Cityhop vs Mevo: What Is Car Sharing and How Does It Work?

In this article:

What is car sharing?
How does it work?
Car rental vs car share
Pros and cons
Car sharing NZ: what’s available?
Which car sharing service is best?

What is car sharing?

Car sharing is a type of car rental arrangement. It’s one that’s designed to be available on-demand, at any time of day, and with the flexibility of renting a vehicle for very short trips and periods of time.

How does it work?

Car sharing actually works a lot like the for-hire scooters and bikes you find littered across our major cities. You find a parked vehicle from a car share company, unlock it through an app/with a key card, and then pay by the hour (or even by the minute).

When you’re done, you don’t have to drop it back at a designated rental office, simply the car park you collected it from. Or, as you’ll see below, some providers allow you to simply drop it off anywhere within a designated area, so you don’t even need to return it to the same spot.

Another way to think of it is like Uber. Only you have to drive the Uber yourself!

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Car share vs car rental

As mentioned above, a car share service is actually a type of car rental service. Only it’s designed for different needs.

Car rental

A traditional car rental service is usually for one of two things:

1. A vehicle to use if you’ve flown somewhere on holiday or a business trip
2. A large van or truck to help you move home

The shortest rental option is typically a full day. You have to pay for and top up any petrol you use plus insurance. You also have to pick up/return the vehicle from/to a rental office.

Car share

A car share aims to make car rentals easier and more widely useful. Think of all the scenarios when having access to a car would be useful, but getting a car rental is impractical:

• You planned on grabbing an Uber somewhere but prices are high/availability is slim
• You missed the bus/the bus never showed up and don’t want to wait for the next one
• There aren’t any practical bus routes near you
• If you usually walk/bus to the supermarket, a car-share vehicle allows you to buy in bulk as opposed to only what you can carry
• Your car won’t start and you need to get to work
• You want to go for a short hike just out of the city but there are no public transport options to get there
• You bought an item of furniture that won’t fit in your little hatchback and want to hire a van, but you only need it for the 20-minute drive from the store to your house, not a full day
• As a replacement for a second vehicle that isn’t often used but is needed on occasion

In all the above scenarios, a car share service would be beneficial but a traditional car rental would be impractical/impossible.

Car sharing: what are the upsides?

Aside from all the convenience outlined above, some key benefits to car sharing come with:

• No need to pay for fuel
• Insurance is included in the price
• Parking is free
• You don’t have to worry about maintenance/repairs/servicing
• Access to a car without the significant outlay of buying a new car

→Related article: Car Depreciation: How Much Value Does a New Car Lose?

Car sharing: what are the downsides?

Car sharing is a revolutionary idea and one that has the potential to shake up not only the car rental market but transport altogether. Just imagine a future with such an abundance of ride-share options (from electric scooters and bikes to vehicles) that you don’t need to own a car of your own. Whenever you need to go anywhere, there’s transport available!

However, car sharing is far from being that future just yet. Which leads us to the current downsides.

• Locations – car share vehicles are only in select cities, and within those cities only in select, and typically central, parts
• The number of vehicles – is currently small. There isn’t a car-share vehicle on every street waiting to be used
• Drop-offs – currently, some providers require you to return the vehicle to the same spot you collected it from, which limits the use case for one-way trips. Others let you park it anywhere within a designated zone, but as these zones are currently small and limited, one-way trips remain difficult

What car share companies are available?

Cityhop

Cityhop is a NZ car share company founded in 2007 in Auckland. It is the longest-running car share company operating in the country.

Locations

Cityhop is available in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

Vehicles

Cityhop has a range of petrol, hybrid, and electric vehicles available for instant hire. You can choose from vans, SUVs, wagons, sedans and hatchbacks. Note that in Christchurch and Hamilton Cityhop only offers van hire, based out of Mitre 10 locations.

→Related article: Should You Buy a Hybrid? The Best Hybrid Cars in New Zealand

Drop-offs

Cityhop requires you to return the vehicle to the same park you collected it from.

Process

Once you’ve signed up for Cityhop, you need to collect your keycard from one of its collection points. You can then book a vehicle at any time through the Cityhop app, and use the keycard to unlock the pre-booked vehicle.

Fuel/insurance

Included in the price you pay. You are not required to top up any fuel used.

Price

When you sign up for Cityhop you have two options, join as a free user (Hop Starter) or as a member (Hop Regular). Hop Regular has a $10/month fee but offers cheaper rates, which is ideal for those planning to regular use the service. Note that Hop Regular is only available to Auckland and Wellington customers.

Cityhop vehicles can be hired by the hour or by the day, with an additional charge for km travelled.

Mevo

Wellington-based Mevo launched its first vehicles in Wellington in 2017. After its acquisition of Loop in 2021, it has since expanded into Hamilton and Auckland. Mevo offsets all emissions involved with its fleets by 120%, meaning members have a positive impact on the planet with every single trip.

Locations

Mevo is available in Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland.

Vehicles

Mevo’s fleet consists of compact vehicles and SUVs with several electric options.

Drop-offs

Mevo Flex (in Wellington and Auckland) allows users to return vehicles to any eligible park within the flex zone, providing added flexibility and the option for one-way trips. Mevo Loop (operates in Hamilton) requires Mevo vehicles to be collected from designated Mevo loop parks and returned to the same Loop park to complete the journey.

Process

Once you’ve signed up for Mevo you can start booking vehicles from the Mevo app. Unlocking a vehicle can be done directly from your phone.

Fuel/insurance

Included in the price you pay. You are not required to top up any fuel used.

Price

Mevo is free to use (no membership fees) with you only paying for what you use. All vehicles charge a flat rate of $0.90 per minute up to a designated hourly cap. For example, the Tesla Model 3 has an hourly cap of $30. So if you hired it for 43 minutes ($0.90 x 43 = $37.80) you would still only pay $30.

If you intend to use the vehicle for the full day, you will be charged for no more than 5 hours of use. That means you could hire the above Tesla Model 3 for a full day (24 hours) and pay just $150 ($30/hr x 5 = $150) Overnight rates (6pm-8am) are capped at just 2 hours.

You can see a breakdown of prices below:

Zilch

Zilch is a purely EV car-share service offering both on-demand car-sharing, as well as commuter subscription services.

Locations

Zilch is available in Auckland and Christchurch.

Vehicles

Zilch currently offers three fully electric models to choose from:  the Hyundai Kona and Hyundai Ioniq, plus the BMW i3.

Drop-offs

Vehicles can be collected from designated Zilch self-service hubs and returned to the same hub.

Process

Once you’ve signed up for Zilch, you can book a vehicle through the Zilch app. You can then use your Zilch card or scan the QR code to unlock the vehicle.

Charging/insurance

Included in the price you pay.

Price

Zilch can be hired by the hour or by the day. All vehicles have the same rate of:

• $16/hr
• $119/day

Zilch’s commuter subscription allows you to hire the car long-term to use for your work commute. The car must be dropped off at its (free) CBD location every day by 9am. You are then allowed to collect it again from 4.30pm onwards. This allows the car to be used for car sharing throughout the day, while you get it for your commute to and from work, and overnight. Furthermore, when Friday rolls around, you get the vehicle all weekend!

For those that currently drive to work, and pay for their own petrol plus parking, Zilch’s commuter subscription could save you thousands.

You can see the commuter rates below:

Which car share service is best?

This isn’t straightforward to answer, as it will depend on a wide variety of factors.

On paper, Cityhop has the cheapest rates. However, it also charges a fee per km driven, so depending on how far you go in an hour, it could be more expensive. It also requires you to return the vehicle to where you collected it from.

Mevo provides the benefit of per-minute pricing, so if you just need to go and grab something from the store, and will only be using it for 10-15 minutes, it could be the cheapest option. The overnight rates in particular also work out really cheap. Where else can you hire a Tesla for 14 hours and pay just $60?

Zilch also provides excellent rates for EVs and offers the cheapest daily rate for EVs. It also has its unique subscription package which, for certain users, could save thousands of dollars a year.

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About the author of this page

This report was written by Canstar Content Producer, Andrew Broadley. Andrew is an experienced writer with a wide range of industry experience. Starting out, he cut his teeth working as a writer for print and online magazines, and he has worked in both journalism and editorial roles. His content has covered lifestyle and culture, marketing and, more recently, finance for Canstar.