How to use carsharing

Carsharing is a type of short-term car rental with per-minute pricing. It is usually used for short intra-city trips. The system includes the Moscow carsharing operators: Delimobil, Citydrive, BelkaCar, Yandex.Drive.

The rental price varies depending on the selected operator and the class of car and ranges from five to 20 rubles per minute. The advantage of carsharing is that you do not have to spend money on parking, gasoline, insurance, car wash and maintenance.

To rent a car, you need to register in the mobile app of the operator (in some cases, you may need a Russian SIM card for registration). During the registration process, you need to attach photos of your passport and driver's license, as well as your selfie with your passport, and then sign the contract (by joining the terms of the operator in the application). The verification procedure may take several days.

You can book an available car in the app. Once the car is reserved, you have some free booking time, an average of 20 minutes, to get to it. After that time, the payment for the waiting rate begins. Auto opens using the app. All the necessary documents and the ignition key are inside. After a visual inspection of the car for damage, you can start renting.

After using the car, you need to complete the rental. Most often, the use of the car is considered terminated after clicking the "End rental / Завершить аренду" button in the app, but it is better to check with the operator in advance, from which point it stops debiting funds for rent.

Please note: each operator has its own restrictions on the age and driving experience of users. This information is available on the websites and applications of carsharing operators. You can also view contacts for requests there.

You can park your car within the rental completion zones both in Moscow and in the suburb. At the same time, the carsharing user is exempt from the parking fee in the paid parking zones, provided that the traffic rules are observed.

Some operators provide users with the opportunity to complete the rental in the parking lots of Moscow airports. But it is better to check the service areas and the end of the rental, as they are different for all operators.

The funds are debited automatically from the bank card linked to the personal account of the mobile app.

Do not forget that the use of a rented car does not exempt you from liability: fines for traffic violations, the cost of paying for impoundment lot and towing are borne by the tenant. Despite the fact that the vehicles are insured, all operators are financially liable for damage to the car in an accident caused by the driver.

In addition, each operator has its own system of penalties. Most often, these are fines for a failure to keep the cabin clean, loss of documents, completion of the lease with an empty fuel tank, and others. To learn more about them, read the contract carefully before signing.

Each carsharing operator has its own procedure for returning cars from an impoundment lot. Most often, two options are offered:

• the operator picks up the impounded carsharing car on its own. In this case, the person who used the carsharing last, pays a fine for parking, impoundment, storage of the car at the impoundment lot and a fine that the operator can assign;
• the driver who left the car in the wrong place, picks it up from the impoundment lot on their own. In this case, they only pay for towing, a fine for parking and, if necessary, the storage of cars in a impoundment lot.

If the car was not impounded in your presence, you will be contacted (by phone, SMS, email or in the app) by representatives of the carsharing company and will tell you what options you have. If you yourself noticed that the carsharing car was towed, call the operator; thus, you will avoid overpayment for long-term storage of the car in the impoundment lot.