Communauto users struggle to make reservations during peak summer season

As the summer heats up and vacationers hit the road, snagging a ride with Communauto might be trickier than usual.

The car-sharing service is struggling to keep up with demand.

"The cars in the station are very tough to find because people make a reservation a month in advance and cancel three hours before departure time," said Jean-Francois Vezina, a Communauto user who said he's facing roadblocks trying to reserve a car during the peak summer season.

Vezina and other users said the company is a victim of its own success.

"I stopped trying to find cars in the station because it’s just too discouraging,” he said, adding that he now relies on the company's one-way flex service. While that service doesn’t require a reservation, the cars might be far away or not available at all.

Marco Viviani, Communauto's vice president of strategy development, blames kinks in the supply chain.

The company ordered 1,100 new cars for the Montreal area, expected by July, but several hundred have been delayed.

"Our demand, it's almost double in the summer," he said. "We are missing 300 to 500 cars we would have liked to have."

While the additional cars will help, Viviani said users need to manage their expectations.

"It's not a service that there's always a car for you the moment you need it," he said.

Communauto said it continues to receive 30 to 50 cars a week and should have the entire order by the fall.