Update! Unfortunately, as of February 29, 2020, Car2Go has discontinued its carsharing service for North America. However, there is still the Communauto service in Canada.
Car2Go, the self-service car company, is expanding not only in Montreal and other major Canadian cities… but also around the world! Find out how you can take advantage of this service during your travels.
Car2Go has invaded Montreal and many other cities over the past few years.
It must be said that this meets a need in highly urbanized areas with a clientele that does not have a car, or does not want to invest in a second vehicle.
For example, my wife uses our car every day to get to work… while I use public transportation and Car2Go for my other trips.
For the moment, the vehicles offered are only 2-seater Smarts. This is due to their practicality (small size in the city, low fuel consumption).
Although this vehicle meets the expectations of a large part of their customers, Car2Go decided to experiment with the provision of larger vehicles, in this case Mercedes-Benz B250.
These are currently available in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver. Maybe we’ll see them one day in Montreal!
The operation of Car2Go is simple. Once you subscribe to the service (there is a one-time fee of $35 – it may be free during promotional periods). Then you pay according to your usage:
A card is issued to you and you just have to pass it in front of the reader on the windshield for the car to unlock.
Then a touch screen shows you what to do before starting the vehicle.
You then park the vehicle in authorized areas.
Did you know that you can now reach Montreal-Trudeau airport with your Car2Go?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znJSB9r2FMY
Here is the procedure to follow:
For all the details, please visit Car2go’s dedicated page for Montreal Airport.
Car2Go is present in more than 30 major cities around the world. However, you may only use the Service in the “geographic region” linked to your account.
Basically, if you use Car2Go from a Canadian city, you have access to all Car2Go in North America… but not in Europe.
Thus, you can use the service in cities like New York (Brooklyn), San Diego, Austin, Seattle or Washington DC…
I’ve already used it successfully in Vancouver, San Diego and Miami (unfortunately the service no longer exists in the latter since February 2016 due to a city-imposed tax on car rentals).
It is very convenient to be able to use this service when you are on the move.
In Vancouver, for example, it allowed me to go from downtown to my hotel near the airport at 10pm on a Saturday night when no cab was available, I had a suitcase with me… and it was raining of course!
Car2Go will not replace a car rental for your vacation.
But it can be useful for a short trip in a city you are visiting, especially since GPS is standard in these vehicles!
Savings are here:
