With New Partnership, GM to Offer Cheap Car Rentals to Lyft Drivers

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March 15, 2016 2 min read

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Want to drive for Lyft, but don't have a car? GM has you covered.

GM and Lyft have partnered for a new car service, Express Drive. The service would rent cars to Lyft drivers for $99 a week and 20 cents per mile for those who take fewer than 40 rides, which would include insurance and maintenance, according to Techcrunch. The charge-per-mile fee will be waived for those who take more than 40 rides. With 65 rides, the rental will be free for Lyft drivers.

The announcement comes just two months after the companies joined forces and GM invested $500 million into Lyft. The plan is to launch in Chicago followed by Boston, Baltimore and Washington D.C. In these four cities, 150,000 people had applied to drive for drivers but were rejected because they lacked a vehicle or it didn't meet standards, said Lyft president and co-founder John Zimmer, reported The Verge.

Overall, the main goal for Lyft is to get more drivers on its platform across the U.S. Though the partnership is similar to the company’s existing deal with Hertz, working with a large long-lasting entity such as GM presents a myriad of opportunities for the future.

“This is going to build structure for autonomous vehicles,” said Julia Steyn, GM’s head of urban mobility, as reported by Techcrunch. “We are looking at a different future going forward."

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