Rent car to go - By: Winson Luthin

As fuel and insurance costs get more expensive, a growing number of Germans are looking towards car sharing to get around, leading to easier and more varied ways to rent a car. In many German cities, it is possible to rent a car by mobile phone or over the Internet and then start the engine with a chip card.

Germany’s big cities are seeing the most growth in Car-to-Go renting. For some, it is a way to be more environmentally friendly while singles, young families and couples appreciate the savings they make and car sharing’s flexibility. Germany’s car makers are also responding to demand and early last year, Daimler stationed 200 Smart cars in the southern city of Ulm for rent on a Car-to-Go basis.

It costs 19 euro cents a minute to rent one of the small cars by reservation or spontaneously whenever customers feel like it. The fee includes taxes, insurance, fuel and in some cases, even parking charges. A maximum of €9.90 is charged per hour while one day’s rental is €49 at the most.

All customers have to do is register for the service. They then receive a microchip to attach to their driving license that allows them to rent a car simply by swiping it in front of a card reader on the car’s windscreen. The system works in a similar way to bicycle renting in many European cities that use mobile phones to make a reservation.

“It appeals to many people because it means you can quickly get from your apartment door to the city centre without having to worry about getting the car back again,” says the project’s spokesman, Andreas Leo. Daimler is using Ulm as a testing ground and over 15,000 people have registered to use the cars. Each vehicle is rented on average six times a day by different drivers while a team of service personnel make sure the cars are re-fuelled and kept clean. They locate the cars using GPS.

Car sharing was an early idea of the environmental movement and is now enjoying a comeback. In Germany, there are about 2,200 car-sharing stations and about 150,000 people are active car sharers, according to the Car Sharing Association.

“We’re growing by two figures every year,” says association spokesman Dirk Bake. “Young people who live in the bigger cities that are choking with traffic are considering getting rid of their cars or using car sharing as a second vehicle.” According to the association, private cars are only used between 40 and 60 minutes a day on average. “The rest of the time, the car is standing around costing money”, says Bake.

There are about 10 different car-sharing companies in Germany right now such as Deutsche Bahn, Cambio, Stadtmobil and Greenwheel. Rail operator Deutsche Bahn has been offering car sharing since 2001 and has 100,000 customers over 1,600 locations in 550 cities.

Since last year, it has been testing a new car-sharing concept called Flinkster in Stuttgart and Cologne whereby cars can be rented right across the cities. The project is aimed at the young. Meanwhile, another car rental company, Sixt in Berlin, offers customers the chance to join a club that allows them to rent cars using a chip card by the hour or day.

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