Zipcar heats up car wars in Philly
The car-share competition is heating up in Philadelphia.
Zipcar Inc. is making a drive to grab Philadelphia's government, business, and residential Web-based car-share market.
Zipcar, a Cambridge-based car sharing service that allows its customer to rent vehicles by the hour, bought Seattle-based Flexcar last fall and plans to convert its 100-vehicle fleet to the Zipcar brand today.
Robert Fox, the head of Philadelphia's Office of Fleet Management, says Zipcar is bidding to replace local not-for-profit PhillyCarShare Inc. as the city government's car-share supplier.
Zipcar is offering promotional pricing that includes free gas, mileage and insurance.
Deputy executive director Clayton Lane says PhillyCarShare is also expanding to Wilmington, Del., and is making deals with car-sharing groups in Chicago, San Francisco and other big cities. (AP)
