As previously revealed in BusinessCar, BMW and rental company Sixt have teamed up to launch a flexible car-sharing service.
Known as DriveNow, the service already has 360,000 customers globally across seven locations, the car-sharing project will launch across three London boroughs – Islington, Hackney and Haringey from this week – with other boroughs set to be included in 2015.
After paying a one-time registration fee of £29, the service’s customers will be able to choose from a fleet of 210 (up to 300 in 2015) BMW 1 series and Minis. From spring 2015, 30 BMW i3s will be added.
Sixt said its customers can use an app to locate and open the nearest car. Using a customer card can also open cars. The rental firm said customers only pay for the minutes they drive – at 39p a minute with an hourly cap of £20 – and will be able to drop the car wherever they want in the capital.
Sixt said one major advantage of its DriveNow scheme over rivals is that its customers can park in any legal on-street parking space in the three opening boroughs for free, including residential spaces, after negotiating with the relevant councils.
“Car sharing has really begun to capture Londoners’ imaginations but it’s still a fairly niche service. Londoners have told us that current services don’t reflect how they live and move. Our goal is that DriveNow’s introduction of a location and booking free, drive-by-the-minute, park anywhere service will act as the tipping point in transforming car sharing into a mainstream mobility choice for Londoners,” said Joseph Seal-Driver, UK head of DriveNow
