Car rental app Flexdrive goes live in South Jersey and Montco

“You already subscribe to smartphones, movies, music and so much more. Why not cars?”

The Twitter bio of Flexdrive Cherry Hill is a succinct and compelling depiction of what the company’s main premise is: rather than buy or lease a car, the company lets anyone over 25 with a valid driver’s license pay a weekly fee to “subscribe” to a car (so, yes, basically a lease, but there’s more).

Flexdrive is a joint venture between Cox Automotive (yes, the ones behind the Kelley Blue Book) and Mt. Laurel, N.J.-based Holman Enterprises. It’s an expansion of a platform previously available in cities like Austin and Atlanta.

So what’s the tech angle here? Holman EVP Bill Cariss told Technical.ly that the “frictionless” leasing process done through a mobile app is the differentiator between the company’s offering and other car sharing services like Enterprise CarShare. Users can then swing by four dealership locations across South Jersey and Montco to pick up their ride.

Another difference: Flexdrive has weekly pricing, rather than the more fractioned hourly rates available in similar services. One of those super tiny Smart cars will run you $99 a week, with your average pre-owned sedan going for about $200.

Counterintuitively, Cariss downplays the company’s reach for the elusive millennial market. It’s one of the targets, for sure, what with the frictionless payment process and free avocado toast mobile app. But the company is also targeting “snowbirds” and members of the military that may only want temporary access to a car in a specific area.