Squadra Piloti: Web 2.0 Exotic Car Trading
Michael Arrington
32 comments »
Here’s one for the Millionaires24 (email for the rich) crowd: Squadra Piloti (Italian for “Team of Drivers”). It’s a new startup founded by second year Harvard Business School student Jeremy Burr. He’s created an online marketplace for exotic car enthusiasts that “allows you to convert miles driven on any of your existing high-end cars into a form of currency that can be used to acquire miles on any other car that you want to drive.”
Have a Ferrari F430 that just isn’t doing it for you? Maybe you want to drive someone’s Lamborghini Murcielago to try something new. Squadra Piloti is just for you. Just register and tell it what kind of car you have and what kind of cars you want to drive, along with any parameters (you must be in the car while the other person is driving it, etc.). Squadra Piloti will find that Lamborghini for you and set everything up. All you have to do is show up and drive it.
I’m going to register my 1996 Ford Explorer and try to trade some serious driving time with with an Aston Martin. But, even if no one wants to borrow my Explorer, I can still use Squadra Piloti: They also allow car owners to rent their cars out for a fee.
No word on how the service will make money.
And if all of this isn’t cool enough for you yet, check out the seemingly random photos of a driver named Scott Speed on the site.
oh…my…GOD.
somebody’s daddy gave him too much money to play with.
Jeff, I’m pretty sure he earned that himself. Since he’s an F1 driver, and all…
Just when you think you’ve seen it all!
More pictures of the Zonda, less pictures of Scott.
Interesting idea, but I wonder how willing owners will be to let total strangers borrow their supercar (even if it is a trade deal).
ROFLMAO this will go great with the Millionare24.com elite email service.
Would have worked better as a more general service I think. Catering exclusively to the high end guts their audience.
Cool Idea,
Will work better with women (or men) instead of cars!
this is an interesting idea. I just doubt it will have the reach that other web 2.0 companies like Chain Reading or Lala have. Swapping CDs and books is a lot easier. trusting a kid in a jumpsuit with your $50,000 car, isn’t a joke. Nonetheless, nice idea. digg here.
At least it’s not another bookmarking site…
Sounds like an excellent idea. It reminds me of NetJets from Berkshire Hathaway. I’m sure they’ll do great.
That’s harvard for you…
Good luck registering your Ford Explorer, they don’t have any Ford models listed.
I was going to list my Focus, but alas I cannot, thus squashing my dream of driving a Hyundai Accent.
elitist aholes.
I think there was a site that did a similar thing but allowed you to swamp wifes for a weekend which was doing well too …
… not sure how mileage was counted in this case though …
Regarding monitizing, checkout the terms:
el oh el
if this remains a niche site catering to only the uber rich, then even at $99 a trade, its not like every rich guy on earth will want to trade his cars every weekend.
advertising in dupont registry or any other high end car mag will eat up their $ too.
Eran: We call that Craigslist.
What about the terms of the car insurance?
In Europe you mostly cannot lend you car to strangers (you have to name them in you insurance form).
And if you are in the position to cope with a crashed ferrari easily I wonder if you need a website to exchange cars. You just visit the luxury car dealer and get one for a weekend
Err..if you’re in to cars…Scott Speed photos aren’t exactly random. He’s the only American we’ve had in the pinnacle of auto racing in over a decade (and that’s F-1 for you Nascar bozos…)
This is quite a not bad idea. Ish.
Scott Speed is incredibly impressive, and I applaude his past accomplishments and his present entrepreneurial spirit; however there is a social aspect of this idea that doesn’t sit well with me. I’m no expert on the subject of millionaires who buy expensive cars, but I imagine that a Ferrari-owning millionaire and I have some common ground. First, we don’t like strangers coming to our home. Second, we don’t like other people, especially perfect strangers, driving our car. Third, we agree that sitting in the passenger seat while a stranger drives our car is a painfully awkward situation to be in.
If you delve into the site a little you’ll find that it’s not necessary for the owner of the car to be along for the ride. There are parameters that are set up before contacts are even offered–one of which is whether to accompany the party with whom you’re exchanging vehicles, or to allow them to go solo. Unfortunately I don’t own a ‘high-end car’ that I could use in an exchange, but I know a guy who does–and he actually gets a big kick out of letting other people who know what they’re doing drive his Ferrari. They tend to become acquainted through various car clubs, and perhaps this idea is along those same lines. I actually think it’s a pretty cool concept, not only for the opportunity if affords you to drive great cars, but also as a means of meeting other enthusiasts in your area.
“A driver named Scott Speed” lol
Anyway, the fact that you can’t browse the database leads me to believe the takeup (unsurprisingly) isn’t great.
Scott isn’t doing nearly enough PR stuff if he’s serious about endorsing/funding this business - Damon Hill did something similar (think his was a straight-up hire company though), was all over every F1 magazine and broadsheet newspaper out there. I will watch the GP today and see if there’s even sponsorship on the car.