The advent of the sharing economy is forcing car manufacturers to rethink their business models. Uber and Lyft are two of the highest profile companies at the forefront of this transformation. By disrupting existing car hire services with a better price and superior service, cab companies around that globe have had to scramble to become more competitive. And what happens when there are self-driving cars? Will car ownership become a rarity instead of the norm? There are plenty of prognosticators predicting the future but one company is attempting to address a different segment of the automotive industry. Their mission is to make luxury car ownership affordable and convenient. If you love cars but don’t want to shell out hundreds of thousands of pounds to drive the very best – this may be for you.
Orto is a co-leasing car service for sports and luxury vehicles. The startup is in the process of raising funding on AngelsDen selling a 23% equity stake to finance their vision. The concept is pretty straightforward: Orto matches several unrelated individuals to buy into a single car. Orto hosts a calendar where each purchaser may select a proportionate number of days to use the car. Orto takes car of everything else, including collection, delivery, maintenance and insurance.
Josh Darling told Crowdfund Insider the concept was born from personal experience. The reality of owning a “special car” is that you use it far less than you expect and it ends up costing quite a bit more than you imagined.
“We were frustrated with the lack of alternatives and wanted to create a smarter way for people like us to have the car of their dreams in their lives,” said Darling.
Darling said that current models in the automotive sharing market are great for trips to the supermarket but miss out on the visceral experience of driving a really impressive car. Darling explained;
“We’ve created a model that allows small groups of people to co-own the car they love, at a fraction of the cost, and still have the kind of relationship with the vehicle that they would if they owned it alone. It’s the answer to personal car sharing.”
Asked how they will monetize the service Darling pointed to the up-front fee followed by a monthly payment the follows the cars two-year term. Of course, the fee will be driven by the model of the car.
“We will scale the business by growing in London and then expanding our platform to other major UK and European cities,” stated Darling.
The offer page on AngelsDen predicts an exit as soon as year five. Now the question is can Orto fund their deal and scale their service.
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