Malaysia’s leading car-sharing platform, SOCAR announced its plan to put youth in the driver’s seat by lowering the minimum age requirement and provide free lifetime memberships worth RM50 for 19 year-olds who have a full Competent Driving License (CDL). SOCAR, for those of you unfamiliar, is a car sharing startup that allows with their mobile application to book and unlock cars on the spot. Users will then be able rent the car by the hour, and drive around basically, and feel like you actually own a car.

Leon Foong, CEO of SOCAR Malaysia thinks that everyone should get to drive:

“Not everyone has the privilege of owning their own car, especially when they are still students but we believe that their freedom should not be limited just because of that. With car-sharing everyone with a Competent Driving License now has the privilege of ‘owning’ a car even if it’s just for a few hours providing independence, flexibility and convenience even to the younger generation,”

For all new members aged 20 or below, SOCAR allows reservations for selected cars including Perodua Axia, Proton Iriz, Kia Picanto, Perodua Myvi, Perodua Bezza, Honda City and Toyota Vios.

But think about this rationally, maybe there are downsides. While not everyone is like this, generally 19 year olds can make bad decisions. So to implement an age of 19 to be able to drive their cars, seems risky. However, users will need to have a CDL, so this might make it a better. Overall, it seems like good news, for people who have a license but not a car. The prices don’t seem too bad, and they’re awarding free lifetime membership worth RM50 to all new members who sign up from 26 March – 30 April 2019.