Car sharing platform Hiyacar comes north to launch in Edinburgh

Car sharing platform Hiyacar is set to launch in Edinburgh as it gears-up for a move north of the border.

Vehicle available through hiyacar

The platform has hired Keith Stark as Business Development Lead to coordinate the company's expansion in Scotland following his 14 years of experience in setting up car sharing clubs across Scotland.

Hiyacar was established in 2016 and is the longest serving peer-to-peer car sharing service still in operation in the UK.

The term ‘car share’ means paying to use a car that is owned by someone else.

Keith Stark

There are typically two types of car-sharing platforms in the UK: car clubs and peer to peer.

Car clubs have their own fleets, which means the car share provider owns a fleet of cars that they then rent out to people.

And then there are the peer-to-peer platforms which allow private owners to rent out their cars to other drivers while they’re not using it.

Hiyacar has said that the two main benefits of car sharing are to help people reduce their monthly costs relating to car ownership and to help protect the environment by reducing car production and the amount of vehicles on the road.

The platform says that someone needing the use of a car once a month could save over £1,500 a year by renting as opposed to owning their car.

They also say that car sharing can drastically reduce the number of cars on the road and that the emissions created during the manufacturing process can often match - or even exceed - exhaust emissions over a car’s lifetime.

Keith Stark said: “hiyacar has the most versatile and secure car sharing platform in the industry. I am looking forward to helping launch Hiyacar in Scotland and developing Community Car Clubs.’’

Graeme Risby, co-founder and CEO of Hiyacar, said: “We are extremely excited to have Keith as part of the Hiyacar team. His knowledge and experience within the Scottish car sharing industry will be incremental when introducing our brand to a new audience outside of England. After a succession of successful years we have big expansion plans in the coming years and Keith will play a key part in driving this.”

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