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Hertz Reboots Its Car Sharing with 'Hertz on Demand'

July 20, 2011 at 9:11 AM | by | Comments (0)

Connect by Hertz has been kicking around for a few years now, as it’s the rental car giant’s answer to the ubiquitous Zipcar. Entering the car sharing business a little behind the curve must have been a little difficult—even for a company like Hertz—so it’s time to reboot things in order to move forward. On the way out is Connect by Hertz, as from now on if you’re thinking car sharing and Hertz you should be thinking about Hertz on Demand.

They mean business now, as the born again service is looking to reduce costs, improve member benefits, and fire up all kinds of technology both in and out of the car. Of course they’re also boosting their amount of vehicles—including plenty of hybrids, electric vehicles, and cuties like the Fiat 500—along with locations, as you really can’t do too well if you don’t have plenty of cars and plenty of spots to grab them.

Membership fees are now eliminated, so everyone is free to join the party without too much of a financial commitment. Also, they have expanded their one-way options, so taking your own car to the airport from spots beyond Manhattan is now an option. In total, they’re promising around 175 one-way options, but as of now most of these are limited to spots in the Northeast. Speaking of the Big Apple, the new Hertz on Demand service now also guarantees New Yorkers car availability Monday through Thursday—hey, it’s a start. Hertz is also promising live customer service no matter what the time or day from the comfort of the driver’s seat.

The only downer to all the good news is that locations are still pretty limited, but if you’re a college coed then you’re in luck. Outside of major cities, there are plenty of locations at colleges and universities across the land from Nevada to New Jersey. Overseas things have expanded to the UK, France, Spain, Germany, and Canada.

They’ve got a long way to catch up to Zipcar, but it looks like they’re on the right track—especially if they can provide a similar service at a discount. And especially, especially if they can come through with availability of their Cadillac Escalade Hybrid—ha.

[Photo of a different Hertz: Ricardo Ricote Rodríguez]

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