Car ownership as a status symbol? Fuhgeddaboudit! That’s what Daimler is saying, anyway, as it presents its ten reasons for free-floating carsharing.
According to Daimler, when it comes to the car as a status symbol, “That’s long been a thing of the past. Carsharing is the new order of the day, at least in urban areas.” There was no mention of whether the heads of the company’s Mercedes-Benz brand personally share that sentiment, but you can be sure the people at Car2go, Daimler’s car-sharing division, are all in.
Daimler’s ten top reasons for car-sharing can be grouped into three categories: advantages over car ownership; personal freedom and independence; and modern mobility, especially in urban areas.
If you don’t own a car, but use carsharing, that means you’ll have no fixed monthly costs or long-term maintenance costs. You can just pay as you go, perhaps with a per minute, hour, or daily charge. Also, you’re only responsible for a car when you’re driving it — once you park it and walk away, that’s it, you can forget about it. And even if you must have a car for your family, carsharing can save you from owning a second car and can give you the advantages of access to more and more types of vehicles without ongoing costs and responsibility.
When you only use a car when you need one, you can choose the right vehicle for the purpose of the trip, you’re not stuck with only one type. Instead of taking public transportation, you can go on your own schedule. You also get privacy when you’re driving a carsharing service car, which you don’t get on buses or in taxis or ridesharing service vehicles.
Then there are the advantages of modern mobility concepts. With car-sharing it’s easy to change from one mode of transport to another. You might take a train to the city, carshare to go to a club or a party, and then take a taxi back to the train station.
Carsharing services result in less traffic in cities and can be good for the environment because the cars used typically have smaller carbon footprints. And finally, urban carsharing services often have municipal arrangements so when you’re done using a vehicle you just park it in any public parking spot or lot and walk away.
