Anian Schmitt, co-owner of OnlyRoses
Cars: 1, a Smart Fortwo; hire vehicles as needed
Financing method: Lease and car club spot hire
Anian Schmitt runs OnlyRoses with his wife, Sabine.
As the OnlyRoses name suggests, the south-west London company specialises in one thing: roses. The roses come from Ecuador. Anian collects them twice weekly from the airport.
The business also delivers roses from its shop to customers throughout London, as and when orders are placed.
That means OnlyRoses needs a delivery vehicle, but not all the time – and it’s impossible to predict when. It also makes little sense to lease a van full time for just two jobs per week. Anian’s solution is simple: rent vehicles when they’re needed.
Editor’s note on Streetcar
- This story about OnlyRoses and its use of a car club was first published on 24 April 2008
- Since then the car club Streetcar has been bought by Zipcar
OnlyRoses leases a Smart Fortwo full time, but for larger deliveries, they hire a VW Golf from an innovative company called Streetcar – a car club. They also use a Streetcar-provided VW Transporter van for the twice-weekly airport collection.
Streetcar supplies self-service pay-as-you go hire vehicles, which are available 24 hours a day. You can hire them for anything between 30 minutes and six months. The vehicles are located at more than 500 locations across six cities, including London.
When you need a car, you book it by phone or online. Then you go to the nearest Streetcar vehicle, open it using a smartcard, drive the car and return it to a Streetcar parking space when you’ve finished.
Anian says: “It works very well for us. There are usually five Streetcar vehicles within five minutes’ walk of the shop. I have been using Streetcar since June 2007 and there’s always a vehicle available when I need it, even at short notice.
“There’s a guaranteed parking space when I’ve finished using the car, too – a real advantage in this part of London.