New Carsharing Options Headed Your Way

Two new carsharing services join Zipcar in providing you more good reasons not to own a car if the one you have is mostly parked.  Carsharing services provide vehicles parked near where you live or work.  You schedule and use the vehicles whenever you want by the hour, with gas and insurance included in the rates.  A special smart card, or app, allows you to unlock the vehicle anytime you have a reservation.  Here's what's available (or coming soon) in the Gulch.

Zipcar — With over 250 vehicles of various types — station wagons, sedans, hybrids, minivans and pickup trucks — in the Portland; there are 5 vehicles within easy walking distance of the Gulch - 24th and Broadway and at Holladay Park Plaza.  Cars must be returned to the parking location they were picked up from.  Hourly, daily and overnight rates.

GetAround — Announced service last month.  It works similar to Zipcar but instead of company-owned vehicles, the cars are owned by your neighbors who make their them available to the service, which splits the revenues whenever the vehicle is rented.  The owner can drive their car anytime it's not being rented just like before.  For renters Getaround cars may be a little older than Zipcars but the rates tend to lower than Zipcar.  Insurance is included in the rates.

If you own a vehicle and it mostly sits idle, you can make several hundred dollars per month renting it out.  Vehicle owners who list their vehicles and agree to participate in a study of how the vehicles are used and you can earn $300.


Car2Go — coming to Portland in the spring, car2go will provides a fleet of 250+ Smart cars (and only Smart cars) that available on demand (no reservation needed) and can be used for one-way trips. Another important differences from traditional carsharing services — the cars do not have fixed parking locations but you find the closest vehicles are located on the internet or via a smartphone app.  They can be returned to any legal parking location within a large zone (shown here) — including parking meters, without payment (car2go negotiates the payment with the city and builds it into the rates).  You can drive the cars outside of the zone, but you must end your trip within the zone.

Rates are expected to be similar to other car2go cities: 35¢ per minute/$13 per hour or $66 per day (not cheap but convenient!)  Presently, they have service in Austin, San Diego, Vancouver, BC, and Washington DC soon.  Sign up for the service now for free and get 30 minutes free driving when they launch.  Use the promo code: ROSE.