Hertz Inaugurates Car-Sharing Program

Hertz Corp. today announced the launch of the first car-sharing program offered by an international car rental company.

Hertz's Connect by Hertz car-sharing system, much like the established models of such suppliers as Zipcar, allows clients to use vehicles on a pay-as-you-go system, booking cars either online or over the telephone for usage as necessary. Connect by Hertz initially will be available in New York, London and Paris, and Hertz chairman and CEO Mark Frissora said the company plans to rapidly expand into as many as 20 additional cities in North America and Europe in 2009.

The car-sharing market currently has about 280,000 members in the United States and about 600,000 worldwide, Frissora said. "We think it's going to be a rapidly growing market, and we expect to be the leader in that marketshare," he said.

Though car sharing's most obvious uses are for the leisure marketߞpeople who need occasional car usage but do not wish to foot the cost of car ownership, for exampleߞmarketing expert Joe Dobrow, who worked with car sharing supplier Flexcar, said it is beginning to have corporate travel implications as well. Some corporate accounts have tapped into the service to eliminate their own car fleets, he said.

With Hertz's entry into the business model, corporate usage of car sharing services could be poised for growth, he said. "Hertz has a foothold on the business market in a way that no other car sharing company does," Dobrow said.