GoCar - more cars launched today

leecurlywurly

It seems that GoCar has launched more cars today (1st Aug) in Dublin. Some cars can be parked anywhere for free, no parking charges!!

http://businessandleadership.com/business/item/42140-gocar-to-operate-capitals/

Looks good to me, handy for those short jaunts to supermarkets & Ikea There's two cars sort of near me.

Anyone use it?

notnem

I've used it - found it very good.

TheBandicoot

Sounds very useful, but I assume you need to have a license to drive to take advantage? If I had a license I would drive, but public transport suits my needs day to day. It would certainly be useful to hire one of these cars to go to Ikea, as OP points out, but I'm not learning to drive just for that. Waiting for fully autonomous cars.

notnem

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Sounds very useful, but I assume you need to have a license to drive to take advantage? If I had a license I would drive, but public transport suits my needs day to day. It would certainly be useful to hire one of these cars to go to Ikea, as OP points out, but I'm not learning to drive just for that. Waiting for fully autonomous cars.

Yes, you need a drivers licence.

The service compliments public transport. In some situations, public transport works fine, but in others - going to Ikea or where buses don't go directly, GoCar is great.

serfboard

leecurlywurly wrote: »

It seems that GoCar has launched more cars today (1st Aug) in Dublin. Some cars can be parked anywhere for free, no parking charges!!

This is a fantastic development and I wish them every success.

Business and Leadership wrote:

From today consumers can hire 50 GoCar vehicles by the hour from 31 pay-and-display locations in the capital.

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Waiting for fully autonomous cars.

Think of the consequences when they do come in. Fully autonomous taxis. In fact, very few owning a car at all and just summoning one when you need it. Because, unless you drive for a living, for most people their cars spend most of the time being idle. Sunk capital, and all that.

Cool_CM

They have something like this in Switzerland run by the SBB and operated out of train stations. A few friends of mine have used it and it works well.

http://www.sbb.ch/en/station-services/car-bike/hire-or-borrow/hire-car.html

bigar

Does anyone know if you need to return it to the station you took it from? I would consider using it if you can use it one way, similar to Dublin Bikes.

I could not find any clear answer on the website.

Shedite27

Used this type of service before (Zipcar in Vancouver). Very handy. Used it for probably 5 hrs max before it's cheaper to rent a car by the day. You have to return it where you take the car from.

_Kaiser_

Slow clap time everyone... :rolleyes:

Clamped!

ON THE SECOND day of new bye-laws in Dublin to provide free parking for car share services in Dublin one TheJournal.ie reader has sent a picture of a clamped GoCar in the IFSC.
The picture clearly shows the car parked in a pay-and-display section of the street which is supposed to be free of charge for GoCar users.

Idiots! :rolleyes: It even SAYS "Free City Parking" on the side of the car FFS

foggy_lad

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Slow clap time everyone... :rolleyes:

Clamped!



Idiots! :rolleyes: It even SAYS "Free City Parking" on the side of the car FFS

There are probably time restrictions on the parking in that area and the pole in front of the car looks to have some kind of disabled sign on it meaning the space is reserved for disabled parking.

corktina

I doubt time restrictions are the cause here, who would hire a car by the hour just to park it up?

foggy_lad

corktina wrote: »

I doubt time restrictions are the cause here, who would hire a car by the hour just to park it up?

I mean parking may be prohibited between certain hours and that would be the case for anyone including the GoCar company, Excellent service btw and can only get bigger and better. Having vans in the range is a super idea for people moving flat or just bringing bulky items to the recycling centre once a year.

corktina

it really is the future of city driving rolling out before our very eyes. Not a lot of use for country driving admittedly.

pclive

Commons Street is a clearway from 7-10AM more than likey the reason the vehicle was clamped.

Is there any way the charge can be passed onto the go car user who illegally parked it?

flyingsnail

pclive wrote: »

Commons Street is a clearway from 7-10AM more than likey the reason the vehicle was clamped.

Is there any way the charge can be passed onto the go car user who illegally parked it?

I think they bill you monthly for your usage, I guess they could add the charge to that.

serfboard

pclive wrote: »

Commons Street is a clearway from 7-10AM more than likey the reason the vehicle was clamped.

Yeah. The new (by)law doesn't mean you can park the car wherever the f**k you like :rolleyes:

serfboard

corktina wrote: »

it really is the future of city driving rolling out before our very eyes.

Yep. What was it yer man was saying on the news last night. One of these can replace was it 5 or more cars from the city?

I wonder are they going to roll this out nationwide (as in, in the other large towns)? I can imagine in a place like Galway, with a high student proportion of the population, that it would work really well.

And then, for example, would they allow you to hire one in Dublin, and drop it off in Galway?

corktina

gocar are in several Cork City locations and have been for a good while..... usually their bays seem to be empty during the day so it must be popular.

Mrs OBumble

Mmm .. I can see the combination of these and GoBus / CityLink beting very useful indeed!

boombang

I think the way the pricing structure works it's only useful for short, quick trips.

To be honest, when you begin to price some journeys and factor in the time the car may be parked at your destination (prior to return), you'd very often be better off getting a taxi.

Furthermore, regular low-cost car rental seems to beat it for longer trips.

I guess it's just inherently difficult to make this model work.

corktina

I don't see that. Say you worked in an office in the South Mall in Cork and had to meet a client in Macroom..... gocar rank very handy for that, less than an hour to Macroom, an hour for a meeting and an hour back.... sounds quite time effective to me compared to the bus.

the_syco

How does fuel, breakdowns, and punctures affect these things?

markpb

boombang wrote: »

I think the way the pricing structure works it's only useful for short, quick trips.

I don't own a car but do take taxis or rentals for any trip that requires a car and came to the same conclusion as you. It does have some advantages though - being able to rent a car at the weekend (when most rentals not in the airport are closed), at short notice (not all rentals will have stock) or out of hours (when rentals are closed). I guess it would also be useful for carrying a lot of awkward stuff (IKEA jumps to mind) which a taxi could be useful but probably wouldn't.

corktina wrote: »

I don't see that. Say you worked in an office in the South Mall in Cork and had to meet a client in Macroom..... gocar rank very handy for that, less than an hour to Macroom, an hour for a meeting and an hour back.... sounds quite time effective to me compared to the bus.

At 45c/km plus an hourly rental charge (covering both trips and the time of the meeting), would it be cheaper than a taxi, especially if your company has negotiated discount rates with a radio taxi company?

foggy_lad

the_syco wrote: »

How does fuel, breakdowns, and punctures affect these things?

There is a card in each car to pay for the fuel and all maintenance is covered so there should be a fully inflated spare, I'm not so sure about breakdowns but afaik the customer may be charged up to €1000 excess for breakdown recovery services.

Spook_ie

€50 just to register! and then charges on top. You would need to check your costings before deciding if it was a good deal for you or not

Membership

When joining GoCar there is a once off fee of €50 and then a monthly fee of only €5. After that you simply pay for the trips you make. We have three different classes of vehicles, one to fit whatever need you have.

boombang

corktina wrote: »

I don't see that. Say you worked in an office in the South Mall in Cork and had to meet a client in Macroom..... gocar rank very handy for that, less than an hour to Macroom, an hour for a meeting and an hour back.... sounds quite time effective to me compared to the bus.

82km round trip @ 35c a km, + 3 hours hire has you heading for €45.

That's before you've considered your fixed and monthly fees. Not a steal when when you can often rent a car for c. €20/day during the week.

boombang

markpb wrote: »

I don't own a car but do take taxis or rentals for any trip that requires a car and came to the same conclusion as you. It does have some advantages though - being able to rent a car at the weekend (when most rentals not in the airport are closed), at short notice (not all rentals will have stock) or out of hours (when rentals are closed). I guess it would also be useful for carrying a lot of awkward stuff (IKEA jumps to mind) which a taxi could be useful but probably wouldn't.

This convenience aspect is true. Especially if you don't happen to live/work near a rental agency.

monument

boombang wrote: »

c. €20/day during the week.

I'm not sure GoCar is priced right for a lot of people yet, but a rental is €20 + needed extras.

corktina

the rank in Cork that I see is usually empty so it must suit a fair few people.

corktina

boombang wrote: »

82km round trip @ 35c a km, + 3 hours hire has you heading for €45.

That's before you've considered your fixed and monthly fees. Not a steal when when you can often rent a car for c. €20/day during the week.

plus petrol....

foggy_lad

corktina wrote: »

plus petrol....

All petrol is included in the gocar rates.

Or were you referring to the rental cars being €20 per day plus petrol?

corktina

I was.....thought that was fairly clear form the thread that the fuel card was included...

mdebets

I think it's a good start, but it's still too inflexible.
I know it from Germany and there, most don't have fixed stations, where you have to pick it up or drop it, but you can leave it anywhere on the street (where it can be legally parked) and the next user can pick it up from there. Brings the cost down quite a bit, as you don't have to pay for it being parked somewhere, while you are in a meeting or so.

Stinicker

Are these manual or automatic cars?

_Kaiser_

Stinicker wrote: »

Are these manual or automatic cars?

I'd guess manual myself as that's still the default choice in this country, although automatic would make more sense in a business like this (no clutch to burn out for example)

I remember it being near impossible to get a decent auto as a rental a few years back from one of the bigger companies like Enterprise.. the handful they had were things like a Micra or Focus but that was about it - never made sense to me as surely the majority of American tourists wouldn't be used to "driving stick" ?

leecurlywurly

bigar wrote: »

Does anyone know if you need to return it to the station you took it from? I would consider using it if you can use it one way, similar to Dublin Bikes.

I could not find any clear answer on the website.

Yeh you would need to bring it back to the same place.

Aard

They have this system in Nice, except they use electric vehicles. Price structure is similar - registration fee and then €8 per hour, with discounts available if hours are bought in bulk.

I think GoCar will catch on nicely here.

Gael23

In principle it's a great idea but in reality I don't see it being very cost effective, especially in Dublin. It's €5 a month then €5 for every hour you use it so I don't think it would be that much cheaper than getting a bus or taxi. Much more convenient though

boombang

I think they should offer an alternative set of rates for those who don't want to pay a monthly charge. Say €7 an hour plus, 60c per km.

That would suit the the only very occasional user.

I'm not inspired by the rates, but the sign up and monthly costs are definitely going to keep me away from this service. While I do regularly use both taxis and rental cars.

Mrs OBumble

corktina wrote: »

plus petrol....

And insurance: to get full insurance from the rental companies is usually an extra 20+VAT per day.

There's a cheaper insurance policy available (about 6+VAT per day) - but the fine print says you must either live in a different country to the one you are renting in, or have at least two nights accommodation booked.

Piliger

I welcome this plan to the city, no doubts there. But wish they would get some microcars. I see no reason for them to only have four and five seaters.

Also I am REALLY put off driving a car with huge GoCar advertising all over it.... it is really awful.

Gael23

Piliger wrote: »

I welcome this plan to the city, no doubts there. But wish they would get some microcars. I see no reason for them to only have four and five seaters.

Also I am REALLY put off driving a car with huge GoCar advertising all over it.... it is really awful.

There all superminis such as Fiesta's etc so fairly small cars. I suppose they are intended to be functional and have some luggage for shopping trips and so on.

Piliger

ryanf1 wrote: »

There all superminis such as Fiesta's etc so fairly small cars. I suppose they are intended to be functional and have some luggage for shopping trips and so on.

Fiesta's are nto really small. Not for the City. Something like Toyota IQ would be a great idea, or Smart cars.

murphaph

In Berlin we have go smart and drive now which allow you to park at any legal space in the city. Go smart use smarts and drive now use BMW 1 and minis. I got free sign up to drive now so use that the odd time. Its 29¢ per km with no monthly fees etc. You get bonus kms if you put petrol into a car with the supplied petrol card. There are other services which require you you park the car in a given spot, but I find that too restrictive.

Piliger

murphaph wrote: »

In Berlin we have go smart and drive now which allow you to park at any legal space in the city. Go smart use smarts and drive now use BMW 1 and minis. I got free sign up to drive now so use that the odd time. Its 29¢ per km with no monthly fees etc. You get bonus kms if you put petrol into a car with the supplied petrol card. There are other services which require you you park the car in a given spot, but I find that too restrictive.

We need more competition here. GoCar are the only one in the market to the best fo my knowledge. Most people haven't a clue they even exist or that such a service can exist. A huge number of people would find it a huge cost saver if they actually examined it.

Gael23

Piliger wrote: »

Fiesta's are nto really small. Not for the City. Something like Toyota IQ would be a great idea, or Smart cars.

Maybe so. I'm not sure what the target audience is but its not cheap so to make it work you have to be using it fairly often.
If I was someone living in Dublin and didn't own a car, I would use this for shopping trips and so on. Then you would need a car with a bit of space inside

Piliger

boombang wrote: »

I think they should offer an alternative set of rates for those who don't want to pay a monthly charge. Say €7 an hour plus, 60c per km.

That would suit the the only very occasional user.

I'm not inspired by the rates, but the sign up and monthly costs are definitely going to keep me away from this service. While I do regularly use both taxis and rental cars.

Well look. Business is all about where and how you pitch your business model. They have chosen this one and it seems to be working reasonably for them. Of course they are heavily invested in by Irish Car Rentals ..... which makes their business model choices somewhat questionable.

What we really need is competition !

I personally think the monthly fee is important because occasional users are not much value to the business. They want to generate regular users who will rent at least once or twice a month. For a huge number of people in Dublin this would save them thousands while still enabling them to make most of the worthwhile trips they made with their own car.

Piliger

ryanf1 wrote: »

In principle it's a great idea but in reality I don't see it being very cost effective, especially in Dublin. It's €5 a month then €5 for every hour you use it so I don't think it would be that much cheaper than getting a bus or taxi. Much more convenient though

It's €2.49 an hour after 8pm. I agree that a bus takes you to a lot of places. I moved in to Ranelagh last year and decided to live without a car. The luas/bus/dart does me 95% of the time. But I am thinking of joining GoCar for the remaining 5%for all the places you cannot go by bus ... and collect friends and call on two or three places... etc.
It's 40 quid alone to go to the airport from the south side by taxi.

pclive

Use code 64IRISHRAIL to get 20% off the sign up fee

Piliger

Unfortunately many of their locations don't have their low rate cars, and that means having to take their more expensive cars. I really don't understand this strategy. I also don't get their strategy of building the fleet around family cars and not run arounds, with larger cars available on request.

Muahahaha

The €50 annual fee is what puts me off joining, otherwise I'd seriously consider it. Its not the €50, its the principle of the matter- I can't stand companies adding in charges that give the customer no end value so I refuse to deal with companies that do this. I am not going to pay to use a service so I can then pay yet again to use that service, no thanks, have a re-think management !

As someone else mentioned what GOCar now need is some competition to keep their prices honest. I pass by their Phibsboro based car every day and it seems to me like very few people are using it as the car is there in its spot 90% of the time I pass. Maybe if they got rid of their €50 money for nothing fee then that might change.