access to such car-sharing platforms and their ease of use, users may tend to overlook these details during the booking process.

Car-sharing companies can do more to make these terms and conditions easier to read and understand, as well as outline the important charges to consumers more clearly and in a more upfront manner

One possible way to do so is to send pop-up notifications to users, each time they make a booking, displaying all the various charges such as the insurance excess (the capped amount you have to fork out in an accident), as well as the major fees that the user is liable for in case of any incidents. 

The user then has to acknowledge that they have read and understood these before proceeding with the booking.

Car-sharing platforms can also be more transparent with some of the charges that they may potentially impose on users. 

Among some of the charges that car-sharing companies impose on top of the insurance excess include “cleaning fees” (charged against a user accused of dirtying a car) and “loss of use” fees (compensation for potential earnings lost by the car-sharing company while the car is taken out of service to undergo repairs after an accident).

In order to help customers make informed decisions before using such services, car-sharing companies should highlight how exactly they calculate these fees. 

2. Respond to feedback and complaints promptly

As a user, it is imperative that you check that any car you rented is in roadworthy condition before you start driving. 

Flag any issues to the car-sharing company immediately, so that they are aware of it before any liability is pinned on you.

For their part, car-sharing companies should be more responsive to such complaints when raised. 

When users flag up any potential issues with their rented vehicles, car-sharing companies should act promptly and ensure that the issues are resolved in the shortest time possible. They should also provide timely updates on the status of their cars, at least in terms of their general maintenance and condition.

Much can also be done to review and improve dispute resolution processes between car-sharing operators and their users. 

It is not uncommon for customers to receive no updates from a car-sharing company on the investigation status of their disputed case for weeks and even months, despite making several requests for updates on damages and repair costs.

Being left in the dark in this way for extended periods of time can be a source of great anxiety for customers.. 

Mr Yong of Case suggests that car-sharing companies offer customers an estimated timeline and interim status update on any dispute raised. 

This should be a basic and minimum requirement enacted for any operator, so that users, at the very least, know for sure their dispute is being dealt with by the company.

3. Ensure that the cars are well-maintained

As an occasional user of such services myself, I have encountered my fair share of vehicles which have not been in particularly good shape – and responses from the providers when I raised issues to them have been mixed thus far.

A few years ago, I rented a car from a now-defunct car-sharing company. The car looked perfectly fine on the outside, but turned out to have major issues with the steering system when driven. 

I immediately returned the car back to its original parking spot and called the customer service hotline about it. 

To their credit, they immediately assigned me another car from their fleet in the vicinity while promising to look into the matter. I was impressed with their efficiency and speed of response.

In contrast sits my experience of renting from another company still operating in Singapore. While the car was still in drivable condition, a series of warning lights flashed up indicating that it was overdue for service and repairs. 

Again, I immediately reported the issue to the company, but did not receive a response. 

To this day, I do not know if the car was repaired or remained in service with no action taken. 

Thankfully, in this case I was not deemed liable for any issues with my booking. Nevertheless, it remains worrying that such cars, which could potentially cause problems for customers as well as other motorists on the roads, remain available for rent and use.

On that note, car-sharing companies have a responsibility to ensure that the vehicles that they rent out are well-maintained and in roadworthy condition. 

This is especially vital as a car with underlying issues may not only potentially cause harm to the driver, but passengers and other road users as well.

Most car-sharing companies claim to have a regular maintenance schedule for their fleets, but perhaps the enforcement of an industry-wide practice is necessary to ensure consistency. 

For example, Case’s Mr Yong suggests that car-sharing vehicles could be mandated to undergo servicing on the basis of either time (say, every three months) or distance clocked (every 10,000km driven). 

This is similar to the recommended servicing regime for privately-owned cars, but conducted with greater frequency given that shared cars are much more heavily used.

While car-sharing companies need to make every effort to treat their customers fairly, as users, we have to be responsible with the cars that we rent too. 

After all, they are shared vehicles used by the community; it is only right that we take care of them and avoid causing problems for the next user. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ben Chia is the print editor of CarBuyer Singapore magazine, an automotive publication. He has over a decade of experience in the automotive industry and is an occasional user of car-sharing services.