Car Sharing Companies to Merge

  • Zipcar, a membership-based short-term car rental service, is absorbing Flexcar. Both companies market themselves as an environmentally responsible service. (Photo courtesy of Zipcar)

The nation’s two leading car sharing companies are merging. These
companies offer cars for rent by the hour – rather than by the day.
Mark Brush reports the companies hope this merger will make the idea of
car sharing more mainstream:

Transcript

The nation’s two leading car sharing companies are merging. These
companies offer cars for rent by the hour – rather than by the day.
Mark Brush reports the companies hope this merger will make the idea of
car sharing more mainstream:


Boston-based Zipcar is merging with Seattle-based Flexcar. The
companies will re-organize using the Zipcar name. The expanded company
will now operate in 50 cities across the country.


Scott Griffith is the chairman and CEO of the newly organized Zipcar.
He says the companies biggest competitor is NOT another car sharing
company:


“Frankly I think our biggest competition is car ownership. About 40% of our members are typically selling a
car, or choosing not to buy a car because of Zipcar. And when that
happens the number of personally owned vehicles has been trending down
in the cities that we’ve been operating in.”



Zipcar reports their members save about $5,000 a year by using their service
rather than owning a car. Zipcar might be facing competition from some rental car companies and U-Haul in the future. Those
companies are thinking of entering the car sharing market.


For the Environment Report, I’m Mark Brush.

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