The UK’s leading car hire company, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, today launched a new car-sharing programme - WeCar. The trial programme, based in Woking, has been developed in partnership with Woking Borough Council to support its corporate sustainability initiatives.

From February, employees at Woking Borough Council will have the option of booking one of two dedicated WeCar vehicles when making short trips for business. The sub 120 g/km vehicles, based in Woking’s central multi-storey car park, are available for up to four hours at a time – tailor made for trips that don’t necessitate a full day’s car hire.

Once subscribed to the programme, Woking employees are able to book the vehicles via the dedicated WeCar website.  Through the use of in-car telematics, when their allocated time arrives, they can unlock the vehicle with their WeCar membership card and drive away. As the programme grows, the technology will also be able to advise users of their nearest available vehicle.

The programme also helps tackle a growing business transport concern – employees using their own vehicles for work, dubbed the ‘grey fleet’.  Grey fleet use not only costs organisations in terms of mileage reimbursement but can also expose them to serious safety, environmental and legal risks.

Making the WeCar vehicles easily available on short notice, for short rental periods and from a convenient location is aimed at triggering a step change in employee behaviour. The overall aim is to encourage employees to think about the type of trip they intend to make and consider the best option in terms of environmental and financial efficiency.

WeCar is currently available exclusively to Woking Borough Council employees. After the initial trial, it is anticipated that the programme will be extended to local businesses and residents.

Rob Ingram, Director of Business Rental at Enterprise Rent-A-Car comments: “The WeCar car sharing programme was developed in partnership with Woking Borough Council.  It was driven by their desire to look for ways to more effectively tackle their transport needs with the underlying aim of reducing their fleet emissions.

“WeCar is a solution that not only offers extremely low CO2 vehicles, but provides them only for the time they are needed.  It also introduces an alternative to the grey fleet, helping to mitigate the risks associated with private car usage, together with reducing cost and emissions.

“The aim is to help employees understand the impact their choices make and encourage a step change in their attitudes to business travel, with the overall goal of reducing the council’s carbon footprint.”

Lara Curran, Senior Policy Officer for Climate Change at Woking Borough Council adds: “As part of our Climate Change Strategy, the council has become increasingly focused on reducing its CO2 emissions and impact on the environment.

“It became apparent after reviewing our staff transport policy that more could be done in terms of how we manage our vehicle use. This is when we called upon Enterprise’s expertise.

“As well as being environmentally friendly, WeCar is hugely convenient as the vehicles are accessible around-the clock.  Moreover, this gives us the opportunity to address the grey fleet risks and costs, allowing us to provide a viable alternative to mileage reimbursement.

“WeCar is not a revolution in terms of business travel.  What it does provide is a great addition to our travel options which will continue to include rental, leasing and public transport.  More importantly, it provides the opportunity to tackle some of our higher risk, higher polluting business trips.”