In the film Beverly Hills Cop, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) asks his love interest, “Is this your car?”

She replies, “Oh, no. In Beverly Hills we just take whichever car is closest.”

I always loved that line.

Now it’s (almost) come true.

“Car Sharing Goes Upscale” by Paul Boutin, a Slate.com podcast brought me up to speed.

No longer a “save the Earth guilt trip”, car sharing is now cool.

In San Francisco you can grab a CityCarShare.com economy car just about anywhere in town and pay just $4/hr plus $.44/mile. That includes gas, insurance and parking.

Sweet!

As a non-car-owner I would take advantage of that often. A friend in Calgary has been doing something similar here. I will check it out.

High rollers and business travellers are paying much, much more for short-term luxury car hourly rentals. In San Francisco check ZipCar.com

It’s become a hip thing to do there.

Product complaint: I would love to link to the original Slate.com podcast archive so you could listen for yourself. But they look to be 3 weeks behind in posting them!

Instead you could search iTunes > podcasts > Slate Magazine Daily Podcast.