Carsharing

This article is about the short-term rental of cars. For car owners driving passengers, see Carpool. For the 2015 British sitcom, see Peter Kay's Car Share.

Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) refers to several models of car rental or car use, where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. Unlike traditional car rental, collecting and returning the vehicle is often self-service through a mobile app and without entering an office or agency. It also often differs in the length of hire and the cost structure. In some models a commercial company owns the fleet and offers it for member use (business-to-consumer). In other models the owners are private individuals who organise as a cooperative or ad hoc grouping, or list their vehicles with a separate car sharing facilitator (peer-to-peer). Car sharing is part of a larger trend of shared mobility.

Car sharing began in Europe in the late 1940s, before spreading to North America, and is now an international phenomenon. The 2024 global market size for car sharing was valued at US$ 4.7 billion to 8.9 billion. Car sharing is growing: projections of the 2033 global market size range from US$14.3 to 24.4 billion. Europe was the global car sharing leader in 2024, with the highest adoption and market share at 38%. Emerging markets include Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, driven by demographic trends, economic development, and regulatory change.

Car sharing has been shown to lower car ownership and usage. Car sharing can reduce traffic congestion, lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.