What is Car Sharing? Benefits and options

As we have mentioned in other articles about what is slow travel or how to travel in a sustainable way, the way in which especially young people travel is changing and evolving over the years. Among these changes, a new trend called Car Sharing has emerged and in case you still do not know this new way of moving around big cities, we want to tell you in this article what Car Sharing is, how it works and what are the benefits of traveling in this way.

What is Car Sharing?

As we mentioned, Car Sharing has become a new way of traveling and it is a new concept that is closely related to the collaborative economy and it consists of the temporary use of a vehicle that can be shared with other people. In this way, many companies offer their users the possibility of renting cars or other vehicles for limited periods of time, which can be hours, minutes, or even a day. This flexibility is one the main differences with traditional car rental.

How does it work?

Car Sharing can be used through numerous digital platforms and as a consequence of this, depending on which platform is chosen, the operation may be different since there are different modalities of Car Sharing.

As we have mentioned, companies can make it easier for users to rent the vehicle or on the contrary, the user can rent their own private vehicle. In this way, the operation of Car Sharing would be divided into two types:

If the vehicle belongs to the company: The users will be able to select which car or vehicle interests them the most based on their needs and they will have the possibility to use it to move around the city, or the place they want. The consumer who makes use of Car Sharing companies must pay for the use made of the vehicle and for this, it can be measured by short periods of time or also, by the kilometers that are made with the vehicle. Some companies offers membership cards or membership fees. It is always a requirement to have a valid driver license and they accept credit cards.

If the vehicle belongs to a private individual: As mentioned, the users may also rent their own vehicle at times when they are not using the app or the digital platform. In this way, another user will be able to dispose of the vehicle and make the payment through the same platform. As if the vehicle belongs to a company, a commission will be charged for each use made of the vehicle.

Advantages of Car Sharing

Next, we consider it necessary to highlight 3 of the most important advantages of Car Sharing:

Environmental sustainability

The first advantage, and one of the most important, is the environmental sustainability that this type of service offers. That adds to the reality that the vast majority of companies are making electric vehicles available to users, thus promoting the use of sustainable vehicles in large cities.

Practicality

Through Car Sharing you can use a vehicle and leave it parked within the area delimited by the company but not in a specific parking spot. This makes Car Sharing a service that provides great practicality to the users as it saves time.

Affordable cost

Finally, we want to highlight the economic savings that the use of Car Sharing supposes. Not only because of its affordable cost, remember that the parking service is not counted since it is included in the price, and also, takes into account maintenance, repairs, or taxes.

Why could Car Sharing end up being the future?

Sustainable driving will be the future in many large cities as there is an increasing commitment by society to the planet and the care of it. Car Sharing, in addition to betting on optimal driving, also does so on sustainable driving since it replaces the concept that each person has their own vehicle, thus tripling the number of vehicles on the road.

In this way, having services such as Car Sharing where the user can rent a vehicle at any time in a flexible way, not only companies will be adapting to the needs of users but unnecessary spending and CO2 emissions will be reduced.

Car Sharing vs. Carpooling

Finally, we consider that it is important to highlight that just as the trend of Car Sharing has emerged, others such as Carpooling have also emerged, and these two concepts can generate confusion. Carpooling is a service in which the owner of a private vehicle makes his vehicle available to share it with other people and make a specific journey together. In this way, what Carpooling aims to do is connect people who have the same need to travel in order to share the vehicle and also the expenses of the journey.