KitSplit is a peer-to-peer rental service for camera equipment

Also, I think there are a lot of good people in the world ;). I understand that a new service takes getting used to--I think when a lot of other sharing economy companies launched, like AirBNB and Couchsurfing, many had a similar gut reaction: that they wouldn't trust a stranger in their home, or want to stay in a stranger's home. But I think companies like this have proven that great things can come from trust combined with companies with strong policies around vetting and fraud protection.

I also wanted to mention that a lot of people (including my former self) are already renting gear to or from peers without insurance or contracts. So in many cases we're building on an already-existing habit but making it safer for everyone involved.

Please don't use "sharing economy" to describe this. Renting is not sharing.

Lots of people describe the sharing economy as "an economic model in which individuals are able to borrow or rent assets owned by someone else" (this is the top result for sharing economy definition on google: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sharing-economy.asp). But curious to hear what your definition is-- people use the term in different ways.

I'm one of the cofounders of KitSplit -thanks for the question Mark! And Lars, great answer! Here are some of the things that we think set us apart from other camera marketplaces out tere:

-As Lars mentioned, we have a wider variety of vendors (including individuals, production companies, and rental companies) so you can search all of the options in once place and go to us for all kinds of shoots- big and small
-We have insurance and delivery which you can purchase instantly through the site to make the experience as seamless as possible
-We have a wider range of gear more generally
-We're more focused on community building and have events, and a great blog and social media presence featuring members' work
-We have equipment experts on call to help assist you with your rental and equipment questions
-If you're an owner, we will also provide services like listing your gear for you to make things as easy as possible

Let me know if you have any other questions!

It's hardly ever the immediately noticeable damage upon return of borrowed goods that I find the most disturbing.
That's easy. You broke it and now it's off to be repaired. Great.
It's when an item looks fine and behaves fine upon initial inspection but fails some time down the road because it was dropped/submerged or otherwise mistreated and or abused.

Sounds like a cool service kbudelis, and if you ever open a branch in the midwest I'm in. But what do you mean "ASAP"? Do you mean 2 hours? Overnight? 24 hours? I don't shoot a lot of time critical stuff, but it would still be nice to have a specific parameter.