Liability of the Parties under the Per-Minute Vehicle Rental Agreement

Carsharing legal relations, within the framework of which vehicles are transferred for a short period of time, measured in minutes, being a new type of legal relations in the transport services market, pose serious challenges both to the doctrine and to the law enforcement officer, including the definition of approaches to the distribution of responsibility. At the same time, the increase in demand for car rental and a rapid growth of such contracts number in our country make the earliest possible resolution of all such problems particularly relevant.
In this article, the author analyzes both various scientific approaches to the distribution of responsibility in standard contracts mediating carsharing, and judicial practice in resolving disputes arising from a per-minute vehicle rental agreement. The author used such methods as dialectical materialism, compa­rison, system analysis method, and inter-industry method. 
Having outlined the importance of developing uniform requirements for the distribution of liability between the parties to the per-minute vehicle rental agreement, the author comes to the conclusion that it is necessary to base this issue on maintaining a balance of interests of the parties, but at the same time take into account that the unification of fines will not contribute to the development of carsharing relations and competitiveness in the market. The conclusion is made about the advisability of applying the legal positions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation on issues of protecting the weaker party in the agreement and the balance of public and private interests when resolving disputes related to bringing the parties to civil liability for the per-minute vehicle rental agreement.