Hola Hyundai Santa Cruz! The Hyundai Santa Cruz is based on the Hyundai Tucson SUV, reimagined into a pickup truck-like style. The Santa Cruz seats up to five people and is incredibly fun to drive, featuring parking/safety/lane-keep-assist sensors, a great turning radius, is all-wheel drive, and is keyless. Begin, pause, resume, and end trips with the Evie Carshare App or Metro Transit GoTo Card, no keys are required!
Members from the ‘days of HOURCAR past’ have long expressed excitement for the return of a pickup truck to our fleet, and where we are excited to offer this vehicle, there are some important things you should know:
Santa Cruz Info:
$5 Trip-Start Fee (Unlock Fee):
All trips on the Santa Cruz start with a $5 Trip-Start Fee (invoiced as an “Unlock Fee”). Since all HOURCARs are priced the same, this $5 fee will be applied specifically for vehicle repairs, maintenance, and operations. The $5 fee will only apply to the Santa Cruz to help adjust for overall cost differences, including procurement, repairs, and general maintenance.
Start, Pause, Resume, End as Normal:
There’s a $5 Trip-Start (Unlock) Fee. This is specifically designed for the above purposes, in addition to encourage that people only use this vehicle for its purposes. The $5 Trip-Start Fee will only be applied once you start the trip, not during or after. Remember to properly pause and resume all trips to make sure the vehicle is properly secured during stopovers while on your trip. The $5 Trip-Start Fee may be coded as an “unlock fee” on your invoice, however, there is no charge each time you lock/unlock the car, only when you begin your trip with a specialized HOURCAR vehicle.
Located in Mighty Midway:
There’s only one Santa Cruz, and it starts with a $5 Trip-Start Fee for each initiated trip. All trips with the Hyundai Santa Cruz must begin and end at the Creative Enterprise Zone’s head office on University and Vandalia. This location is a brand-new hub (Thanks CEZ!) specifically located between both Minneapolis and Saint Paul, right on the Metro Transit Green Line. Getting there is incredibly easy – just hop on the Green Line LRT, take an Evie, ride a bike, or enjoy a brisk walk. Plus while you’re there, take a walk around and enjoy the beautiful artwork provided by the Creative Enterprise Zone!
Specialized Vehicles:
In the world of carshare, trucks are considered “specialized vehicles”, which are utilized in ways other vehicles in the service aren’t. This results in excessive utilization, higher damage, increased maintenance and fuel costs, and high up-front expenses. As always, make sure damages are reported ASAP so we can keep this vehicle in tip-top shape and as available as possible. As with all other HOURCAR vehicles, find the fuel card in the glove box, the PIN in the app to refuel it (you must start your trip to get access to the fuel PIN), and remember to keep it cleaned, fueled up and returned on-time for the next member.
FAQs:
That’s a great question. We purchased the Santa Cruz SE. Learn more here.
Good for you – it doesn’t matter! Our insurance doesn’t cover towing, which is why we don’t install hitches on our vehicles. Towing or hauling externally may violate our insurance policy and may result in the termination of membership in addition to other costs/fees.
Hyundai chose a variety of colors for their vehicles. This is the color we got!
Long story short, back in the ‘Days of Yore’, HOURCAR used to have two trucks in our fleet for our members; one was in St Paul and the other in Minneapolis. Both vehicles were heavily used, however were also often unintentionally misused, resulting in excessive vehicular wear & tear and higher operational costs than other vehicles offered. Eventually, after years of wear and tear, both trucks were removed from our service to focus on our core function.
After a long internal discussion, we decided to bring one truck-like vehicle back into our services as a specialized trial vehicle. As a specialized vehicle, each trip now has a $5 ‘unlock fee’ for each trip start to help offset costs. Additionally, this time around, we’ve identified certain needs to help off-set the costs of truck ownership; some are based on why this make/model was selected and others based on cost of repair/maintenance/ownership.
The Santa Cruz is available only at the Creative Enterprise Zone HQ office off University & Vandalia. This vehicle is available for trips on the app or online.
As a specialty vehicle, it’s here until it’s not, meaning that its function may not return to our services down the road, based on vehicle utilization, wear, and tear. We’ve done a lot of research, and we think this “truck” (SUV in a truck body) will outlast past replacements.
Best way is through the app for damages the size of a credit card or smaller. In the app, you can see all reported damages, so if damage is already reported, the car is usually good to drive. For larger damage, call us immediately so we can assess the impact. Any vehicle not suitable for trips will be removed from our service for repair.
The Creative Enterprise Zone attracts and supports creative people and businesses in the Mighty Midway. Learn more here.
Learn More:
Ready to learn more about the Hyundai Santa Cruz? Check out our Trip Tips guide.
Don’t forget at the end of each of your electric HOURCAR trips, you must return the car with 1/4 tank of fuel or more. Failure to do so may result in a totally avoidable $25 fee.
