U Car Share comes to Salt Lake City
U Car Share is a U-Haul spin off. U Car Share, unlike U-Haul, requires a membership. But once you are a member, you can use any U Car Share vehicle and pay low hourly rates. On Aug. 18 Salt Lake City, Utah, will be the newest U Car Share location.
The company is working with the Utah Transit Authority, the City of Salt Lake, and the University of Utah to make sure that the vehicles will located in the best locations for access and return. For instance, vehicles will be stationed a several TRAX and FrontRunner stations. For students, especially freshman who usually can’t have a car on campus, this allows them to access a car for outings or shopping without having to worry about parking permits, insurance, and other issues with having a car on campus.
Membership is only $25.00, but until Oct. 30, students, faculty and local residents can get memberships for free by entering “promotion code SLC82009 when signing up.” Membership covers fuel, insurance and maintenance costs for any U Car Share vehicle you drive. After your payment and you are approved, you get access to any U Car Share vehicle you want. In Salt Lake City, the franchise will have 14 car choices available to start with and will add an additional 16. Fourteen cars or even thirty cars doesn’t seem adequate especially since one of the target markets is the University of Utah.
The cars that will available are: “one Ford F-150, one Ford Escape Hybrid, four Ford Focuses, four Toyota Yarises and two Toyota Priuses.” The hourly rates vary depending on your choice of paying by the hour ($4.95) plus a per mileage fee ($0.59 per mile) or if you want to pay an hourly fee without worrying about mileage. Hourly fees with 180 miles included range from $8.00 to $12.00 depending on the type of vehicle you choose. A Yaris won’t cost as much as a Ford F-150.
Your membership in Utah also entitles you to use any U Car Share service anywhere in the country. Since the company has locations across the country, that opens up a lot of possibilities. Also, if you belong to any other car sharing clubs, you can join U Car Share for free giving you even more locations where you can find a car to use without going through a rental agency.
Using a service like this saves you money, and cuts down on your carbon footprint. To see how much money and CO2 you can save, use the online savings calculator.
If you live in Utah, give a try.
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August 15th, 2009
Thanks for the coupon code!
August 18th, 2009
But where can we sign up? The U Share site still says “Coming Soon”.
January 15th, 2011
Hello there, just wandered by. I have a Salt Lake City 4g site. Lots of information out there. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but interesting page. Have a nice day.