Vehicles for car-sharing services are seen in this photo provided by Green Car.
SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Safety management in car-sharing services, which offer non-face-to-face vehicle rentals, is substandard, leading to ongoing consumer losses such as excessive repair costs, a survey showed Tuesday.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency with 66 vehicles from the nation’s major car-sharing platforms, including Green Car, Socar and TrueCar, 24 units, or 36.4 percent of the total, were found to be in poor condition.
In detail, nine vehicles lacked tire repair kits or did not have used kits replaced.
Seven vehicles had imbalanced or excessively high tire pressure, while six vehicles had unlit or damaged license plates. In two vehicles, the engine warning light was illuminated.
In particular, among the 54 vehicles for which tire pressure could be measured, seven displayed an imbalance, with a discrepancy of more than 5psi in pneumatic pressure between the left and right tires.
When it comes to engine warning lights, they can be illuminated for various reasons, including issues with the fuel system, cooling system, automatic transmission and brake system.
In 2021, the average annual driving distance for all commercial vehicles stood at 22,959 kilometers. Out of the 66 car-sharing vehicles surveyed, 43 had a longer average annual driving distance.
Additionally, 20 vehicles, or 30.3 percent of the total, had an average annual driving distance exceeding 30,000 kilometers.
Furthermore, all three surveyed platforms did not require an additional certification process for the use of car-sharing services once users registered their driver’s license and credit card information as part of the membership signup process.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
