Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s CarShare program will return to their usual rates in spring 2016. Their partnership with Nissan only reduces rates during the fall semesters in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
AN INCREASE IN PRICE
Students can take advantage of a $1, one-time registration fee this fall 2015 semester due to the partnership Enterprise has with Nissan, but in spring this fee will increase to $30. This money will go towards the first few hours of driving.
The hourly rate during fall is $5 an hour and will increase to $8 in spring. The promotional price for each hour will resume again in the fall semesters of 2016 and 2017. These fees include car rental, gas, 24 hour roadside assistance and liability protection, meaning they will pay the first $300 of damage if an accident occurs.
A GROWING PROGRAM
The CarShare program started in fall 2010 to support students who are unable to access cars, and has significantly increased in members since then.
“The program has been very successful! It has grown from just a handful of members the first year, to over 200 current members ranging from freshmen all the way up to seniors, and even a few faculty members,” said Paul Glynn, Enterprise director of sales, in an email.
Currently, there is a Nissan Frontier and a Nissan Sentra students can rent, which are parked in Lot H when not in use.
“So that Frontier wasn’t always on campus, it actually happened this semester. I started working for Enterprise last spring and I just did background work and they want me to kind of look around and see what I thought about the cars and I said to my boss, ‘Well, you know, students at Biola are so adventurous I think there needs to be something to accommodate that side’ because they just had two small sedans,” said Gisselle Trochez, junior marketing major and intern with Enterprise.
SEARCHING FOR OPTIONS
This has proved beneficial to students who do not have cars appropriate for carrying outdoor equipment or other large items. Despite having a car on campus, junior film major Isaac Suhu is thankful the CarShare program has a truck available.
“So as a film major, we’re always dealing with equipment, cause I know they have a truck we can rent and that’s already a huge, huge benefit for multiple things we are doing in terms of projects, so that’s highly beneficial to me,” Suhu said.
Trochez explained that her position allows her to sit in on meetings where Enterprise employees discuss different options that can be used for the CarShare program on Biola’s campus.
“I get to hear how they are really searching for options to benefit students which is really cool,” Trochez said.
Enterprise will host a food drive called Coffee for Cans on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Student Union Building. Students who donate a can of food will be given a cup of Mitchell Canyon Coffee and a donut. Donations will be given to the Second Harvest Food Bank, which aims to eliminate hunger in the Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
