Volvo is starting something similar (Care By Volvo). However, that looks and smell like a leasing rebranded and slightly streamlined than what you are thinking of.
Volvo is a 2 year contract, no option to buy and also no option to customise the vehicle. The price is in the same ballpark than a lease. Volvo throws in: insurance and tax all included (less common in personal lease in Europe) and for like 10 days a year, the possibility to loan a different, larger Volvo.
I'll refrain being overly skeptical, Uber is just a taxi app streamlined and rebranded, but that makes all the difference. Buying a car, or worse, leasing one is not exactly streamlined, there is definitively some streamlining value in there somewhere.
Also I guess that is just the beginning - I guess if they could push the commitment down to 1 year (or 2 years with possibility to switch to a different car every year) that could become interesting.
You can always customize the vehicle, you're just required to return it to its original state. Obviously this means no racing wings that require drilling into the trunk, but you can add a roof rack if you've got the spring mounts in the roof for it, you can wrap the car or swap out OEM tiers/lighting, etc to your heart's content.
Sorry, by customising I meant change the option list - eg: it comes with rear camera, but you want to add 360 camera instead. Even the colour of the car is set to "black" only and only the base trim is available.
To be fair, the information currently available is more marketing level than practical. Right now it seems they are closer to long term rental than an easy lease. This thread is filled with alternative services that on paper look much better, so we really have to see what Volvo end up to do in practice to compete.
Volvo is a 2 year contract, no option to buy and also no option to customise the vehicle. The price is in the same ballpark than a lease. Volvo throws in: insurance and tax all included (less common in personal lease in Europe) and for like 10 days a year, the possibility to loan a different, larger Volvo.
I'll refrain being overly skeptical, Uber is just a taxi app streamlined and rebranded, but that makes all the difference. Buying a car, or worse, leasing one is not exactly streamlined, there is definitively some streamlining value in there somewhere.
Also I guess that is just the beginning - I guess if they could push the commitment down to 1 year (or 2 years with possibility to switch to a different car every year) that could become interesting.