Car-sharing is emerging as an innovative solution for reducing the environmental impact of individual transport. As this trend gains in popularity, Cartage, a young innovative start-up, is entering the market with a revolutionary solution: an insurance platform specifically adapted to car-sharing between private individuals. With Cartage, it’s now possible to take out daily insurance to borrow a car from friends and family, with complete peace of mind, even for young drivers. Find out how this daring company, founded in 2022 by Oscar Bourgeois and Raphaël Toledano, is changing the face of car insurance.
Birth of a startup
For ecological reasons, Oscar Bourgeois’ family has always chosen not to own a car. When necessary, she arranges to borrow a neighbor’s vehicle, especially for family trips. The car isn’t always available, and it’s often difficult to find a replacement. Despite its many advantages, carsharing faces a major obstacle: insurance. A quick study of the market shows that there are no platforms dedicated to car-sharing, but rather solutions for renting vehicles between private individuals. This type of 2.0 rental is also increasingly being cannibalized by professionals who buy fleets of vehicles to make them available to private customers. The idea behind Cartage is to get back to the essence of sharing and remove all the obstacles to it, the main one being insurance. What happens if I break the car I’ve been lent? What about the vehicle owner’s liability in the event of an accident? Cartage seems to have found the solution with an insurance product designed for car-sharing, easy to understand and underwrite, with no restrictions on the borrower or the car.
Raphaël Toledano and Oscar Bourgeois met at the Ecole des Mines de Paris. Both students have cross-disciplinary skills: Raphaël’s are technical and IT-oriented, while Oscar has a talent for project management and business, with a strong interest in the ecological transition. As part of their Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship, they decided to create a business project enabling several people to own or buy a vehicle together. The young students soon came up against legal problems, particularly with regard to vehicle registration. They decided to refocus their approach on the practice of sharing, by removing the insurance barrier. Cartage’s mission is to simplify car sharing between friends and family, while guaranteeing coverage.
The young startup makes a commitment right from the outset, setting itself up as a mission-driven company with a purpose and commitments clearly defined in its articles of association. Its mission: to democratize shared mobility to decarbonize transport and promote an alternative to the private car. Raphaël and Oscar are convinced that sharing is more virtuous than leasing or buying a new vehicle. We need to help improve the fleet by reducing the number of vehicles, but also ensure that they are put to better use.
Cartage: a socially and ecologically responsible solution
With growing awareness of environmental challenges, sustainable urban mobility has become a major issue for cities worldwide. Car-sharing is emerging as an innovative solution for reducing the environmental impact of individual transport. From an ecological point of view, producing a car is polluting and resource-hungry, even though each one is used 5% of the time. The private car is by far the biggest source of carbon emissions for the French. In economic terms, a car owner spends an average of 4,500 euros a year on his or her car, excluding purchases (parking, petrol, insurance…). Mobility is also becoming increasingly expensive, with the purchase of an electric car representing up to 2 years’ income for 20% of the most modest households. This is why Cartage wants to democratize its vision of vehicle sharing as a new, more accessible, sustainable and socially responsible alternative. Carsharing also encourages a significant reduction in the number of vehicles on the road in cities. By sharing cars, users have less need to own a personal car, which reduces traffic and road congestion. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions from transport are reduced, helping to combat climate change. There is also debate about increasing the number of Low Emission Zones (ZFE) by 2025. 60% of the current car fleet will no longer be able to circulate, and “Cartager” (the practice of lending one’s car or borrowing those of friends and family) is emerging as an alternative solution.
Accessible to all, even young drivers
Insurance for young drivers is notoriously more expensive than that for more experienced drivers. There are several reasons for this difference in rates:
- Lack of experience: young drivers have not yet accumulated sufficient experience on the road, which increases their risk of being involved in an accident.
- Safety statistics: statistics show that drivers under the age of 25 are more likely to be involved in road accidents, making them a high-risk category in the eyes of insurers.
- Accident frequency: young drivers tend to have more accidents, which represents a higher financial risk for insurance companies.
- Driving behavior: some young drivers may adopt risky behavior, such as speeding or using a cell phone while driving, which increases the likelihood of accidents.
- Types of vehicle: young drivers often opt for more powerful and sporty cars, which are considered riskier and more expensive to insure.
Cartage’s service offer is accessible to all drivers without restriction, including young drivers who often have limited means and no access to vehicle rental. Cartage lets them borrow the cars of friends and family, with complete peace of mind. The platform has also been designed to be accessible to senior citizens, reinforcing intergenerational sharing. The French love mobility, and the question of transport is a constant one. Similarly, some destinations are difficult to reach by train or public transport. In Paris, only 34% of residents own a car, and rental costs in the capital are often very high. Here again, Cartage is positioned as an alternative solution for urban and semi-urban areas, as well as rural areas. The only ingredient you need is a trusting relationship with those closest to you, whether neighbors, friends or family!
Car-sharing insurance: how does it work?
It’s simple: borrowers go to www.cartage.club, enter their personal details and the license plate of the car they’re sharing. For a daily fee of 5 euros, it is instantly insured. In the event of an accident, Cartage protects the borrower by reimbursing the costs that remain payable by the owner, after the claim has been settled by the car insurer. This is a major innovation, as is the payment of an indemnity to cover any deterioration in the owner’s malus. In concrete terms, the platform settles the costs remaining to be borne by the owner after the claim has been settled by his car insurer, up to a maximum of €3,000. This insurance is therefore complementary to the main insurance policy, which covers the vehicle on a permanent and compulsory basis. Accessible to all drivers, regardless of age or vehicle, the daily insurance offer will also cover garage costs in the near future, by settling a large part of the repair bill.
Cartage, an ambitious “Made in France” start-up
Like carpooling, carsharing represents a promising alternative to individual car ownership, offering a more sustainable and economical mobility solution. Cartage clearly removes the insurance hurdle with its €5 a day universal insurance. After receiving support from the Fondation des Mines de Paris, from which the two co-founders have just graduated, the ambitious company was incubated at Station F and supported by Live For Good. From the outset, Raphaël Toledano and Oscar Bourgeois teamed up with Gwénaël Moy, a senior insurance and finance executive who had previously worked with BlaBlaCar. Gwénaël helped them design and contractualize the insurance product they had in mind, and today the young entrepreneurs are backed by the BPI. By revolutionizing car-sharing insurance between private individuals, this young “Made in France” startup marks the emergence of a new era in car insurance, where innovation and technology combine to meet the changing needs of vehicle owners and car-sharing enthusiasts.
