Exemption from the Government allows new ways to rent out cars

"Now that we can rent out our cars outside working hours in a simpler and at the same time safe way, we can provide an additional service to our tenants that enables more sustainable choices. At the same time, the results of this particular work can facilitate and create new opportunities for developed mobility services for many businesses, which can reduce the need for cars and parking spaces", says Lina Eklund Svensson, head of marketing and development at Skövdebostäder.

The legislation on professional car rental have on several occasions proved to be an obstacle to new business models and ways to share vehicles more efficiently. According to many, the regulations are an over-regulation and the Swedish Transport Agency, as the responsible authority, requested already in 2012 for it to be abolished. Private car sharing is constantly increasing, but corporate vehicle sharing has not undergone the same development. The Vinnova-funded project Drive Sweden Policy Lab has carried out a feasability study to find new ways forward in the matter.

"Now that the Government has given us an exemption, we have the opportunity to test how we in a real environment can use the vehicle fleet more efficiently in a safe and secure way and thus provide valuable knowledge about these business models and how the regulations for car rental should be adapted in the future", says Niklas Thidevall, legal expert at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden who led the feasibility study and assisted Skövdebostäder with the application to the Government.

Car sharing via apps is not new in itself, the new thing is that Skövdebostäder can now share its vehicles with the tenants without having a license as a car rental company and also delegate the administration to a platform operator. This is in a similar way that private individuals can do freely already today. To test the new business model, Skövdebostäder will use GoMore as a platform, which provides a system that enable car sharing in a safe, simple and efficient way.

"We are looking forward to this, which, thanks to the exemption, makes it possible for Skövdebostäder to share their cars through us without the restrictions that a customary permit entails. We have great expectations that in the long run this can lead to fewer cars on our streets, which in turn leads to a reduced need for parking spaces and reduced CO2 emissions", says Klara Bergkvist, responsible for GoMore in Sweden.

Dagens Industri wrote about this – find the article here (in Swedish)

Read the press release at Skövdebostäder here (in Swedish)