Apps Promise Luxury By Eliminating Talking to People

When I power on my phone upon landing at LAX, a text message is already waiting for me: "Hi Ian, Silvercar here! We have your res at 1:00pm today. Let's roll!" Silvercar rents a fleet of silver Audi A4s at airports in Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. A slogan speaks plainly on the company's behalf: "car rental that doesn't suck."

For Silvercar, "not sucking" means not being like traditional rental car companies. The rest of my on-arrival text message drives the point home. At the end of their detailed instructions, Silvercar urges me: "do NOT go to the purple 'rental cars' sign. That's for those who've already given up ;)" Read more...