As Cadillac announced on Monday it is expanding its subscription car service to Los Angeles, many LA residents became aware of a promising worldwide trend: driving a car without having to buy, maintain or sell it. (Hint: that’s not the same as rentals).
Car subscription services have been launched by many leading car-making companies, including Cadillac, Porsche, Volvo, Hyundai, and Ford, in the past couple of years.
The trend has become a hot topic in the U.S. and is being used by millions of Americans. Car subscription services are app-based all-inclusive services that allow users to drive many premium-class cars per month.
And all you have to do is pay the monthly fee, which ranges from as low as $250 to over $2,000, and your drive is literally only a few clicks away from your home.
How do car subscription services work?
Car subscription services in Los Angeles may soon compete with the traditional way of “owning” a car.
These app-based services allow subscribers, who pay monthly fees (in Cadillac’s BOOK, subscribers pay a one-time $500 initiation fee and a flat monthly fee of $1,800 to have access to various Cadillac vehicles, including the Escalade).
In a nutshell, what these services do is eliminate the trouble of buying, maintaining, and selling a car (and make it practically impossible to get bored with driving just one car for years, as you may exchange high-end vehicles up to 18 times a year, as seen from BOOK’s example).
Chosen cars booked in car subscription services are dropped off by a white-glove concierge service at a specified location. And more importantly, in most such apps, the monthly fee includes registration, taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs.
Like the cars, subscription service is only becoming popular and is still a relatively fresh phenomenon in the U.S., our Los Angeles car crash lawyers here at the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg weighed all pros and cons associated with the month-to-month subscription services and explained how they might affect car accidents.
Car subscription services and car accidents: pros and cons
Given that car subscription services are becoming widely popular in Los Angeles, where several leading automakers are already offering such services, our car accident lawyer Los Angeles explained that the app-based ride-hailing services may, in theory, minimize the risk of car accidents in the city.
If more people in Los Angeles begin using car subscription services and ditch their traditionally-owned cars, this could dramatically reduce car accidents in the city.
Our experienced car accident attorney outlines the following advantages of such ride-hailing services when it comes to reducing the risk of car accidents in Los Angeles:
- From a psychological standpoint, driving a brand new car makes the driver more cautious not to get into a car accident or even leave a tiny scratch (not to mention that destroying a car may get their subscription plan revoked, resulting in thousands of dollars going down the tube on top of costly fines)
- Many car subscription services, including Cadillac’s BOOK, set a monthly limit to driving their cars (in case of BOOK, it’s 2,000 miles a month), which means drivers would be more responsible when driving such cars, keeping in mind the limit
- Before getting under the wheel of a car that was booked through an app, there is a very low risk of getting into a car accident because of car malfunction (cars are properly maintained and inspected after a subscriber exchange it for another car and before handing it over to other drivers; and when there’s a monthly limit, cars may be inspected every 2,000 miles)
- Since most app-based car subscription services offer a range of premium, high-end cars, there will be less old cars – which are generally considered to be less safe than new cars – on the streets of Los Angeles
- Hit-and-run crashes will no longer be such a widespread issue in LA, as fleeing the scene of any car accident would make no sense given the strict and thorough inspections.
Not to mention the fact that any car accident involving a vehicle booked with a subscription service will be handled directly with the company owner, not the insurance company of the driver or the driver himself/herself.
One can argue, however, that car subscription services may actually make it more difficult to locate and arrest drivers that cause car accidents, as ditching a booked car and fleeing the scene may be even more tempting to avoid responsibility.
Car subscription services are beginning to surge in popularity in Los Angeles and all across our nation, but our experienced car accident attorneys here at the Law Offices of Howard Kornberg have already handled several car crashes involving cars booked with subscription services. Call our lawyers at 310-997-0904 today or fill out this contact form to get a free initial consultation.
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