Breeze (company)

Breeze is an American based company that was founded in late 2013 as ZephyrCar. In 2014, the company rebranded as Breeze. The company provides a car hiring service for ridesharing drivers, such as Uber or Lyft. It allows drivers to lease a car for a weekly fee and then use that car to generate an income by driving for a ridesharing service.

In 2014, Mark Cuban invested an undisclosed amount in Breeze through seed funding.

History

Breeze was launched in early 2013 as ZephyrCar. At the time, ride-sharing companies were struggling to find enough drivers to accommodate the fast-growing market. Both Uber and Lyft stated they were struggling to find drivers and offered numerous incentives to try to increase demand to drive for their companies. Zephyr received coverage for their innovative approach to the problem, charging drivers $50–$75 a day to rent a car. The business model stacked their service on top of Uber and Lyft, allowing drivers to work for either company, while Zephyr received money from the daily rental fee of the car.^[1] The business model also received coverage in China during the company's startup phase.^[2]

In early 2014, the company expanded their plan to include drivers of Sidecar. During the same article in the San Francisco Chronicle it stated that drivers would be able to purchase their cars after one year of use through Zephyr.^[3] A short time after the article, the company rebranded from ZephyrCar to Breeze.^[4] The business model of Breeze received further coverage in Business Insider, when it stated that the company had no initial outlay for purchasing cars. Through an unnamed partnership in San Francisco, Breeze secured 25 Toyota Prii as an initial vehicle pool.^[5] During the rebranding, the company also altered their pricing for drivers, charging $20 a day plus 25 cents a mile.^[4] During the same interview, the CEO stated that he felt the strategy and model could be repeated in numerous cities throughout the United States. Based on these findings the company at the time hoped to expand to 20 cities by the end of 2014.^[4]

More tweaks and announcements about the structure and the business model were revealed during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. It was stated that two drivers could share a car and would book time to use the vehicle. The booking would usually be a full 24-hour period.^[6] Further coverage stated that Breeze uses algorithms to match drivers to vehicles as well as other drivers. Drivers could live close by or have complementary driving schedules, so that the car receives its maximum usage.^[7]

During the same year, it was announced that Breeze had partnered with Peers on a collaboration project titled Keep Driving. It targets the ride-sharing community, to provide month-long leases of cars. A BuzzFeed article stated that this would predominantly be aimed at people who had been in accidents and were having their cars repaired. Peers as part of the same deal was to front all the initial costs that an Uber or Lyft driver would normally have, if they rented from Breeze directly. The overall cost to the client for vehicle rental would be $28 a day at the time. The operations director commented that economy of scale could lower the price in the future.^[8]

In late 2014, it was announced in an interview with Mark Cuban that he had invested in Breeze. The Fox News presentation stated that the investor believed the company would experience rapid growth during 2015 and could grow its driver numbers up by 10 or 100 times their numbers at the end of 2014. The figure invested by Cuban was not disclosed. At the time, the company was predominantly active in California.^[9]

The current business model used by Breeze is to offer a flexible lease instead of daily rentals. Drivers pay by the week and are required to drive the car for at least four weeks, though they are able to return the car at any time after that with a two weeks' notice.^[10] Following a partnership with Peers, the company announced it would be offering short-term leases to people who couldn't use their own cars for a short period of time. Drivers who paid Peers $20 a month would be able to rent a Breeze car for up to a month, while their primary car was off the road.^[11]

Breeze announced in May 2015 that it would be expanding its service to Chicago. During the same interview, it also stated that a lease with Breeze allows for 30,000 annual miles, much more than a typical car lease.^[12]

Requirements and safety

In order to become a registered hirer of a car for Breeze, the driver needs to pass a background and financial check. The driver is then free to apply for any ridesharing company, such as Uber, Lyft or Sidecar. When compared to other taxi services which charge a "gate fee" of around $120 per day. Breeze charges a weekly rate of $195 and 15 cents per mile after a 600 mile per week allotment.^[7]

Due to regulations on hired vehicles, Breeze requires each driver to insure their paired vehicle with an insurance plan. Plan must cover drivers during the time they aren't using the car for car sharing. When officially driving for Lyft or Uber drivers insured under their plans. However, when the car is being used for normal use or between rides, Breeze states this time period must be insured using a fully covered insurance plan.^[13]

External links

• Official website

References