• by Tanya Gazdik , March 19, 2020

Mini USA and Sixt rental cars couldn’t have picked a more inopportune time to launch a partnership in San Francisco, given the shelter-in-place order instituted Monday night to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The partnership was announced March 5 when the two brands opened a joint branch in the city’s Mission District.

The office is considered an “essential business” so is allowed to stay open, although it has reduced its hours to 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a Sixt representative. Hours are usually 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

However, residents aren’t allowed to leave their homes unless they are attending to “essential business,” so movement has slowed considerably across the city. 

The location offers exclusive rentals of a fleet of Mini vehicles, and also offers qualified customers a limited opportunity to book no-cost, one-day test drives of select Mini vehicles in inventory.

Sixt aims to inspire customers to explore beyond the typical tourist sites with its new virtual tourism web series: “Sixty bucks and a Full Tank of Gas.” Each episode of the series features two friends who are given a rental car and challenged to explore a city with just $60 to spend. When the money runs out, they have to come home. 

In the latest episode, local comedians Monica Loomba and Stephanie Foster were given a Mini John Cooper Works hardtop and challenged to hit up San Francisco on a budget.