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Thursday, July 28, 2011

PhillyCarShare in merger talks

Enterprise Rent-A-Car officials have been talking to nonprofit PhillyCarShare about a possible combination, people familiar with the talks told me.

Enterprise spokeswoman Laura T. Bryant and PhillyCarShare executive director Gerald Furgione declined to comment today on the status of discussions. 

Car share is a digitally-enabled, decentralized form of car rental that avoids using fixed offices, stationing cars in rented parking lots. It's marketed to city people who don't need to use a car every day, and employers who don't like the hassle of managing company car fleets.

Some of car share's leading players, including publicly-traded, for-profit Zipcar, whose local operation competes with PhillyCarShare, began as non-profits, but went to for-profit status when investors offered cash, hoping to cash in on the services' rapid growth, helped for-profit services buy more attractive cars and spend more on marketing.

Enterprise, like other for-profit car rental services, is trying to build its own car-sharing program, WeCar. The company is based in St. Louis.
Posted by Joseph N. DiStefano @ 5:10 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 8:15 PM, 07/28/2011
    Since Zipcar boosted its fleet in Center City, while maintaining comparable pricing, PhillyCarShare hasn't been able to compete - I switched. PCS needs a partner with capital so it can expand and improve maintenance. I hope PCS makes it; if they go away then I'm sure Zipcar prices will go up.
    — atd
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:44 PM, 08/08/2011
    Zipcar prices are apparently higher in other cities due to the lower rates of our local non-profit Carshare. But the fact that PCS is now owned by a large company means that their rates will likely go up as well. It will be interesting to see two for-profits compete in this market. The sad truth is that Carshare has had maintenance and customer service problems for several years. As an early joiner, it was sad to see the organization go down hill. I think it was mismanaged...
    — InNane


2 comments
About Joseph N. DiStefano
Joseph N. DiStefano writes this blog to feed his PhillyDeals column in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joe has been a member of Bloomberg LP’s New York Finance Team, wrote the book “Comcasted,” taught writing at St. Joseph’s University, and studied economics and history at Penn. Reach Joe at 215-854-5194 and JoeD@phillynews.com
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