Featured in the Globe and Mail’s Canada’s fastest-growing companies list in both 2025 and 2026, the Toronto-based long-term car rental and subscription business built itself around a question the automotive industry had never properly answered.
A Gap Everyone Could See and Nobody Served
The way Canadians have historically obtained a car offered two choices with nothing between them. A daily rental works for a week and becomes prohibitively expensive after that. A lease requires a commitment of three or four years and a financing approval.
The person who needs a vehicle for four months has been served badly by both. So has the family between cars, the professional on a contract posting, the newcomer who has not yet built a Canadian credit history, and the business that needs vehicles for a project of uncertain length.
Roam built its business in that gap. It offers long-term car rentals and month-to-month subscriptions with a minimum term of seven days on its short-term plan and thirty days on its long-term plan, with no long-term contract, maintenance included, and the option to cancel after the minimum term with unused days refunded on a pro-rated basis.
For customers looking for a more traditional leasing experience with lower monthly rates and the ability to use their own auto insurance, Roam recently introduced a micro-leasing solution through its separately registered dealer arm, Roam Auto Sales & Leasing. With six and twelve-month terms, micro-leasing extends Roam’s offering while staying true to the same idea that has driven the business from the beginning: giving drivers more flexible options between traditional car rentals and the multi-year commitment of leasing or owning a vehicle.
Its own description of the position is the clearest summary available: daily rentals get expensive past a week or two, leases lock you in for three or four years, and Roam is for anything in between.
Growth That Registered Nationally
The company announced in 2026 that, for the second year in a row, it appeared on a national ranking of Canada’s top growing companies, a list compiled on audited revenue growth rather than nomination.
That distinction matters. Awards judged on submissions reward the company with the best submission. A growth ranking rewards the company whose customers keep paying, and it is one of the few credentials in Canadian business that cannot be bought or argued for.
Roam’s customers are clearly happy. The business has a 4.8 star rating across more than a thousand Google reviews, and publishes video testimonials from named customers rather than written quotations.
Co-Founder Duncan McCall points to a few key factors behind Roam’s growth:
“What’s driven our growth more than anything is that Roam solves a real problem for drivers. A lot of people need a car but a traditional rental doesn’t make sense and they don’t want to commit to years of leasing or ownership. Roam gives them a more flexible option, and we’ve seen how strongly that resonates. We’re also deeply committed to creating a great customer experience, and we have an incredibly talented team that has figured out how to deliver that experience while scaling a complicated business. When you put those things together, a service people genuinely want, a great customer experience, and a team that can execute, you have a strong foundation for growth.”
The Business Customer Is the Interesting Half
The consumer proposition is straightforward. The business offering is the part most relevant to this readership, and it is more developed than just a simple corporate discount.
Roam’s business program covers custom vehicle plans, centralised team billing, exclusive inventory, employee onboarding, flexible funding and arrangements ranging from a single vehicle to more than a hundred. It names substantial organisations among its business customers and operates a separate fleet management offering for larger requirements.
For a small or medium business, the underlying calculation is worth doing properly. A company vehicle bought outright ties up capital and creates a depreciating asset the business must eventually dispose of. A lease is cheaper monthly but commits the business for years, which is uncomfortable when headcount is uncertain. A subscription or micro-lease costs more per month than a traditional lease but provides far more flexibility, which has genuine value when a business is growing, seasonal, or unsure whether a role will still exist in a year.
The right answer depends entirely on how confident the owner is about the next thirty-six months, and most owners are less confident than their lease terms imply.
Removing the Barriers Rather Than the Price
Two design decisions stand out, and both address obstacles rather than cost.
The first is credit. Roam runs a soft credit check with no impact on the customer’s score, because the arrangement is a rental rather than a loan or lease, so no financing approval is required. It accepts foreign driver’s licences from international visitors and newcomers.
That opens a market conventional automotive retail handles poorly. A newcomer to Canada with no domestic credit history is frequently unable to lease or finance a vehicle regardless of income, and this structure sidesteps the problem entirely rather than pricing around it.
The second is delivery. Vehicles can be collected from a service location or delivered to a home or office for a fee, often same day or next day.
The growth story at Roam is consistent with the most successful businesses profiled in this series. Growth came from removing a requirement, whether a contract, an approval or a trip to a lot, rather than from undercutting competitors on price.
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Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available information intended only for informational purposes. CanadianSME Small Business Magazine does not endorse or guarantee any products or services mentioned. Readers are advised to conduct their research and due diligence before making business decisions.
