The worldwide recession has hit businesses around the world in all kinds of ways, and luxuries have had to go–which in some cases has been the company car. Ingenious car rental companies like Streetcar and Zipcar have been literally cleaning up in the past two years, though. Memberships have been on the rise considerably with Streetcar doubling theirs to more than 75,000 people and they hope to make that 250,000 within just a couple of years.

The advantage to being a member of one of these firms is that car rental can be done by the hour so that if someone has a meeting across town they do not have the added expense of hiring a car for the whole day, instead of just for the required time. It makes perfect sense in this throw-away world we live in today as users will simply “throw” the car away after their short rental–but the car will be recycled by the next customer.

After signing up for one of these companies, customers receive their smart card through the post. This card enables them to unlock the car they have chosen to hire at a certain location. Insurance and petrol all come under the hourly rate, which makes the car even more convenient to use.

City Car Club is another hourly rental company and they have just recently completed the buyout of one of their rivals in the north, WhizzGo. This small acquisition has now made them the single biggest operator in the UK for this kind of service, something which they hope to grow on in the future.