car2go slashes prices in 1-month promotion

The car-sharing service car2go recently expanded its territory and included free tolls and parking to better compete with popular ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft in the Miami area. Now, car2go is testing substantially lower per-minute prices for its two-person vehicles.

Car2go announced Monday that the company has begun a promotion through Dec. 6 that gives car2go members discounted by-the-minute trip rates in the Miami area. Just in time for holiday season errands, the short-term car rental company slashed its per-minute price from 41 cents a minute to 19 cents per minute; the rate will continue to include tolls, fuel, maintenance, parking and insurance.

To attract new members to its service, car2go on Monday also dropped the one-time registration fee from $35 to $5 through Dec. 6 with the promotional code HOPIN; the first 60 minutes of drive time is free. There are no annual or monthly fees for car2go membership.

“Our expansion in Miami Beach has been a huge win for us over the past month,” said Paul Delong, CEO of car2go North America. “We think with a promotion like this, maybe it will inspire more people to rethink the way they move around Miami.”

Car2go launched its service in Miami in 2012 and has a fleet of 300 cars and more than 29,000 Miami members, Delong said. With parking spaces going at a premium in condos and garages, car-sharing and ride-sharing have been gaining popularity as more urban dwellers are going car-free. Car2go allows members to find a vehicle on the street or with the car2go app, drive wherever they need to go, and end the trip at any legal parking space within the Miami Home Area, which covers much of eastern Miami, from Brickell to Little River, Coconut Grove and, most recently, Miami Beach.

Delong said the recent service upgrades are competitive moves. car2go will gauge demand at the lower pricing during the promotion, and could adjust pricing in the future, as it competes with Uber and Lyft. “Maybe some in the past thought we were too high cost — this gives people another chance to test our service,” he said. In September, the company eliminated toll costs for members and expanded into Miami Beach.

Trips across the causeway are popular, as well as short trips up and down Miami’s urban corridor and on Miami Beach, Delong said. Ninety percent of Miami’s members use car2go for 30 minutes or less and most of those are 15- to 17-minute one-way runs, Delong said. “What we know is that people are using our service for one-way, which was the whole goal of our service.”

Car2go, a subsidiary of Daimler North America Corp., is also offering the one-month promotion in four of its other 15 U.S. markets: Austin, Minneapolis, Denver and Columbus, Ohio.

For more information about the Miami promotion: www.car2go.com/en/Miami/.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 11:02 AM with the headline "car2go slashes prices in 1-month promotion."