Nabobil by Getaround

Peer-to-Peer Carsharing in Norway

Established in 2015, Nabobil is Norway’s first and largest peer-to-peer carsharing platform. With the growth on popularity and adoption of the sharing economy the founders recognized an opportunity to join the sharing evolution – with private vehicles.

“With over 6,000 cars listed in our system, there are thousands of pick-up points across Norway. These pick-up points can be your neighbour’s or coworker’s house”

Nabobil puts already owned, private vehicles to better use and challenges the traditional model of owning a private car. Not surprisingly, this peer-to-peer service quickly gained traction and is now available all across Norway.

Owning a Car vs. Using a Car

In Norway, there are numerous efforts to reduce the use and ownership of cars in city centres, especially in Oslo. These include an increase in toll fees to drive into the city and limited street parking in the city centre. At the same time there are many benefits for electric vehicles, such as free parking and no toll fees. People are beginning to think differently about car ownership and mobility; having access to a car now does not necessarily mean needing to own a vehicle. Similarly, mobility is not restricted to one mode of transportation, with trips becoming more multi-modal.

“It’s simple – the owner leaves the vehicle key  inside of the car, locks the car with the app, and right away the car is available to any of Nabobil’s 120,000 renters.”

Even as shared mobility is growing, there are many people who still own a vehicle. However, these vehicles are not highly utilized. Nabobil was founded to address this situation while meeting a demand for more transportation options. By creating a peer-to-peer platform, Nabobil has given people a viable option of vehicle access without having to own a vehicle. Different from many other peer-to-peer operators, Nabobil does not focus on certain types of cars or one kind of trip. Instead, Nabobil aims to offer as many options as possible. This way, Nabobil wants to enable cities and people to live smarter and leave a smaller footprint on the environment.

A Scalable Solution

August Grønli, Head of Operations at Nabobil, explains that since the company launched, the team has been working toward making the user experience as easy and comfortable as possible. Early on they worked with Norway’s largest kiosk chain, where renters could hand over the vehicle keys for a small fee. This allowed renters to drop off the key without scheduling a fixed time with the owner. However, the team of Nabobil knew there was a better way to improve the key exchange process, which is where INVERS came in. With the INVERS CloudBoxx, the process became more streamlined and convenient for all parties involved.

“Because INVERS has extensive experience in the carsharing industry, we felt comfortable growing our service offering with their technology.”

With their peer-to-peer model, Nabobil makes mobility widely available and enables registered users to put existing cars to better use. Nabobil is the perfect example of how a well-timed and thought out service can make shared mobility available everywhere, not just in major cities.