Response from Charmaine

Thanks for bringing these issues to our attention Aaron. The car is blocked off for repairs and we’re sure you’ll be compensated by Uber for the trip and inconvenience. Context: Unfortunately the previous borrower to Aaron had caused damage to the keys (and apparently other areas of this car -according to Aaron’s above report), which they had not informed us about, which impacted Aaron's booking. We were away travelling at the time of both of these bookings and so could not check the car in person before Aaron's booking. Car share relies on borrowers informing owners of damage, as well as leaving the car in the condition they found it (or better). We checked the photos online, as we always do each week anyway, and no damage to the car was apparent. The previous borrower had not uploaded any photos of the damaged key nor mentioned it to us, nor had any borrowers prior to this suggested any issue - this car is hired regularly. Aaron's partner called us to troubleshoot the key, and asked if she could leave the car far from the homezone, in Lennox head, unlocked (because they couldn't lock it with the key fob, nor manually for some reason), as they needed to get to an event. We advised them that they could not leave the car unlocked in a different location (due to potential theft, damage etc that would become their insurance liability) and so they had 3 options: 1. They could either keep the car as long as they needed and seek compensation for the issues from uber, and take it back to the homezone to leave it there safely and locked in their own time, or 2. call roadside assist through uber (provided for free as part of the hire) to get the car back to the homezone, locked, cancel the car and pick up an alternative Uber carshare before their event. 3. get the car towed back to homezone if found to be dysfunctional by roadside assist. A really terrible circumstance for Aaron and his partner to navigate given that they had time pressures. We feel really disappointed in the prior borrower for not notifying us of the damage to the keys and the issue locking the car. We keep the car well maintained and always fix mechanical issues immediately because safety for everyone is a high priority for us. This was a difficult situation and never the experience we want someone to have with our car. We were grateful that Aaron brought this issue to our attention so we can fix it. Community car sharing is usually fantastic for everyone (cheap - this one $29 per day - personal cars shared) but occasionally people don't own up to damage they cause and treat the cars badly because they're not the $200 per day company hire cars that have end to end service with people on the ground to eyeball the damage whilst the borrowers are still there. The result being situations like this one - where owners are none the wiser until scenarios like this occur, which are terrible for all involved (their time, our time, their cost, our cost of repairs etc). We sincerely hope that Aaron and his partner found another great car to finish their trip with.