New Pricing Effective March 31, 2023

In order to keep our vehicles in tip-top shape, replace current makes/models, address the cost of gasoline, pay our employees, and optimize vehicle availability, we must adjust our rates from time to time. Right now, that time is March 31, 2023.

All plans are a discounted percentage rate off the Try It plan. Our financial analysis has determined the new rates are the minimum amount of revenue needed to address organizational needs, as our goal is to keep rates as affordable as possible. Similar to how people drive out of their way for a few cents of cheaper gasoline, a gallon of milk, or a dozen eggs, we’re doing the same for you to keep our prices as low as possible. We could increase the plan by a few cents, but we’d rather keep things more affordable for you.

At the end of your billing cycle, you’ll be automatically converted to the Try It plan. Anyone on the Try It plan can upgrade to a paid plan at any time (literally within minutes before the next trip starts). You can verify your current plan status here.

When choosing a new plan, the Everyday PLUS plan will be the closest to the Adventure PLUS plan. It includes the PLUS benefits of a Damage Fee Waiver and waived admin fees, along with 200 miles per trip per day before overage miles are charged. This means a three-day trip will get 600 miles – hopefully more than enough to get to your adventures and back.

If you can self-certify that your household income is 50% or less of the Area Median Income, we recommend you sign up for the Access PLUS plan. This plan has the lowest rates and membership fee we offer and includes PLUS benefits and 200 miles per trip per day, or 600 miles on a three-day trip.

No, our current electric HOURCARs are provided through grants and funding in partnership with American Lung Association, East Metro Strong, and Xcel Energy. Evie Carshare is also funded through a variety of grants and funders, including funds from the US Department of Energy and others. For the most part, all current revenue from trips go towards operational costs, like staff funding, vehicle repairs, and overall replacement costs. We may be replacing ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles with electric HOURCAR vehicles where able, as electric vehicles have a lower cost of ownership during the long run, but this is unrelated to the current price adjustment.

We really want to be able to predict the future, but every time we shake our Magic 8 ball, it says “Outlook Not So Good”.  We even tried to call the Psychic Friends Network and couldn’t connect with Dionne Warwick; apparently the number is disconnected. In full transparency, we’re doing everything we can to keep costs low. We know this is a ~15% increase in rates, however we must address increased operational costs and demands on our services. We’ve done our best to avoid temporary cost increases and pushing increased costs on our members, however we must make necessary steps such as this to stay solvent. As we said before, we’ve been a member of our community since 2005 and we have no plans to go away, thus requiring our update on pricing.

Unlike competitors, we don’t have an official for-profit backer. Our main competitor in the Twin Cities is Zipcar, backed by Avis Car Rental. Traditional car rental companies buy in bulk, providing significant cost savings for them and often try to increase mileage quickly to sell them for profit. We’re a 100% nonprofit carshare organization based here in the Twin Cities. We rely on funding from many organizations and support from our members to continue our mission and increase sustainable impacts in our communities. Because our goal is to provide access to vehicles and not just buy and sell, we hold on to our cars longer than other business models. The result? To cover our current business needs, we must adjust our rates as many of our makes/models are experiencing high utilization and are due for replacement in addition to overall operational costs.

That’s a tough question to answer but here we go… Long story short, HOURCAR expanded as grant funding allowed. As a result, we now have over 12 Honda Fits with 80k+ miles on them, eight Kia Souls pushing 70k+ miles, and a handful of Honda Civics with over 80k+ miles as well. In our fleet of nearly 50 cars, nearly half need replacement. Those new cars? We’re seeing over a year’s worth of use in a matter of months. COVID, WFH, increased economic costs, and everything else have increased demands in unpredictable ways. We are Minnesota’s largest carshare operator, and as a nonprofit, we are doing our best to keep our rates as affordable as possible while addressing current economic conditions. We need to adjust our rates to keep our services as solvent as possible. 

We recommend the Everyday PLUS plan which includes 200 miles per trip per day, for a total of 600 miles on a three-day trip. If you can self-certify that your household income is 50% or less of the Area Median Income, we recommend you sign up for the Access PLUS plan, which has the same amount of miles as Everyday PLUS with our lowest rates.

Here’s approximate round trip mileage to some places you may be traveling to that have enough mileage to get to on any PLUS plan:

One day or less:

Rochester – 165 miles

Mankato – 170 miles

St Cloud – 145 miles

Eau Claire, WI – 175 miles

Two-day trip:

Duluth – 310 miles

Brainerd – 270 miles

Mason City, IA – 280 miles

Three-day trip:

Grand Marais – 530 miles

Bemidji – 445 miles

Fargo, ND – 485 miles

Des Moines, IA – 490 miles

Iowa City, IA – 550 miles

Madison, WI – 530 miles

Green Bay, WI – 550 miles

Sioux Falls, SD – 482 miles

If you’re going somewhere that is farther than 600 miles over three days, we recommend doing the math on the overage mile calculation to confirm that taking an HOURCAR or Evie is feasible for your budget.

To date, the majority of utilization on the Adventure PLUS plan doesn’t use the full mileage available, as trips often stay within the Metropolitan Area. We’ve done the math and the Everyday PLUS plan still offers enough mileage for 72-hour trips to many destinations.

Let’s start by example. On a three day trip on Everyday PLUS, you’ll have 600 miles included; 200 per day. You can drive 300 miles on the first day, not drive at all on the second day, and drive 300 miles on the third day, and still be within your mileage bucket for the trip.

So if a trip starts with 1,000 miles on the odometer and ends with 1,600 miles on the odometer, you won’t see an additional charge. 

Each mile driven over the allotted mileage will be charged per mile at the rate determined by your plan.

For those on the Try It plan, however, beginning March 31, there will no longer be 50 included miles, so all trips will be charged per mile driven. If you’re on the Try It plan and are taking a trip, update to a paid membership plan before you begin your trip and you’ll be billed at the lower rates. 

Nothing is changing with PLUS plans. The price and benefits remain the same. 

The system will bill you based on the rates of the plan when the trip starts. So a trip starting March 30 and ends on April 1 will be billed plan rates effective March 30.