Hertz will get into car-sharing

Hertz, which had been testing rentals by the hour, says that it is planning to launch a major push into the car-sharing market later this year. What does this mean to you, dear travelers? The prospect of a multinational concern like Hertz getting into the business is potentially huge.
Rich Broome, senior vice president for corporate affairs and communications, wouldn’t offer much in the way of details, but said that the company would initially roll out the program in a handful of major US cities. Boston, he said, would "probably be part of a second wave."
Broome said, “Many people think of Hertz being primarily at airports but we also have 1,600 off-airport locations in the United States, and when we roll this thing out we will have leading-edge technology in place to be able to get customers what they want where they want it.’’
For travelers the potential upside is clear. Hertz has 8,100 locations in 147 countries, so it’s not hard to imagine that eventually customers will be able to sign up in Boston, but use car-sharing services around the nation and the world. Sweet, yes?
It's also a safe bet that this will juice up competition, a good thing for consumers. Right now, the leader in the field is Cambridge-based Zipcar, which has seen a tremendous amount of growth and currently has more than 200,000 members in 50 cities in North America as well as a presence in London.
But others will also be interested.
As my pal Scott Kirsner wrote a story detailing this a few months ago, UHaul and Enterprise, noting Zipcar’s success, have been testing the car-sharing waters.

UHaul launched a pilot program, UCar Share. Cars were initially only available at certain rental centers and during regular business hours. Mike Coleman, a program manager at UHaul, says in the next few weeks the company plans to expand the program, which is available in about 10 cities, with more cars and introduce Zipcar-like technology.
And Enterprise launched a service called WeCar in St. Louis. Enterprise public relations manager Lisa Martini says that the company is looking at expanding their program but currently have no firm plans.
Stay tuned. This is going to get interesting.