The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently issued guidelines to promote a short-hire business model for small and micro vehicles.

It indicates short-time vehicle renting, known to the public as shared cars, is being officially supported by the authorities.

With the rapid development of the mobile internet, short-time car hire services have developed rapidly in China, with users quick to realize their advantages in terms of convenience, efficiency and cost. The periodic car leasing business model is also proving attractive to more and more companies, and it is being rolled out in an increasing number of cities, especially those with government restrictions on the purchasing and use of cars.

The short-time vehicle rental model is an improvement on the traditional car rental model in terms of service mode, technology and management. The guidelines issued by the two ministries predict short-time vehicle rentals will increasingly be the urban transportation mode of choice for many drivers, which will be conducive to reducing individual purchases of cars and so ease the traffic pressure in cities.

According to the document, short-time car rental companies are encouraged to use new energy vehicles and adopt a credit system instead of deposits.