Two teenagers have co-founded an airport rental car company that's apparently successful enough to pose a challenge to San Francisco airport officials, who have filed a lawsuit against the company, NPR reported.
FlightCar, co-founded by Kevin Petrovic, 19, and Rujul Zaparde, 18, just opened its third location at Los Angeles International Airport this week. The service allows travelers to leave their cars in the company's lot to be rented out while they're away.
"At any moment there's something like 360,000 cars in long-term parking lots in the top 30 U.S. airports," Zaparde told member station KPCC. "That's very inefficient."
The teenagers are staking a lot on their company's success. Both have put off college after being accepted at Ivy League schools: Petrovic at Princeton University and Zaparde at Harvard University.
Their fellow co-founder, Shri Ganeshram, was accepted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the three decided to wait on college as they attempt to revolutionize how people rent cars.
FlightCar allows people to park for free and pays them up to $20 a day if someone rents their car. Vehicles are cleaned and vacuumed before their owners return. The service also offers peace of mind with a $1 million insurance policy.
"Everything is insured up to a million dollars," Zaparde said. "We'll cover liabilities, any collision, theft, and damage. Even if there's a small scratch on the car it's fully covered."
The Los Angeles location follows those in San Francisco and Boston, which opened in February and May, respectively.
The co-founders said they got the idea for the company from Airbnb, which helps people rent out their homes.
"Largely because of Airbnb, it's really opened the door to the sharing economy and people are more willing to share," Petrovic said.
San Francisco officials aren't so thrilled about the innovation, saying the company breaks the rules for car-rental services at the airport, which require that the airport is paid a transaction fee and a percentage of the profits.
FlightCar's founders say the company is a peer-to-peer rental service that doesn't come under the typical car-rental service rules.
"I think anytime you do something really innovative in a market you are going to run up against opposition," Petrovic said.
See Now: OnePlus 6: How Different Will It Be From OnePlus 5?
