Nissan, Enterprise Want to Get 'Em Hooked on Versa Young
Nissan and Enterprise CarShare announced Tuesday a plan to equip 90 colleges and universities in the United States exclusively with Nissan cars for students to move, haul, travel (and barf in the backseat) for $5 an hour until Dec. 31.
Presumably, the college experience includes familiarity with the Versa Note’s hand-crank windows and will ultimately feed into Nissan’s College Grad sales program.
(I’d like to say the whole thing will be wildly ineffectual, but while typing away on my Mac this morning the first basis for reference I could think of was my elementary school’s beige Apple crapboxes in the 1980s. On that basis: It’ll work, Nissan.)
Enterprise offers their cars on 90 campuses around the country for drivers who are 18 years old and older (18- to 21-year-old drivers need to get a parental consent form). Enterprise CarShare is also offered in several major metropolitan centers including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
Fees for the service vary depending on usage. The most basic plan includes a $40 annual membership charge and hourly fees from $3 to $9 depending on location.
Competing service ZipCar says they have more than 100 universities signed up for their car sharing service.
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"18- to 21-year-old drivers need to get a parental consent form" Consent form or co-signer to the rental agreement? I wonder if "consent" includes legal or financial liability on the part of the parents.
It's a brilliant plan, and here's why. - A lot of colleges don't allow freshmen to have cars. - With tuition costing what it does, a lot of students' families can't afford cars. - A lot of parents don't want their kids to have cars in college. I know all this because I have two kids in college, and for one of those kids, I was a PTA president when he was in middle school. I know a LOT of parents. Now here's where it makes money. It gets those kids into a Versa, when they've been shuttled in minivans for years. It familiarizes them not only with Nissan as a brand, but also Enterprise, who when this is over, will be glad to sell them a used Versa, or rent them a car, or put them back in a short-term rental when they move to the big city after graduating. It's brilliant. Well done Nissan and Enterprise.
The Versa seems like an appropriate car for today's lowered expectations and living in your parents basement after graduation. Versa: The Perfect Car For When You've Completely Given Up On Life
Making Nissan the fastest car they've ever driven!