I don't dislike this idea as much as many do in principle.
But it would indeed allow companies to abuse me. Would only be good when there is enough competition to keep prices down.
Problem is then you'll have to pay a premium for people who are careless with their appliances, or just use them 10x as much as you etc.
And of course this allows the lender to make profit margin as well. So as a consumer, I end up paying more.
But still, for many appliances and devices which I am not an expert in repairing, I'd be OK with this deal.
Many tenants here do this already with the lender being their landlord.
I knowingly pay a premium to use a simple bike with this model:
(they're pretty successful here in Europe / NL and germany at least)
I know that the price for this exceeds a good used bike after a year or two at most.
But it often took me months to getting around to fixing my bike, I'm not very good at it, and professional bike repair is also expensive and takes me time.
Renting the bike is still more expensive, but it allows me to have a working bike without hassle; and if something breaks it takes a maximum of a workday or two to have it fixed or get a replacement.
Problem is then you'll have to pay a premium for people who are careless with their appliances, or just use them 10x as much as you etc.
And of course this allows the lender to make profit margin as well. So as a consumer, I end up paying more.
But still, for many appliances and devices which I am not an expert in repairing, I'd be OK with this deal.
Many tenants here do this already with the lender being their landlord.
I knowingly pay a premium to use a simple bike with this model:
https://swapfiets.com/
(they're pretty successful here in Europe / NL and germany at least)
I know that the price for this exceeds a good used bike after a year or two at most.
But it often took me months to getting around to fixing my bike, I'm not very good at it, and professional bike repair is also expensive and takes me time.
Renting the bike is still more expensive, but it allows me to have a working bike without hassle; and if something breaks it takes a maximum of a workday or two to have it fixed or get a replacement.