
Please try another search
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Getaround Inc will pay $950,000 to Washington, D.C. and revise its business practices after allegations that it misrepresented the benefits and nature of its car sharing services and failed to pay city sales taxes, officials said on Friday.
The Softbank-backed San Francisco-based online company had operated without a license in the U.S capital, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine said in a statement.
Getaround will pay restitution to car owners who experienced theft or damage to vehicles listed on its site, Racine said.
Customers can use Getaround to rent vehicles by the hour or day from individual owners who make vehicles available through Getaround.
The settlement resolves "what amounts to Getaround paying a tax bill it never disputed," Getaround said in a statement. The company added that "as soon as Getaround was notified of security issues affecting certain cars in the District, the company took immediate corrective action."
Car sharing services in Washington are subject to a 10.25% sales tax.
"Gig economy companies must abide by the same rules as their brick-and-mortar counterparts," Racine said. "They must provide clear and accurate information to consumers, especially about the safety of their services, and they must pay their fair share of taxes like everyone else does."
Racine's office began investigating Getaround in 2020 after it received reports of increased thefts of cars listed on Getaround.
The settlement resolves allegations Getaround misled consumers "by using phony owner profiles for fleet cars actually owned by Getaround, Racine said.
In October, Getaround raised $140 million in additional venture capital funding. The company has raised nearly $600 million since it was founded in 2009 and in previous rounds was valued at more than $1.5 billion.
Getaround operates in over 100 U.S. cities and more than 850 cities worldwide.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Norse Atlantic Airways will open a route connecting Berlin to the U.S. city of Fort Lauderdale, operating three times a week from Dec. 7, Chief Executive Bjorn...
By Senad Karaahmetovic Shares of Target (NYSE:TGT) are down nearly 3% after the retailer reported Q2 results that missed the average analyst estimate. Target delivered an...
By Uday Sampath Kumar (Reuters) -Target Corp reported a bigger-than-expected 90% fall in quarterly earnings on Wednesday and missed estimates for comparable sales as it struggled...
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
I feel that this comment is:
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.