If you live in NYC, you may have seen one of the “other Mint’s” Smart Cars zipping through the streets. If you are familiar with online personal finance, you’re forgiven if you thought the car was an advertising vehicle for Mint.com. 

But no, this Mint is a car-sharing startup similar to Zipcar. It uses a Smart Car for its signature vehicle (inset), and also offers other options including a Mercedes and SUV. So far, the company operates only in Manhattan. Since Mint.com is obviously taken, the car-sharing company is using <drivemint.com>.

Mint.com, the online personal finance manager, should consider teaming up with car-sharing Mint. It would be great advertising for both if they can find a way to deal with the brand confusion. 

Better yet, a bank or credit union should team up with Mint or other car-sharing companies to use branches for car distribution/parking. Chicago’s Bridgeview Bank (press release) offers a parking spot for the popular I-GO car-sharing service.

Bank customers could receive discounts and/or free memberships to the sharing services with costs billed automatically to the bank’s credit or debit card. Another option: free car rental time could be used as a reward in lieu of frequent flyer miles.

Promoting fuel-efficient cars with shared ownership is an interesting marketing vehicle and a good way to position your brand as socially aware and green.

Car-sharing Mint homepage (27 Jan. 2009)