LOS ANGELES -

HyreCar continues to make inroads into established segments of the automotive industry.

The start-up designed to create a carsharing marketplace for ridesharing and the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA) have entered into a strategic partnership, through its alliance with DriveItAway, a current NIADA National Member Benefits partner.

HyreCar’s aim is to meet what it calls an “overwhelming” dealer demand to enter the mobility as a service (MaaS) industry throughout the U.S. by serving the NIADA’s 17,000 dealership members. Association leadership said this partnership expansion continues NIADA’s commitment to helping member auto dealers better understand, and provide critical resources to implement a successful MaaS business.

“For the past six months, we’ve been speaking at trade events such as the NIADA Convention about the opportunities dealers have to profitably expand into new areas of shared mobility, particularly in providing temporary used vehicles to new Lyft drivers as a path to ownership,” DriveItAway founder and chief executive officer John Possumato said. “We were overwhelmed by the number of dealers who wanted in, to start up with us right away.

“Our new integration with HyreCar allows us immediate access to an experienced, dedicated team to scale our program right away, so we can now turn those dealers on to new profit opportunities without any delay in building out infrastructure,” Possumato continued.

 DriveItAway can provide NIADA members with the tools to offer a subscription model car sharing platform. The partnership with HyreCar adds seamless turnkey self-service software, all insurance coverages and training to allow dealers to quickly and profitably add a cents-per-mile model to the traditional one car sale/one profit scenario.

 NIADA members using DriveItAway's turnkey program can also offer the Lyft Your Down Payment program, which provides new Lyft drivers with immediate temporary vehicles to drive at a daily or weekly rate as a path to ownership, allowing them to raise money for a down payment to buy the vehicle of their choice — offered by the participating dealership.

“We are continuing to build partnerships with automotive industry leaders to drive our mission of building roads to financial freedom,” HyreCar CEO Joe Furnari said. “We are excited to become the mobility solution for independent dealers who want to tap into the growing car sharing industry through the DriveItAway NIADA National Member Benefit program.”

NIADA senior vice president of member services Scott Lilja said working with DriveItAway's dealer program, now greatly expanded through its relationship with HyreCar, gives NIADA members the opportunity to create an immediate new profit center, expand their portfolio of qualified buyers and sell more vehicles.

“This partnership expansion continues our commitment to helping our member auto dealers better understand, and to provide critical resources to implement, a successful mobility as a service business,” he said. “DriveItAway and HyreCar tools and resources provide our members with an invaluable and profitable experience in this expanding business sector, all within their current dealership infrastructure and without having to make substantial investments.”

For interested dealers, NIADA will be hosting an educational webinar on Thursday beginning at noon ET. To register, go to http://www.lyftdealers.com/webinar-registration.