Gear

Relay Race

Like Zipcar with Better Cars

UD - RelayRides Between last night's crushing defeat and this morning's crushing tie, we don't blame you if you're a little down in the dumps right now.

So you need something to pick you up. Two words: road trip. Two more words: neighbor's Porsche.

Introducing RelayRides, the first member-based, peer-to-peer car-sharing service, now accepting members in the Boston area.

Think of it as swinging, only with high-priced cars instead of open-minded spouses. So let's say you're in Cambridge and feel like heading out on the highway with a gleaming new Porsche. Once you become a member, you can go online and see if there's one available near you (there is, we checked) and how much it's going for (rates start at $6 per hour).

If you like the data you're seeing, you'll get yourself over to the car, use an electronic card to unlock it (RelayRides installs this setup, as well as paying for gas and insuring the lenders for possible damages) and start it up using the keys waiting for you inside. From there, the car is as good as yours for a day of full-throttled misadventure.

And just in case that Mercedes of yours isn't getting much use these days, you can also set yourself up as a lender and make a little walking-around money.

Or as we like to call it, driving-BMW money.

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