I am a member of the Cooperative Auto Network, which I have talked about before. The difference between CAN and, say, Budget rentals is that CAN is cheaper if you’re using the vehicle for less than 5 hours, or if you need something bigger than an economy car.
My normal car use is to rent a small car from Budget and drive it to and from Chilliwack for band practice. This costs me about $50 typically, including gas. The one time I tried it with a CAN car it was $120.
Now CAN has introduced “fobs” which is some little device that I don’t really know much about. Here’s a bit from the CAN site:
Why is The Car Co-op introducing on-board fleet management?
The on-board fleet management system will limit access to Co-op vehicles so that only drivers who have booked a vehicle can use it. This will reduce the number of mistakes around booked vehicles, track early pick-ups and/or late returns, and improve fleet security. The system will also provide odometer information to improve the accuracy of our invoices.
Using a fob is mandatory, which means I have to make a trip downtown to pick one up. If I have to make a trip downtown to the CAN office I’m kind of inclined to cancel my account and get my $500* deposit back. I don’t like this fob business as it sounds inconvenient and unwarranted.
*or whatever it was.