Kyte brings the rental car to you—then the driver finds a way home

Kyte wants to bring rental cars to users. 

That means no parking lots with special access instructions, lines at rental car agencies, or even reserved spots on the street. A contract worker — dubbed a “Surfer” — drops the car off at your location, and then it’s up to them to get home or wherever they’re off to next. 

They can take the bus, walk, or pack a scooter in the trunk and ride away, although the company doesn’t provide them. 

The idea is to deliver unused cars cars sitting in the parking lots of established rental agencies (it wouldn’t say which ones) to compete against services such as Getaround and Turo, which let strangers rent their cars to other strangers. 

It has some serious competition. Lyft is starting to offer rentals in three cities for competitive daily rates. But unlike Enterprise and car-sharing apps, Lyft gives you a ride credit to and from the rental spot. It’s kind of the opposite of Kyte’s straight-to-your-door service.

So how can Kyte win out? Nikolaus Volk, who founded the company along with fellow Germans Francesco Wiedemann and Ludwig Schoenack, told Mashable he wants to make renting a car a “magical experience.”

Kyte is still in beta for iOS and is only available in the San Francisco city limits, but it plans to expand. Since its soft launch in May, it has only been downloaded around 200 times, according to an analysis from app metrics firm Apptopia. But Kyte says enough people are using it to prompt one unnamed rental company to make more cars available.

Wiedemann and Volk said almost 90 percent of users request a car a day in advance, with most getting a car on Saturday morning and returning it Sunday night — a classic weekend getaway. Kyte says you can request a car up to two hours before you want it.

I downloaded the app last month for a one-day rental. Using the app, I chose a Jetta-like sedan to arrive at my house for an 8 a.m. pick-up and 10 p.m. drop-off. That morning my Surfer arrived with the Hyundai Elantra. Through a chat feature, Surfers can tell users when they’re nearby. 

The cost breaks down to $34 a day (up to 24 hours) just for the car, plus $8 for insurance, $19 for delivery, and sales tax. So $66 total. On Turo, a day rental for the same car starts around $43 but with limited mileage (Kyte offers unlimited) and no delivery. On Enterprise, it’s $45 per day, but you’d have to go to an Enterprise location and deal with refueling. 

Like rental agencies, you don’t know exactly what you’ll be getting with Kyte. You choose between a sedan or SUV, with higher daily rates for a larger car. But this isn’t geared for people who are adamant about renting a Mazda CX-5 in red. Instead this is for those who just need a spacious five-seater for a weekend trip. 

I used about half a tank of gas during my Kyte trip, but I didn’t have time to fill it up before the end of the day. Instead Kyte filled the car up for me after they picked it up, and charged me a few days later at market rate: $26 bucks. So add that to the total. 

How much do Surfers get paid for bringing you a car? 

Kyte’s founders didn’t map out a precise pay structure, but said that car rentals are “big ticket” delivery items (costing customers more than $60 per day), as opposed to a burger and fries, which typically nets delivery people a few bucks plus tips. Still, it’s not clear how much of the $19 delivery fee Surfers keep.