By Joanne Tucker

AllCar Rent-A-Car has announced that it’s starting an hourly car sharing company, Carpingo, in Brooklyn and Queens, and has been officially taking memberships since Aug. 14. The vehicles will be available to rent in the coming days, according to Gil Cygler, founder of Carpingo and president of AllCar Rent-A-Car.

Users can join the service online at www.carpingo.com for a membership fee, which is tiered for different hourly rates that are as low as $6.50 an hour. The membership fee is currently waived for a limited time. There is also a car sharing section for business users.

According to Cygler, the service will start with 38 vehicles, including models such as the Chevrolet Malibu, Fiat 500 and Toyota Rav4, at 12 locations made possible through partnership contracts with several private garages.

The fleet will operate separately from AllCar’s, though Cygler will use the existing rental fleet in the event of breakdowns and late returns. “Doing this without a car rental backup would not be as easy,” he said, adding that he has cross-trained several AllCar staff members for both services.

“The market is going toward car sharing, or at least the concept, and then this will become the future of car rental,” Cygler said, adding that he feels a lot of people today don’t want to own a car. As well, he cited how similar on-demand concepts have evolved in other industries, such as movie rental. “It’s for convenience,” he said.

Stay tuned for an expanded feature on Carpingo in an upcoming magazine issue of Auto Rental News, in which Gil Cygler will discuss challenges facing Carpingo such as parking, maintenance and marketing.
You can see a video commercial of the program below.