Vehicle hire and moving firms join car share market

Last week we reported on how Enterprise, one of the world’s largest car rental firms, was getting into the increasingly lucrative car sharing industry, in order to compete with giants, such as Zipcar. It now appears as though some prominent moving firms are also about to take the leap into the innovative world of car sharing, especially in key American urban centers where this form of transportation is catching on with everyone from undergraduate students to pensioners. U-Haul International has now announced that it too will try its luck in the car sharing business, by offering a service called “U Car Share.” This approach appears to be similar to that adopted by Enterprise, which only announced last week its decision to set up a car sharing subsidiary called WeCar.

U Car Share is now ready for business and has already started operating at a small handful university campuses and in well known college towns, such as Ann Arbor (Michigan) and Berkeley (California).

Avis also appears to be interested in the car share business, but is not yet willing to commit to launching a comprehensive program or a subsidiary. Nevertheless, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Avis is “watching from the sidelines,” even though it may take some time before an official announcement concerning a new car sharing scheme is actually made.

Car sharing is increasingly popular in the US, primarily because it is seen as a relatively cheap alternative to actually owning a car. Those who sign up for car sharing normally have to pay a small yearly fee ($35, in the case of Enterprise’s WeCar) and around $9 to $10 per hour. The hourly fee, however, includes insurance and even petrol. Environmentalists also tend to support car sharing schemes, noting that this helps reduce pollution and carbon emissions.

www.enterprise.com