The wave of alternative transportation is making its way to businesses. Car sharing service car2go offers businesses an efficient way to enhance mobility, while eliminating the headaches of maintaining a fleet of vehicles.
“The business accounts really do help companies save money,” car2go Columbus General Manager Chet Ridenour says. “They improve transparency and they can really simplify the accounting process.”
Car2go business accounts are free to set up with no minimums or contracts. The car service will work directly with an HR department on every step of the process, from adding members, to demonstrating how the service works, to billing.
Car2go offers discounted registration rates and free minutes so new business members can test it out.
“All members using [business] car2go will need to be approved as a member as well,” Ridenour notes. Once approved, the process for a driver is much the same for either use. Upon entering a vehicle and punching in their pin, the driver will be asked if they are using their personal or business profile.
“With car2go business accounts we do provide real-time reporting,” Ridenour adds. Reports provide dates, trip times and start and end locations so employers can ensure trips were for business purposes.
Car2go also makes it easy for account managers to add or remove members. For example, Ridenour says a business might have a teammember coming in from another city with car2go. The company can add that individual to their business account while he’s in town, and remove him once he leaves.
Monthly billing makes the accounting process easier and more efficient. Expenses go straight to the right department, eliminating stacks of receipts and calculating mileage reimbursements for each individual driver. Metered parking, insurance and gas are included with car2go’s rates, further decreasing expenses.
Businesses of different sizes are finding different ways to utilize the service. It could be law clerks running down to the courthouse, or an employer sending individuals to a meeting downtown where parking can often be an expensive hassle.
As the business accounts gain steam, The South Campus Gateway is already finding positive results.
“Having the option to pick up a car2go for our team to go to meetings has made us more efficient,” says Gateway Film Center Director of Development Timothy Wolf Starr. “We no longer need to worry about parking meters running up. We do not need to each drive our own cars every day because there is always a car2go available when we need it.”
MORPC is coming on board and a partnership with Capital Crossroads SID is in the works. With the recent move to make COTA more accessible to downtown employers, car2go is positioning itself as an option for those that take the bus down to work but might need to run to an appointment, meeting or lunch. Businesses would use and pay for a vehicle only when they need it.
Click here for more information on car2go Columbus business accounts.
