Daimler’s Car2go looks to pick up where Hertz left off

City of Los Angeles officials and LADOT have worked hard to bring carsharing to Angelenos for at least five years.  After beginning a successful pilot program with Zipcar, the city created a RFP, with the assistance of the Clinton Foundation, and searched for a permanent vendor.  Hertz was selected and then walked away.

Citing revenue estimates between $3 million and $30 million from an agreement with Hertz, it was a no brainer that LADOT selected Hertz over Zipcar in summer 2013.  That decision has come back to haunt LADOT officials who are now left wondering why Hertz stopped returning their phone calls and pulled out of the agreement.

An official with LADOT provided the following statement:

After receiving authority to execute a contract in April 2013, the department entered negotiations with Hertz.  During these negotiations Hertz stopped communicating with the department in December 2013.  The department is currently evaluating options moving forward.

The City of Santa Monica also awarded a pilot carshare program to Hertz as well.  It is no secret Hertz executives have not been able to be consistent with their carshare division.  Having gone through several name changes and no neighborhood locations for residential customers, carshare industry veterans are stumped at what Hertz’s intentions are.

Daimler’s Car2go recently launched in the South Bay and are looking to expand into Hollywood, Long Beach and hopefully the lucrative downtown market.

Earlier this week Hertz shot down reports they were in discussions to acquire Uber.