Flexcar is an American vehicle subscription company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Flexcar revolutionizes the concept of car ownership by offering flexible, monthly subscriptions to a wide array of vehicles, without requiring any down payments. This service is available in several major regions, including the greater areas of Boston, MA, Providence, RI, Stamford, CT, Atlanta, GA, Nashville, TN, and Charlotte, NC, with plans for further expansion.
Flexcar's model prioritizes convenience and cost-savings. Members can choose from an extensive fleet of cars via Flexcar's website or mobile app, with options for pickup or delivery. The service includes comprehensive coverage such as maintenance, insurance, and roadside assistance in a single monthly payment, allowing for upfront and monthly cost savings. Additionally, Flexcar offers flexibility, enabling customers to swap vehicles or cancel their subscriptions at any time without penalty. This customer-centric approach, combined with the promise of savings and flexibility, positions Flexcar as a compelling alternative to traditional car ownership and leasing models.
History
While the Flexcar of today is known for its vehicle subscription model, the company shares its name with an earlier pioneer in car-sharing, founded in March 1998. This section delves into the origins and evolution of the original Flexcar, a separate entity established by Tracy Carroll, Dave Brook, Conrad Wagner, and Neil Peterson. In January 2000, the Flexcar service was launched to 100 members served by 4 cars in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. Through a public–private partnership with King County Metro, Flexcar became the second company in the United States to become completely carbon-neutral in 2003, after Shaklee in 2001. By developing a partnership with American Forests, Flexcar ensured that enough trees were planted every year to offset the exhaust from its fleet of shared vehicles. Spurred on by the company's excellent customer service and neighborhood champions, Flexcar expanded to Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, Gainesville, Florida; Rochester, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tempe, Arizona, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Columbus, Ohio. In addition, Flexcar partnered with the non-profit, I-GO carsharing service in Chicago, Illinois, and provided service in Phoenix, Arizona in partnership with Arizona State University.
Flexcar members could choose a rate plan. The fees covered gasoline, insurance, maintenance, and cleaning. The vehicles provided by Flexcar were late-model sedans, with other types, such as light trucks, hybrids, convertibles, and minivans, also available. Each vehicle had a home location, a reserved space either in a parking lot or on a street, typically in a populated urban neighborhood or on a college or university campus. Members reserved a car by web or telephone and used a key card to access the vehicle. A reservation was required to specify the pickup and return times so others could schedule the vehicle.
The company targeted drivers who made occasional use of a vehicle as well as drivers who wanted occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use day-to-day. Flexcar claimed that the service was economically beneficial to anyone whose car would be away from their home about 15 hours a week and did not need a car for their daily commute to work.
In several of its cities, the company had formed a public–private partnership with local public transit entities. For example, in Seattle, they were partnered with King County Metro Transit, which operates the area'sbuses.
In April 2001, Flexcar became the first car-sharing company in the U.S. to expand to a second city by acquiring CarSharing Portland in Portland. At the time, Flexcar's customer base in Seattle included over 1300 members sharing 40 cars. Carsharing Portland, which began business in March 1998, had at the time of its acquisition over 500 members with 25 vehicles in and around downtown Portland.
The company also started[when?] an initiative to convince Downtown Seattle employers to join their program as business members rather than maintaining their own fleet vehicles. Other market segments included placing vehicles at transit stations to provide "last mile" connectivity between transit and suburban office locations and providing subsidized vehicle access as part of low-income "jobs access" programs.
A Flexcar-owned Honda Civic Hybrid in its reserved parking spot in 2006
In August 2005, Revolution LLC, the holding company owned by Steve Case, founder of America Online, purchased a 60% holding interest in Flexcar. The company announced that this investment would lead to a rapid expansion of their operations.[1]
In January 2007, Flexcar changed their billing structure of their hourly rentals. These changes replaced their flat fee for a variable pricing plan, which calculated cost on peak and non-peak hours with mileage limited to 150 miles per day. Members were notified on the organization's website and by letter that, "[v]ariable pricing provides two benefits. Members with flexible schedules can now save money by reserving the car during its 'off-peak' time, in this case, on the weekend. Because some members will shift their trips to 'off-peak' times, the car’s availability should also improve during its 'peak' times as well."
On October 30, 2007, Flexcar executives announced a merger with car-sharing rival Zipcar. The merger consolidated the operations of the two corporations. Executives from both companies, in the announcement of the merger, stated that the Flexcar headquarters in Seattle would be closed, possibly resulting in the loss of jobs as operations transferred to Zipcar's headquarters in Boston.[2]
Carsharing or car sharing or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often private individuals themselves, and the car sharing facilitator is generally distinct from the car owner. Car sharing is part of a larger trend of shared mobility.
Zipcar is an American car-sharing company and a subsidiary of Avis Budget Group. Zipcar provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour or day; members may have to pay a monthly or annual membership fee in addition to car reservations charges. Gas, maintenance, insurance options, and a dedicated parking spot are included. Zipcar was founded in 2000 by Antje Danielson and Robin Chase.
I-GO was a Chicago-based car sharing organization which is owned by Enterprise Holdings. It was established in 2002 by the Center for Neighborhood Technology as an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization working in the fields of urban livability and sustainability. I-GO was sold to Enterprise Holdings in May 2013 and re-branded as Enterprise CarShare.
Communauto is a Canadian carsharing company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, that in fifteen Canadian cities and Paris, France. As of March 2018 it had 40,000 users, and a fleet of approximately 2,000 free-floating and station-based vehicles.
Washington, D.C. has a number of different modes of transportation available for use. Commuters have a major influence on travel patterns, with only 28% of people employed in Washington, D.C. commuting from within the city, whereas 33.5% commute from the nearby Maryland suburbs, 22.7% from Northern Virginia, and the rest from Washington, D.C.'s outlying suburbs.
Streetcar was the largest carsharing/car club company in the United Kingdom, established in 2004, which merged with the American company Zipcar in 2010, following a period of investment by Smedvig Capital.
UhaulCarShare was a for-profit carsharing service offered by U-Haul in nearly 40 cities in the United States until the program was shut down in February 2020 just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with a UhaulCarShare membership had use of a car, billable by the hour or by the day. However, use was limited to three days at a time. Most often, Uhaul Car Share vehicles were operated in communities with colleges and/or universities nearby. "The goal of [Uhaul] Car Share [was] to give people an alternative to owning second and third cars, and to increase the use of public transit."
Shared transport or shared mobility is a transportation system where travelers share a vehicle either simultaneously as a group or over time as personal rental, and in the process share the cost of the journey, thus purportedly creating a hybrid between private vehicle use and mass or public transport. It is a transportation strategy that allows users to access transportation services on an as-needed basis. Shared mobility is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of transportation modes including carsharing, Bicycle-sharing systems, ridesharing companies, carpools, and microtransit.
Share Now GmbH is a German carsharing company, formed from the merger of Car2Go and DriveNow. Since 2022, it is a subsidiary of the Free2Move division of multinational automaker Stellantis providing carsharing services in urban areas in Europe, and formerly in North America. It has over four million registered members and a fleet of over 14,000 vehicles in 18 cities across Europe.
Turo is an American peer-to-peer carsharing company based in San Francisco, United States. The company allows private car owners to rent out their vehicles via an online and mobile interface in five countries.
GoCar is the first Carsharing service in Ireland. GoCar members can book cars online or via the app for as little as an hour, then unlock with their phone or GoCard; the keys are in the car, with fuel, insurance and city parking all included. Rates start from €10 per hour, with 50 km of driving included on each trip. GoCar now has over 10,000 members and operates a fleet of over 300 cars across 200+ locations in Ireland. Drivers can visit GoCar.ie to request a GoCar in their community. It launched in Cork in September 2008, with the support of Cork City Council as a pilot scheme. Cork City Council gave GoCar use of 3 car parking locations in Cork City as part of a wider pilot scheme.
Peer-to-peer carsharing is the process whereby existing car owners make their vehicles available for others to rent for short periods of time.
DriveNow was a one-way carsharing service wholly owned by the automotive manufacturer BMW. In 2019, DriveNow and car2go, a carsharing service from Daimler AG, merged to form the global mobility provider Share Now, with a combined fleet of 20,000 vehicles in 31 cities in 14 countries and over four million members worldwide. Share Now is one of the five mobility services which are part of the mobility joint venture of the BMW Group and the Daimler AG.
Mobility Carsharing is a Swiss cooperative of carsharing. It covers almost all organised carsharing in Switzerland. Mobility offers 2,930 vehicles at 1,500 sites and 200 scooters in Zurich for private customers as well as for companies.
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GIG Car Share is a carsharing service in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Seattle, created by "A3 Ventures". The company operates a fleet of Toyota Prius Hybrid vehicles and all-electric Chevrolet Bolts. It offers one-way point-to-point rentals.
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Vehicle subscription is a service where a customer pays a recurring fee for the right to use one or more automotive vehicles. Some vehicle subscriptions offer insurance and maintenance as part of the subscription fee; other subscriptions allow the subscriber to switch between different vehicles during their subscription period. Industry commentators consider vehicle subscription to be an alternative to owning or leasing a vehicle.
Scoot Networks, also known as just Scoot or Scoot Rides, is an American company which provides public electric scooter and electric bicycle sharing systems. The company is based in San Francisco, California.
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