| Type | Corporation |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Leeds, United Kingdom |
| Products | Pay-by-the-hour cars |
| Employees | 25 |
| Website | www.whizzgo.co.uk |
WhizzGo is a United Kingdom car sharing Car Club providing pay-by-the-hour cars in 12 cities. Pay-by-the-hour cars are provided for a small hourly price which includes insurance, tax, fuel, maintenance and the Congestion Charge for London cars. WhizzGo advertises a cheaper, simpler and greener way to use a car whenever you want one. In 2007, WhizzGo won Best Leasing/rental company of the year[1] and Private Sector Fleet of the year. [2] in the GreenFleet awards. On 28th August 2009, WhizzGo was acquired by City Car Club creating the UK's largest network of hourly rental cars. [3]
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WhizzGo provides a city-wide fleet of low emission cars that are located in designated on-street bays across city centres. [4] WhizzGo is committed to offering an environmentally sustainable service, reducing pollution and congestion by:
Through its expansion, WhizzGo has partnered with Virgin Trains, public transport operators (such as Metro West Yorkshire and Stagecoach in Manchester)and Dahon foldable bikes. WhizzGo has also developed through partnerships with several city councils nationwide such as Leeds, Sheffield, York, Liverpool, Southampton and St Albans. The company also works alongside travel planners and town planners in order to complement existing public transport networks.</ref>
WhizzGo members are issued with a WhizzGo smart card which is held against a sensor in the windscreen of the vehicle to unlock the doors. Members enter their 4 digit PIN into the on-board computer, take the keys from the glove compartment and drive off.
Members pay a monthly membership fee of £5 and then can pay-as-they-go by the hour or day.
On 28th August 2009, WhizzGo was acquired by City Car Club creating the UK's largest network of hourly rental cars.
The strategic acquisition marked the first major consolidation within the UK car club industry and secured City Car Club's leading position - with 500 cars in 15 cities and a membership base of 16,000.
City Car Club now has operations in London, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, York, Edinburgh, Brighton, Bristol, Bath, Huddersfield, Norwich, Birmingham, and Southampton, with plans to expand into more cities.
In November 2009, Whizzgo announced it would be closing some locations; For example, about the closure of the St Albans location, Keith Kelly of City Car Club said to the St Albans And Harpenden review: “In the majority of our locations, our cars are very popular and highly successful. However, in a minority of the former WhizzGo locations the take-up and utilisation of the service has fallen well below expectations.
"Unfortunately, our City Car Club cars in St Albans fall into this category. Since WhizzGo launched, it was unable to attract enough members to make the service financially viable and the tough market conditions now mean we are unable to sustain our operations in the city. We have tried to make arrangements for another car club to take over our operation in St Albans but unfortunately this has not come to fruition."[6]