A FORMER car club chief has helped launch a car sharing platform and 20 fleet cars in the Scottish capital.
After setting up in 2016, hiyacar claims to be the longest serving peer-to-peer car sharing service in operation in the UK. The move to Edinburgh is the company's first introduction outside of England, after its success in London and more recently Bristol.
The firm said that typically there are two types of car-sharing platforms in the UK, car clubs and peer to peer, and car clubs have their own fleet of cars that can then be rented out to drivers, while “car share” means paying to use a car that is owned by someone else.
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Hiyacar says it is the only operator that offers both peer-to-peer and traditional return to base car clubs on the same platform and it is now operating both services in Edinburgh.
Keith Stark has helped the Scottish launch of the company. Throughout his 14 years previous experience, Mr Stark grew Enterprise Car Club - formerly CityCarClub - into the most successful of its kind in Scotland. He was also the first to introduce electric vehicles (EVs) into the Scottish car club fleet, operating 26 EV’s across Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Co-founder and chief executive Graeme Risby said: “After a succession of successful years we have big expansion plans in the coming years and Edinburgh is the perfect place to start for us.
“We offer a great alternative to other car clubs in the city, helping drivers get around Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. We’re very excited to be in Scotland and hope to launch in other cities throughout the country in coming years."
The firm has over 100,000 members and 1,700 cars in England. As a result of new partnerships with Toyota (UK) and other leading fleet providers, hiyacar also recently became an CoMo UK car club operator.
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