Communauto Inc and subsidiary Vrtucar aquires Community Carshare

Car sharing in Waterloo Region is about change owners, which could lead to better deals for its users.

Community Carshare, which has operated the nonprofit service for the last two years in the region, has been put up for sale and is being purchased by Vrtucar, which is a subsidiary if Montreal-based Communauto Inc.

Communauto, the first and largest car sharing company in Canada, and Vrtucar, its subsidiary, will announce Tuesday they are taking over the car sharing service operated by Community Carshare in Waterloo Region, Hamilton, Guelph and London and will present their plans to enhance the service.

Wilson Wood, president and founder of Vrtucar, and Benoit Robert, president and founder of Communauto, have invited the media to a public launch and press conference at the Tannery in Kitchener at 10 a.m.

Established in 1994, Communauto merged with Vrtucar in 2016 and operates a for-profit car-sharing service in Montreal, Quebec City, Sherbrooke, Gatineau, Ottawa, Kingston, Halifax and Paris, France.

Earlier this month, Matthew Piggott, Community Carshare’s business development and member services manager, told the city of Cambridge the pending sale to Vrtucar could lead to a rate cut of as much as 25 per cent for local car share users.