By yearend, vehicle subscription startup Mobiliti plans to double the number of markets it serves, adding four East and West Coast states to its footprint, Chief Executive Chance Richie told Auto Finance News.
So far, the company services cities in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
“The West Coast is a big area of growth we see, and we’re doing everything in our power to get out there as quickly as possible,” Richie said. On the East Coast, New York City is the biggest target on Mobiliti’s radar. “It’s just a matter of getting our insurance product approved through the state of New York, and then we’ll be up and running,” he added.
Already, Mobiliti works with Island Auto Group. The Staten Island-based dealership, along with Mobiliti’s other dealer partners, can access Ally Financial’s wholesale digital auction site SmartAuction when subscription vehicles are returned.
Also, Mobiliti customers can buy out their vehicles with financing from Ally. The Ally partnership eases new dealers into Mobiliti’s program, Richie said. It also helps when Mobiliti is supply limited because of high demand.
This focus on onboarding dealers to expand inventory is what differentiates Mobiliti from its competitors — services like Fair and HyreCar that focus more on consumers in the ridesharing space.
“We look at [subscription services] as a mass-market product,” Richie said. “We want to drive adoption, and we don’t want people to think about subscription as just a specific product. We want consumers to think of this as a true alternative to traditional buying.” When Mobiliti launched in Austin, Texas, in May, it had 10 dealer partners and no users.
Now, the company has 100 dealer partners and more than 1,000 registered users. Mobiliti plans to add more dealers later this month. Richie declined to disclose revenue values until yearend.
