Caribbean’s First Peer-to-Peer Car Rental Service Led by Black Women Launches

The Caribbean’s first peer-to-peer car rental platform, Rent Yuh Ride (RYR), launched recently in Kingston, Jamaica—and it was created by a team of black women.

Peer-to-peer car sharing is a form of collaborative consumption in which a person who has a car they are not using can earn extra money by renting it out to someone who needs one, according to Drivemycar.com. The emerging peer-to-peer car rental sector is projected to grow at 10% annually. With the Caribbean being a popular vacation destination, getting into this market can be very lucrative for all involved.

Eventually, RYR will expand across the Caribbean–-frequented by over 22 million travelers annually.

Further boosting its new platform, RYR will partner with the Insurance Company of The West Indies (ICWI), which provides motor insurance across the Caribbean, to provide private rental insurance to car owners at a discounted rate. In addition, RYR will use Jumio for online identity verification in order to authenticate users on the platform.

The Rent Yuh Ride platform will be accessible online from any location, at any time. It’s a marketplace where car owners can sign up, upload their vehicle info and documentation to be approved and listed on the company site for free. Simultaneously, travelers can sign up, search through available vehicles in their desired destination, choose a pickup location, and then book. Once the vehicle has been picked up, the owner gets paid electronically. When it is returned, the transaction is completed and both parties can leave each other a review.

“Travelers deserve a better way to rent cars, they need options and what’s available just doesn’t cut it,” explained RYR founder and CEO Cherie Williams.