The principle of Carsharing is simple: Individuals gain the benefits of a private car without the costs and responsibilities of ownership. Instead of owning one or more vehicles, a household accesses a fleet of vehicles on an as-needed basis. Carsharing may be thought of as organized short-term car rental.
Carsharing differs from traditional car rentals in the following ways:
Vehicle stations are distributed throughout Karlsruhe and the surrounding area. They are positioned for easy access by public transport.
Carsharing is not limited by office hours: Reservation, pickup and return is all self-service.
Vehicles can be rented by the hour, by the day or by weeks depending on your needs.
Base of the agreement is a contract between stadtmobil and the customer. A valid driving licence and residence in Germany are required.
To find out more, please take a look at our briefing. Please note that this new briefing will apply from 01.01.2025.
If you would like to become a stadtmobil customer, the first steps are signing the contract and paying the registration fee and depending on the starterpackage also a deposit. After returning the signed contract you will be given:
The contract is similar to an extended rental contract and eliminates the need for individual contracts at each booking.
After applying you can use our cars. When you come to apply in our office or per Videochat, please bring your German or European Driving license, your residence authorization and a valid passport.
The costs of use are calculated based on the length of time booked (time rate) plus the kilometers driven (price per km) depending on the car category. You may find the price list for your specific area in German (Downloads >Tarifordnung).
At stadtmobil Karlsruhe we maintain a fleet of different low-emission and fuel-efficient cars: Compact cars, mid-sized cars, estate cars, minibuses and full-sized vans for our customers. We have parking lots set up throughout the area and are responsible for servicing and repairing these vehicles.
stadtmobil vehicles, like privately owned vehicles, can be used for different lengths of time (a few hours, days or weeks) and can be reserved at any time over the telephone or on the internet. Whether one needs a vehicle on short notice or has planned far ahead, requests are filled exactly as needed nine times out of ten. For the remaining 10% of cases, an alternative is offered, which may be a different vehicle, a different station or if nothing else is possible a different time slot.
Before a drive, the vehicle or electronic key-locker is opened with a chipcard and a PIN-code. Vehicles can be refueled at no expense to the driver with our refueling cards, available in every vehicle. At the end of a trip the vehicle must be returned to the same place, where it has been picked up.
In addition to our own fleet stadtmobil customers can also use vehicles belonging to cooperating car sharing programs in other areas in Germany. We take care of the communication between the cooperating organizations for our customers.
For our customers, vehicles are seen as a means to an end. Their motto is “using instead of owning”. Combined with public transportation, walking and cycling, the CarSharing system offers enough flexibility to take care of the mobility needs of our customers. You are mobile without owning your own car.
stadtmobil customers use the vehicles for a variety of purposes such as shopping, when friends and family are visiting, as well as daytrips, holidays and business trips. Most of the time however, they get around on foot, by bike or by public transport.
CarSharing contributes to the protection of the environment. Each CarSharing vehicle replaces seven to ten privately owned vehicles.
On average the use of each vehicle is split between 15 CarSharing customers. This results in:
All levels of government recognize these points as vital for the sustained protection of the environment.
Before your Trip: Check the car
Before you start your journey please walk around the car and check for visible damages. Damage which is noted in the lockbook doesn’t need mentioning, but if you find other damage, please call us before you start your trip – that will exculpate you.
Drive
Your reservation will be transmitted to the car and you will be able to drive it at the scheduled time.
At some parking stations there will be a small card reader mounted on the windscreen. Once the customer places their customer card on the reader, it will use what is called blink technology to activate the booking and unlock the car. The reader will not work until the time of your specific reservation. The keys are sticking in the terminal of the onboard computer which is located in the glove box. At this terminal you need to enter your PIN before starting the car.
At other parking stations where we offer a lot of cars, you will find an electronic key-locker that contains the ignition keys. This key-locker is also opened by placing the customer card at the display and entering your PIN.
If you are running late for giving back the car, please call our 24/7 booking center as soon as possible. In most cases it is possible to extend the booked time.
If a reserved vehicle is not where it should be, please be patient. The driver may merely be delayed by traffic. Call the 24/7 booking center if it is more than ten minutes late. Central booking may have more information as to the whereabouts of the vehicle. If it is not possible to wait for the originally booked vehicle, you can book another for the same price or you may cancel with no cost to you.
Refueling
Our customers are responsible for filling up the tank when it’s low, but you don’t need to refuel every time you drive. When the tank is only ¼ full or less, we kindly ask you to fill up. The same applies to other operating fluids, such as AdBlue or windshield wiper fluid. In the car you will find a “fuelling card”. You can pay with this card at ARAL and other filling stations with a “Routex”-sign in Germany and in other European countries. By paying with this card you will be asked for a fuel PIN which is always noted on the key-chain. Please place make an entry with the fuelling details.
If you have to fill up at a station which does not accept the fuelling card, please just pay the bill, make your entry in the logbook and submit the receipt to the stadtmobil office. We recompense your costs.
Insurance
All our cars are covered by insurance. If you have caused an accident you have an insurance excess which amounts to a max. of 900 Euros. We offer a “safety kit” with an annual subscription which reduces your insurance excess to 300,- Euros max.
Accidents must be immediately reported both to the police and to stadtmobil who will take care of everything to do with the insurance. In case of an accident please call our 24/7 booking center.
After Your Trip
Vehicles must be returned to the station where they were picked up. Note your trip-details in the logbook. Finally, lock the vehicle and return the key to the key-locker for the next user.
At stations without key-lockers replace the key to the terminal in the glove-box and lock the car by placing your chipcard in front of the cardreader at the windscreen.
Please make sure the vehicles are clean before returning them, especially on the inside. You too appreciate a clean car!
Costs
Beside a small monthly fee you only pay for driving. Driving costs are always composed of a time and distance rate which depend on the car type, the amount of time you are using it and the distance you drive. Once a month you receive a detailed bill for your trips and other expenses you may incur. The monthly fees are billed in one lump sum in April or May of the year. Customers generally pay by automatic debit.
This instruction does not replace the explanatory notes in the stadtmobil handbook. It is noncommittal if it should come to a judicial dispute and does not replace our German standard business conditions and pay scale conditions.
The vehicles are parked at different stations. You can use vehicles from any of these. The car has to be returned to the station it was originally picked up from. A few of the stations have only one or two vehicles each, others have up to over twenty cars available. All vehicles are accessible around the clock. Stations with more than one car offer vehicles of various classes. Some of the stations have electronic key-lockers, at the others the vehicles are equipped with onboard computers, eliminating the need for a key-locker.
Reservations can be made online or over the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The booking agents at the service center take care of all bookings, cancellations and extensions. If the vehicle you want is reserved by another customer, the booking agent will give you other options to meet your needs.
You can book spontaneously or months ahead of time. The smallest time unit is one hour. When you book over the telephone please state:
There is a higher chance of availability the earlier the reservation is made.
Cancelation of a reservation is free up to 24 hours before the start of the reservation, after that you pay half of the time cost plus one Euro cancellation-fee.
With the stadtmobil app, you can find out which cars are available nearby. As a registered customer you can book your car spontaneously or up to six months in advance.
Let the videos show you how CarSharing with stadtmobil works.
"stadtmobil Karlsruhe: that's how it works!"
Everything you need to know about booking and using a stadtmobil-car - in one video.
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stadtmobil cars without fix locations, freefloating-Carsharing in Karlsruhe - that's stadtflitzer!
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