Torontonians love Zipcar and Autoshare (and IKEA, too)

Toronto’s short-term car rental market is blowing up, to the delight of companies like Zipcar, which is predicting 20 per cent growth in sales through to 2013. Meanwhile, Car2Go is lobbying the city for parking permits for its one-way hourly rental fleet, and even legacy rental companies like Hertz and Enterprise are experimenting with short-term, self-serve hourly rentals. Kevin McLaughlin, president and founder of Toronto-based AutoShare, says condo construction, traffic and the price of gas are all turning Torontonians off of car ownership (we’d add that owning property in the city probably makes it harder to afford a vehicle too). Further proving that young, urban condo dwellers are a big part of the market, the top reasons for short-term car rentals are trips to see Mom and forays to IKEA. [Moneyville]