Fleet App, the Wicklow-based peer-to-peer vehicle rental startup, has partnered with Toyota Ireland to launch a new car subscription service.

The service is accessed via an app called Toyota Daily Rental for Android and iOS. It gives Irish customers access to paperless car and van hire from Toyota dealers nationwide.

Fleet was founded in Wicklow in 2016 by Maurice Sheehy, who also co-founded Pure Fitness gyms and who is a nephew of former AIB CEO Eugene Sheehy.

Sheehy describes Fleet as an Airbnb for cars. Users can add their cars to the Fleet app, set their rental price and make them available to other users at a daily rate. Fleet takes a service fee from users.

Fleet partners with AXA Ireland to deliver the car-sharing service. Sheehy said that his business now has a network of hundreds of cars around the country.

In Association with

The new Toyota app launched this month and features 110 cars from Toyota’s network of 46 locations. “Just pick up your phone, choose a model, tap and go. Collect from your local dealer’s forecourt or have it delivered straight to your door,” Sheehy explained.

Bundled with the app is a special car subscription model, through which users can flexibly request cars from one day up to 12 months. Rental, insurance and maintenance fees are rolled into a single price.

The Toyota vehicles will also be available to hire through Fleet’s existing service.

Among the vehicles available are Toyota’s fleet of 2019 hybrid models, including the RAV4, C-HR, and the Camry. The app also includes Toyota’s Proace line of vans.

Toyota Daily Rental is the first of Fleet’s planned product suite expansion, as it pivots to provide enterprise mobility software solutions for businesses and car manufacturers.

Fleet is developing a bespoke white-label product that offers manufacturers and dealer networks branded car hire and car-sharing apps built on smartphone and web technologies.

Sheehy raised more than €530,000 from EIIS investors through the Spark Crowfunding website in 2018. In March 2019, Enterprise Ireland invested €150,000 in Fleet, to add to the €100,000 the agency invested in January 2018.

Family members have also invested €210,000 into the business, while founder Sheehy invested €250,000.

In the 12 months to July 2018, Fleet’s operating company, Dash Apps Limited, booked a loss of €192,000.