Blablacar , the application that has been revolutionizing the world of land transport for a few years, manages a good market share. A percentage so large that, without being a monopoly, it begins to invite it to act as such. Its operating rules are starting to be draconian and the commissions of three euros per passenger-trip are a good example of this. As a result of this payment, paradoxically, the focus of attention is placed on the passengers and not on the driver, which is absolutely essential for a format like Blablacar to work. Therefore, if you have tired of the way the French app works, we leave you some alternatives to travel saving costs and with much greater user care.
Amovens
Amovens is a Spanish company that was founded in 2009 and has already established itself as the great alternative to Blablacar . With more than half a million active users , it not only offers the possibility of car sharing but also allows car rental between individuals and a format called free car, a form of long-term rental also between people.
But its strength is its position in the market as an alternative to Blablacar . The interface is very similar to that of the French company . After accessing the area dedicated to car sharing, a search engine awaits us where we can include the departure and arrival points, the date and the time. User profiles are filled with similar categories, based on characteristics such as a taste for music or for chatting.
Obviously, having a lower number of users, the number of trips is considerably lower than that of Blablacar . For the same trip (in this case we have put a Madrid-Barcelona on June 24), Amovens only offers two direct trips between both cities. Another two for the next day and four for Sunday, June 26. Meanwhile, the trips offered by Blablacar are sufficiently over several dozen. Although they may seem very few, this is a very favorable point for drivers since they are not forced to enter a maelstrom of reverse auctions that end up lowering the price of the trip so much that it is not profitable for the car owner . This despite the fact that the French enforcement commission remains intact.
That is one of the most interesting points of Amovens . Since it does not charge any commission to passengers for reserving the place . The only commission charged by the Spanish company is to the driver in case you want the payment to be made through the network. Amovens allows payment in hand during the trip, without commission . In the event that you opt for the first option, the rate applied by Amovens is only one euro . Like Blablacar, it has a scoring system between users .
Amovens has two really cool extensions . The first is the service for companies, in which it encourages carpooling (term in English to refer to car sharing) among workers of the same company , creating specific platforms for each company. The second is the grouping of trips by event . If you plan to go to Spain to see the European Championship in France or some of the many festivals that take place on the peninsula this summer, you can search in categories already created by Amovens .
Shareling
Shareling is an option where users who usually make long trips on a regular basis stay . On its home page we already find very striking visual differences with respect to Blablacar and with respect to its main alternative, Amovens. On the other hand, its search engine, powered by Google Maps, is basically the same as that of its competition . One point of departure and another of arrival. on this occasion, lacking too large a volume of trips to publish, they are stacked directly by months.
If we enter the same search values as with the previous ones, we find that in Shareling there is no public route between Madrid and Barcelona . Although we do find several trips between several cities in eastern Spain such as Alicante, Murcia and Valencia with the capital.
Its notepad format is not visually pleasing. And the ocher contrast is not very successful. On each trip there is a public forum where users can exchange messages. It does not have a user scoring system (although they promise to include it in future updates) and it does not charge any commission for management.
At the moment, Shareling has a relatively low number of users and trips, so you have the possibility of uploading your trip as a passenger and not just as a driver.
Other alternatives that you can find in multiple digital listings such as Carpooling or Roadsharing were not operational at the time of writing this article, so we have not included them.
Rent your car
One of the latest trends in the world of collaborative travel is to rent your own car in one of the many rental platforms or car rental between individuals and then publish a trip either in Blablacar, in Sahreling or in Amovens and make the most of the trip . In this regard, more and more platforms or applications are emerging that connect people who rent their private car for a lower daily fee than any car rental company.
Drivy
Probably in recent days, in the face of the summer vacation campaign, you have seen this application advertise on television. Drivy is a platform where vehicle owners make their car available to app users in exchange for a daily fee . Prices include insurance and fluctuate powerfully based on mileage . We have compared cars of the same range between those available at Drivy in the same period of time with those of a large company and the results are interesting.
For example, at Drivy you can rent a Peugeot 307 from 2001 for 73 euros with a maximum mileage of 300 kilometers. If by chance you wanted it for a getaway and you put a limit of 1,000 kms, the price would amount to 122 euros. On the Sixt professional website, a new Opel Corsa with unlimited mileage (very relevant data depending on the use we want to give the car) costs 146 euros. The insurance included in these companies usually covers the minimum coverage.
Socialcar
An option frankly similar to the previous one with the possibility of finding a good number of caravans and motorhomes . With an interface and a much simpler search engine , Socialcar offers you the possibility of giving your car to the company and that they directly keep it for you, guard it for you and manage the rental of it from the beginning to the end, forgetting about any operation. Dedicating yourself to getting paid every Monday.
Its volume of users is relatively similar to that of Drivy and Amovens , and requires the signing of a rental contract between both parties after reviewing the condition of the vehicle. It also includes insurance and has the possibility, for example, of having the car delivered to you at the Madrid or Barcelona airports.