BREAKING: Zipcar, Flexcar to merge
by Lascelles Linton on Oct 31st 2007 at 12:40AM 
There are reports that the car share companies Zipcar and Flexcar will merge. Financial terms were not disclosed but it looks like Zipcar is absorbing the smaller Flexcar. The name of the merged company, which will have more than 5,000 vehicles and 180,000 subscribers in 48 cities, will be Zipcar. The news is expected to be made official by the weekend. We will have more as the story develops.[Source: Washington Post, Seattle Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
A5-14 9:08AM (10/31/2007)
Good news. Now I have more cars available. Of course, will this merger create a monopoly?
Reply
GoodCheer 9:14AM (10/31/2007)
While I'm not a member of either of these services, (I don't live in a covered city) I would think this merger could do nothing but good. Getting to some kind of critical mass defines the difference between a convenient efficient system and one that is either inconvenient (too few cars) or inefficient (too many).
While A5-14's concerns about a monopoly could be justified, I suspect that the existence of conventional rental companies, and the possibility of private car ownership will always keep Zipcar from becoming exploitative of it's patrons.
Reply
Throwback 12:20PM (10/31/2007)
Goodcheer I agree, what will probably happen is the major rental companies will get involved with more hourly rental programs. Their advantage will be scale and variety of vehicles.
Reply
Throwback 12:27PM (10/31/2007)
goodcheer, I agree. I do think the major rental companies will start offering hourly rentals if this takes off. Their advantage will be scale and vehicle variety.
Reply