| This comprehensive list of "frequently asked questions" are a great starting point for all things Flexicar! These questions have been grouped under the following sections - just scroll down and click on the question you're interested in. 1. Joining & Plans 2. Pricing & Billing 3. Availability & Booking 4. Locations & Cars 5. Driving a Flexicar 6. Business 7. Car sharing 1. JOINING & PLANS Who can join? What does it cost to join? Do I have to become a member? What are the different plans available? How do the plans work? What plan should I choose? Are there any hidden costs? Can I change plans whenever I like? Do pricing changes show up when I book? Can I carry over credit purchases? Are there any special offers? Can I join if I have a foreign driver’s licence? Are there any age restrictions? Can other people in my family/household join? 2. PRICING & BILLING What are the hourly and daily rates? Is there a limit to how far I can go? Who pays for tolls? What happens if I get parking or speeding fines? Can I cancel my membership at any time? How and when do I receive a bill? How do I pay my bill? How does insurance work? Do I have to pay any excess? What if I have my own insurance policy? 3. AVAILABILITY & BOOKING How do I book a car? How many cars do you have? Will a car be available when I want one? What does it cost to book a car? How long beforehand do I need to book? What if I’m running late/get caught in traffic? What if I want to change my booking? What happens if my favourite car is always booked? 4. LOCATIONS & CARS Where are the cars located? What sort of cars are they? How old are the cars? Are they manual or automatic? How do I know where to park the car? Can I use the cars in Sydney and Melbourne? How often do you add new cars? How is this different to car rental? 5. DRIVING A FLEXICAR How do I find the car? How do I unlock the car? Where are the car keys? How do I lock/unlock the car during the booking? How do I lock the car at the end of my booking? What if the car breaks down? Do I have to clean the car? What if I return the car with no petrol? Can I take the car to the snow? What do I do if the car is untidy when I pick it up? Does Flexicar provide child seats? Can I smoke in the cars? Can I take my pet with me? Does Flexicar provide roof/bike racks? Can anyone else use my Flexicard? What if I lose my Flexicard? Can someone else drive the car under my booking? What do I do if I have a car accident? Can Flexicar members share the driving if traveling together? 6. BUSINESS What does it cost to join? What business plans are available? Can we change business plans easily? What are the benefits of car sharing to my business? How do you bill a business? Do we get a discount for multiple business memberships? Can we cancel our membership at any time? Can we have a Flexicar located on our premises? How is Flexicar different from taxis? How is Flexicar different from taxis? 7. CAR SHARING What is car sharing? What are the benefits of car sharing to me? Is car sharing the same as car-pooling? What are the environmental benefits of car sharing? Are there other car sharing companies? How does Flexicar compare to other car sharing companies? Who supports car sharing in Australia? If you have any other questions simply email us your query to info@flexicar.com.au or phone 1300 36 37 80. 1. JOINING & PLANS Who can join? Any licensed driver of any age who hasn’t lost their licence in the past five years can join Flexicar – no learners though. If you lost it over five years ago, we’ll welcome you. Our insurer won’t cover drivers who have lost their licence in the past five years. What does it cost to join? We have a once-off joining fee of $30 to become a member. Then all subsequent drivers on your account are only $15 each to become a member (less for some business plans). There is also an annual insurance fee per driver of $70. Your joining fee includes the cost of processing your application and issuing you with a personalised Flexicard, and membership includes personalised phone service with our staff who are available 365 days a year and free online itemised billing. Do I have to become a member? Yes. We operate as a member run carsharing service. You can cancel your membership at any time but registering as a member ensures you only have to do paperwork once. What are the different plans available? We have a number of usage plans to suit all types of driving needs. We have plans for personal and business use. Our personal plans include a flexi-Intro plan for occasional driving. And three value plans for more frequent driving. Visit our rates page for more details. There are also specific plans to suit businesses. How do the plans work? All our plans work the same way. You choose a monthly credit purchase, based on the hours you expect to drive. You pay one low hourly/daily rate which varies by plan. The higher the credit purchase, the lower the rates. And we cover all your driving costs. That’s registration, insurance, maintenance, cleaning, designated parking and petrol. (Yep, that’s right, even petrol.) What plan should I choose? For occasional personal driving, where you’ll only drive once a month, our Flexi-Intro Plan is the best option. For more frequent driving we have three value plans. We have Flexi-Light, Flexi-Moderate and Flexi-Regular. They work like a mobile phone contract. You purchase a fixed amount of driving credits. If you think you’ll be driving twice a month, then Flexi-Light is the plan for you. If you think you’ll be driving once a week then Flexi-Moderate will suit you. For more frequent driving – say a couple of times a week – then Flexi-Regular is the right plan for you. Are there any hidden costs? No. At Flexicar we hate hidden fees and charges. So we have no expensive security deposits. You don’t pay a per kilometer charge until you have driven over 100 kilometres in a day. And no extras. Just a one-off membership fee to become a carsharing member and a small annual fee to reduce your insurance excess. Can I change plans whenever I like? Yes. We don’t lock you into lengthy contracts. You can move between any of our car share plans from month to month. You must lodge a plan change request by the end of the month and your bills must be paid. Can I carry over credit purchases? Yes but only for the Flexi-Moderate and Flexi-Regular plans. We offer a one-month credit rollover for those. There is no credits rollover for the Flexi-Intro and Flexi-Light plans. Are there any special offers? Yes. We occasionally run new member offers and offers for existing members. We also have some ongoing specials. And we offer a discount for all bookings of our two-seater Smarts. Can I join if I have a foreign driver’s licence? Yes you can. We accept drivers from any state in Australia and any country. For insurance excess purposes, you will be treated as a driver with less than two years driving experience. You must get a driver history from your licence issuing body within a month of joining. Are there any age restrictions? No there aren’t. Flexicar is a great option for inexperienced and young drivers. Unlike car rental companies, we also welcome drivers on their P-plates. (Our insurance excesses do differ depending on age and driving experience.) Can other people in my family/household join? Yes. If two or more members’ bills are paid from the one credit card or bank account, then they can take out our “household” membership. The first member on the account pays Flexicar’s $30 joining fee and subsequent members pay only $15 to join and each member pays the yearly insurance fee. All members on the account share the same plan and have their own Flexicard and unique user name and password for making bookings. You don’t even need to live together! You can add drivers to your account here. 2. PRICING & BILLING What are the hourly and daily rates? Our hourly rates are $9.95 - $13.95 per hour, depending on the plan you choose. We also have daily rates for a 24-hour period starting from just $65.00. And if you’re a night owl then why not use our special nightly rate? Between the hours of 11pm and 7am, we only charge for one-hour of driving. Visit our rates page for more details. Is there a limit to how far I can go? Each booking (for each 24 hour period) includes 100 kms (or 150 kms depending on the plan you choose) worth of free petrol. So if you reserve for an hour, you get 100 kms. If you reserve for a day, you still get 100 kms. And after that, it’s only .15 or .20 cents a km. Who pays for tolls? You do. Our cars are equipped with eTAGs, and toll charges incurred during your bookings will be charged to your account at cost. What happens if I get parking or speeding fines? All fines received during a booking have to be paid by the member who had the booking at the time of the fine. Can I cancel my membership at any time? Yes you can. You just need to supply written confirmation of your intention to cancel and return all Flexicards associated with the account to Flexicar. You must pay any outstanding balance and the fees for the full month if you cancel during the month. How and when do I receive a bill? You will receive email notification on or just after the 7th of each month that your invoice has been finalised and is available online to view and print. Your bank account will then be direct debited a week later. How do I pay my bill? Your bill is paid through direct debit from your nominated credit card or bank account. The direct debit payment will be processed seven days after you receive the email notification that your account has been finalised for that month. How does insurance work? You only pay an annual insurance fee of $70. Your membership then includes fully comprehensive insurance cover and free 24/7 breakdown and recovery service, while you’re driving our cars. Insurance excesses still apply in case of accident. Do I have to pay any excess? There are standard excesses that vary depending on your age and driving experience. Our excesses are similar to regular car insurance, and a lot less than car rental companies'. Even if you are a young or inexperienced driver, your excess is affordable.
What if I have my own insurance policy? Sorry but this isn’t valid when driving Flexicars. 3. AVAILABILITY & BOOKING How do I book a car? You can book online or by phone for a small surcharge. You choose the car you like or the location you like. It's your choice. You can book any time, day or night. And up to a year in advance. How many cars do you have? We currently have over 65 cars in our fleet, but this is growing all the time. Will a car be available when I want one? If your chosen car isn't available, there will be another one around the corner as we have multiple cars in a suburb. We want our members to be able to rely on our service for their car needs. So we have planned for a ratio of members to cars that is low enough to ensure a car will be available when you want it, almost all of the time. What does it cost to book a car? There is no fee for online bookings. There is a $3 fee for phone bookings. How long beforehand do I need to book? You can book any time, day or night. We take bookings up to a minute before or up to a year in advance. What if I’m running late/get caught in traffic? It is crucial that our members have the car back on time. Everyone relies on the car they have booked being in its parking space at the beginning of each booking. If you have any doubt about getting the car back on time, the answer is to book the car for an extra half-hour or hour. If you advise us at least 15 minutes before the end of your booking that you will be late, and there is no other booking immediately after, we can extend your booking without penalty. If you return the car late and there is another member waiting, and/or if you fail to let us know that you will return the car late, you will incur a penalty. And if necessary, you will have to pay the reasonable costs incurred by the inconvenienced member (which may be the cost of a taxi). What if I want to change my booking? You can extend a booking before the beginning of your booking period without penalty if no other member has booked the car for that period. You can cancel a booking without penalty up to four hours before the start of your booking period. If you cancel a booking between one and four hours before the start of the booking period you will incur a penalty of $12.50. And if you cancel a booking less than one hour before the start of a booking period you will incur a penalty of $37.50 or the value of the booking, whichever is lower. You can shorten a booking without penalty until four hours before the start of the booking period. Shortening a booking less than four hours before the start of the booking period will incur a penalty of $12.50. What happens if my favourite car is always booked? If your favourite car is always booked, you could try making your booking further in advance if you know when you want it. We do have more than one car in each suburb so you could book another car that is just nearby. Visit our location page for more details. 4. LOCATIONS & CARS Where are the cars located? Our cars live on suburban streets. From Melbourne to Sydney and lots of places in between. Like Brunswick, St Kilda, Manly and Surry Hills. What sort of cars are they? All our cars are reliable, new and energy-efficient. We have Honda Jazzes, Smarts, Toyota Corollas and Subaru Foresters. Honda Civic Hybrids will be added in 2009. So whatever your driving needs, we have a car that will meet them. How old are the cars? All our cars are new, with the oldest cars in our fleet sold when they hit their second birthday. Are they manual or automatic? All the Flexicars are automatic. How do I know where to park the car? When you start your booking, you collect the car from the location you’ve selected. It will be parked on the street or in a car park at a designated Flexicar bay. At the end of the booking, you simply return the car to the same designated parking bay. During your booking, you simply park the car in any legal carparking bay, as you would with your own car. Can I use the cars in Sydney and Melbourne? Yes. Once you’re a Flexicar member, you can use any of our cars in both cities. How often do you add new cars? We add new cars and new locations all the time. We are a membership-based company, so we respond to the needs of our members. If a particular suburb needs more cars, then we will supply them. If we’re not in your area, let us know and if enough people in the suburb are interested we’ll come to your neighborhood. How is this different to car rental? Flexicar is more flexible – and often more cost effective – than regular car rental. Instead of renting for a 24-hour period, you can book our Flexicars by the hour, by the day or for a longer period. Our insurance is a one-off yearly fee of $70, instead of a costly, daily rate. Our cars live on your streets so instead of having to get to a car rental depot you can just walk to a car near you. Unlike rental car companies, we welcome all licenced drivers, regardless of age – except L plates. And once you’ve joined Flexicar, there’s no more paperwork. No queues. And no hidden extras. And best of all, we pay for your petrol. 5. DRIVING A FLEXICAR How do I find the car? The cars are parked in designated parking bays. When you make your booking, you will book a car in a particular location and there will be a link to a map on the booking confirmation email. There are also maps of our cars locations on the Melbourne and Sydney location page. How do I unlock the car? When you join, we'll send you a Flexicard. This is your personal access card. After you’ve booked a car, you go to that car on or after your booked start time and you swipe your card across the reader, which is behind the windscreen. The doors will unlock automatically and you’ll find the keys in the car. Where are the car keys? The keys are inside the car. Each car has a re:Member manual which will advise where the keys are located for the particular car. How do I lock/unlock the car during the booking? During your booking you lock/unlock the car with the key, like you would with any car. You only use the Flexicard at the beginning and end of your booking. How do I lock the car at the end of my booking? At the end of your booking, you leave the keys back inside the car where you found them and swipe out using your Flexicard. You check the doors are locked and you’re done! What if the car breaks down? Breakdowns are rare, as our cars are new and well maintained. But in the incidence of a breakdown you must report it to Flexicar by phone on 1300 36 37 80. Then either Flexicar and/or roadside assistance will come out to the car. You may be provided with alternative transport if it is necessary. Do I have to clean the car? We ask that members take all their rubbish with them at the end of their booking so it is clean for the next driver, and leave it in a reasonable state. This means seats and boot must be clean. If the car isn’t left reasonably clean, then you may be liable for cleaning charges. What if I return the car with no petrol? If you return a car at the end of your booking with a fuel tank less than 1⁄4 full a $50 penalty will be applied to your monthly invoice. Fuel cards are in the cars so it’s a good idea to always check the gauge at the beginning and before the end of your booking. Can I take the car to the snow? Unfortunately our insurer has advised us that cars taken over the snow line won’t be insured. What do I do if the car is untidy when I pick it up? You need to let us know immediately if the car is untidy, so that you will not be blamed for a previous member’s mess. The member prior will be given a fine for the inconvenience. If you have time to dispose of their rubbish… Does Flexicar provide child seats? No we don’t because we can’t provide the range of seats necessary to accommodate all children. But all our cars (except Smart two-seaters) are equipped with the necessary bolts to use your own child seats/capsules. Can I smoke in the cars? There is strictly no smoking in Flexicars. Drivers who do smoke in our cars will incur a $100 penalty. If you’re a smoker, wait till you’re outside a car. Can I take my pet with me? We love pets at Flexicar, but some of our members are allergic to animals. So we can’t allow anyone to take pets/animals with them in any of our cars. Fines do apply should we learn a member has taken a pet. Does Flexicar provide roof/bike racks? Our Subaru Foresters do have roof rack but we do not have bike racks Can anyone else use my Flexicard? No. Your Flexicard is your own personal swipe card and it’s not to be used by anyone else. If others in your household or business wish to join, they can be added to the same account and will be issued with their own Flexicard. You can add drivers to your account here. What if I lose my Flexicard? If you misplace your Flexicard you need to inform us immediately. A replacement Flexicard can be sent. You will be charged $20.00 to your account for the new card. Can someone else drive the car under my booking? No. If you let someone who isn’t an authorised Flexicar driver, drive our cars, you will be charged a $100 penalty and they will not be covered by our insurance. But you can share the driving with another Flexicar member and sign up other drivers on your account. You can add drivers to your account here. What do I do if I have a car accident? If you have an accident then you should: a. Make the Car secure and inform the police immediately if anyone is injured or there is a disagreement as to the facts, do not admit fault at this time. b. Note down the car registration, names, addresses and licence numbers of any other drivers involved; c. Note down the names and addresses of any witnesses; and d. Call Flexicar immediately on 1 300 36 37 80. Can Flexicar members share the driving if traveling together? Yes you can. But the Flexicar account holder will be liable for any costs incurred during the booking, like tolls, fines or insurance excess charges if you have an accident. 6. BUSINESS What does it cost to join? When you join as a business, we have a corporate account establishment fee of $30 for the first driver, and then it’s only $15 each subsequent driver on the Biz-Starter Plan and $10 per driver on the other two plans. The corporate account establishment fee includes the cost of checking driving records and issuing your staff with their own Flexicard, as well as personalised phone service with our staff that are available 365 days a year, and free online itemised billing. We also have an annual insurance fee of $70 per driver which caps at a maximum of $560 per business, regardless of the number of drivers. Visit our business rates page for more details. What business plans are available? We have three, credit based plans priced specially for business customers. The Biz-Starter plan has a $25 a month credit purchase, the Biz-Moderate has a $150 credit purchase and the Biz-Regular has a $250 a month credit purchase. Hourly and daily rates are lower, the higher the credit purchase. For example, the Biz-Regular rates are approximately 25% cheaper than the Biz-Starter. Can we change business plans easily? Yes you can change in a subsequent month. What are the benefits of car sharing to my business? Our rates are all inclusive, which means no surprises. And we have only one monthly invoice. So your accounts people will love it. You can book a year ahead, or a minute before. Your team can plan their day and get to places on time. So your staff will love it. And you aren’t locked into expensive contracts requiring you to have thousands tied up in cars that aren’t being used for the business 24/7. So the boss will love it. You'll even be committing to a greener business model and improving your company's triple bottom line How do you bill a business? You will receive email notification on or around the 7th of each month that your account has been finalised and is available online to view and print. Your bill is paid through direct debit from your nominated credit card or bank account. The direct debit payment will be processed seven days after you receive the email notification that your account has been finalised for that month. Do we get a discount for multiple business memberships? Yes. We offer a corporate account establishment fee of $30 for the first driver, and then it’s only $15 or $10 for each subsequent driver. Can we cancel our membership at any time? Yes you can. You just need to supply written confirmation of your intention to cancel and return all Flexicards associated with the account to Flexicar. All accounts must be settled. Can we have a Flexicar located on our premises? Yes, sometimes you can. We can evaluate this based on your committed usage and demand by other members in your area. Call 1300 36 37 80 for more information. How is Flexicar different from taxis? Flexicar is a cost-effective alternative to taxis, particularly for multiple stops, or if you need a return trip. With Flexicars you are in control. So you book it and know it will be there. The rising cost of petrol is pushing taxi prices higher, but with Flexicar we cover the petrol costs, not you. How is Flexicar different from car rental? Instead of renting a hire car for a 24-hour period, you can book our Flexicars by the hour, by the business day (8am-6pm), or for a longer period. Our insurance is a one-off yearly fee of only $70 instead of a costly, daily rate. And best of all, we pay for your petrol. Our cars also live on your streets. So rather than having to get to and from car rental depots, you can pick up the closest and most convenient car to you. 7. CAR SHARING What is car sharing? Car sharing is a cheap, green and easy alternative to car ownership. Rather than owning your own car or a second car, you join Flexicar and use ours. You can book our cars up to a year in advance, or only a minute before. You can book online or by phone. Once you’ve booked a car, in the location of your choice, then you use your own personal Flexicard swipe card to unlock the car, and away you go. When you’ve finished you just return the car to the same designated parking space you picked it up from. There’s no paperwork. No hassles. And no queues. Just affordable access to a great fleet of environmentally friendly new cars. You pay one low hourly or daily rate. And we look after everything else. Even petrol. All you have to do is drive. What are the benefits of car sharing to me? Flexicar offers you the freedom of driving your own car without the costs and hassles of owning one. Car ownership is expensive. And environmentally costly. So if you drive less than 15,000 km a year, you’ll find car sharing significantly cheaper than owning your own car. You pay one low hourly or daily rate and we cover all the costs. So you don’t have to worry about registration, insurance, cleaning, maintenance, or petrol. You get to drive the car you want, when you want. Is car sharing the same as car-pooling? No. Car sharing is a member run service that we organise for you and you pay to use by the hour or day. All you have to do is book a car, when you want and where you want and we pay all the costs. Our cars are a pay-as-you-go service. What are the environmental benefits of car sharing? Car sharing means less pollution, less congestion and a healthier city. All our cars have been chosen for their fuel efficiency, low emissions and compact size. And sharing our cars means older, more polluting cars are being replaced by newer cars. Car sharing also means fewer cars on the road, and because we are a pay-as-you-go service, our members choose to use a car only when necessary. This means people walk, cycle and use public transport more. And rely on car sharing only when they absolutely need to drive. Are there other car sharing companies? Car sharing is widely established in Europe, Britain, Canada and America. It is broadening all the time, with more and more global cities establishing car sharing networks to serve the growing number of people keen to share cars rather than owning their own. How does Flexicar compare to other car sharing companies? Our rates are more inclusive than other companies, and in Melbourne our fleet is bigger and we service more suburbs. We also pay your petrol costs – up to 100 kms free with each booking. Who supports car sharing in Australia? Car sharing is supported broadly in Australia by governments, businesses and individuals. Local councils generously support Flexicar, and provide us with homes for our many cars. We have a great relationship with Metlink, and have received various government sustainability and business grants. Car sharing is supported by anyone who sees the long-term environmental value in sharing cars rather than owning them. If you have any other questions simply email us your query to info@flexicar.com.au or phone 1300 36 37 80. |
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