Mercedes Launches Rent-A-Smart Project in Germany: Daily Cost set at €273...

On 24 October 2008, Smart's parent company Daimler will inaugurate a pilot rent-a-car project called 'car2go' in the southern German city of Ulm that will see a fleet of Smart Fortwo vehicles being made available for rent within the boundaries of the city. So what's so different about Daimler's project that any other car rental service? Well, the difference is that following a one-off registration process, the Fortwos can be hired spontaneously in passing, or pre-booked and used for as long as desired with customer being able to simply park the rental smart anywhere within the city limits. -Continued

According to Merc', billing for the Ulm project has been set 19 cents (Euro) per minute which includes of all associated costs such as fuel, insurance and taxes. If you do the math -19 Euro cents x 60 minutes x 24 hours, renting a Fortwo for a whole day will cost you an amazing €273.6 or a whopping $364.7 with the current exchange rates.

Even if Mercedes claims that favorable hourly or daily rates apply to longer rental periods and that there is no joining fee nor any requirements to enter into any long-term contractual commitment, that's a hell of a lot of money to rent a bucket on wheels a Smart for 24 hours...

Cost aside, on registering for car2go, the customer's driving license is provided with an electronic chip that enables the car to be unlocked. According to the German maker and now car-rental company, customers can simply hold their driving licenses up to a reading device behind the windscreen, get in, enter their PIN number and well, cry for the amount of money they're paying and drive off.

Available vehicles can be located via the internet or a telephone service hotline while alternatively, they can be booked up to 24 hours in advance for as long as desired. In this case the location and directions to the vehicle reserved are sent to the customer in good time via a text message.

Once you've had your fix, you can simply leave the vehicle in a parking space within the city limits. All "non-managed" parking spaces within the city limits can be used, for example the car can be parked at the side of the road or within marked parking spaces. In addition, specially marked car2go parking spaces are provided at railway stations or airports.