There is a market of course for car sharing. But I think what people are forgetting is that the reason why someone might go with a name brand (McDonalds/Avis/Mariott etc.) is that you get the "system" and some quality controls and hopefully the same product anywhere. This will be much harder to scale with a zipcar type system (or airbnb) because you have much less control over the product or the interaction with the end user. You can't have a maid supervisor make sure the room was clean and all the linens are in place. You can't centralize the cleaning, maintenance and readiness of the vehicle inventory.
There is a market of course for car sharing. But I think what people are forgetting is that the reason why someone might go with a name brand (McDonalds/Avis/Mariott etc.) is that you get the "system" and some quality controls and hopefully the same product anywhere. This will be much harder to scale with a zipcar type system (or airbnb) because you have much less control over the product or the interaction with the end user. You can't have a maid supervisor make sure the room was clean and all the linens are in place. You can't centralize the cleaning, maintenance and readiness of the vehicle inventory.