What if a stupendous business opportunity were hiding in plain sight? What if this opportunity would bring environmental and social dividends? And what if a simple legal change would unleash it?

Personal car sharing is just that: a chance to trim emissions and fuel costs, while generating profit for car owners and giving everyone a new way to save money. Only one legal barrier—a change to insurance regulations—stands in the way.

What Is It

Washington state has far more motor vehicles than licensed drivers, and the typical car sits idle 23 hours a day. Meanwhile, we’re driving less. High gas costs and generational shifts have more people looking for alternatives to car ownership.

Personal car sharing lets people rent out their unused vehicles via a car sharing company, allowing those who need wheels to use—and pay for—a car that is otherwise gathering dust.

Personal car sharing makes sense; it provides families who cannot afford a car with additional choices and lets infrequent drivers earn money. Fewer cars on the road means less pollution, fewer crashes, and more money circulating in the local economy.

Barriers

What’s standing in the way of this opportunity? Turning your driveway into a part-time car-rental lot runs the risk of invalidating your auto insurance, and even if your car-sharing company brings its own insurance (they all do), the blurry line between the owner’s liability and renter’s has been enough to hobble the budding industry.

Washington state can follow the lead of California and Oregon by creating a clear division of responsibility for insurance: when any car is hired through a car-sharing company, it’s on the carsharing insurance plan, not the owner’s. Clarifying liability could be enough to get the car-sharing market, already taking off elsewhere, on the move in Washington.