How One Woman Is Making Car Rentals Easier for People With Disabilities

When Charlotte de Vilmorin was frustrated with the lack of affordable transportation options for people with disabilities, she launched Wheeliz, a company that provides renters with wheelchair accessible vehicles.

De Vilmorin, who is based in Paris, France, first got the idea when traveling to Florida earlier this year, reported Mashable. After a lengthy search she finally found a company that would accommodate her need for a wheelchair accessible vehicle, but it was going to cost approximately $1,000 for 10 days.

De Vilmorin told Mashable she believed wheelchair users would be eager to share their adapted cars to earn extra income and help others, so she created the service to connect vehicle owners with renters.

According to the Wheeliz website, their rates are up to 50 percent cheaper than those offered by other major car rental companies, and they also provide both renters and owners with insurance.

Wheeliz is based in France and currently serves the cities of Paris, Nantes and Bordeaux, but de Vilmorin told Mashable she has plans to expand internationally. The company is also looking into hiring its own drivers and launching a smartphone app, though de Vilmorin noted those aren’t currently their top priorities.

In September Rémi Janot, Wheeliz co-founder and CTO, told bloggers at Logmatic, the data operations company that Wheeliz uses to run their business, that Wheeliz currently has over 1000 users and 120 cars listed in France.

After its official launch earlier this year, Wheeliz has won several awards, including the Moovjee contest Engagement Citoyen award and the best project at the Assises de la Finance Participative.