We take a look at pay-as-you-go rental schemes. Could they save you money? Could you live without your car?
What's the big idea?
In recent years we've seen the rise of commercial car clubs: companies offering cars for hire on an hourly basis, booked as and when you need to use them. These companies have thousands of cars throughout the country ready to drive away from convenient city-centre and suburban locations.
There are several operators (the big four are City Car Club, Streetcar, WhizzGo and Zipcar), but the basic idea is much the same: you pay a yearly membership charge and then go online (or make a phone call) to book a car when you need it. You then walk to the car, swipe your membership card over the windscreen to unlock it, and drive away.
The price varies from provider to provider but is typically in the region of £4-£6 per hour (including fuel). Between them the four majors cover Bath, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Guildford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton, St. Albans and York, with other cities to follow.
Internationally Zipcar (which started in Boston, MA, as far back as 1999) has cars in over 50 US cities and more than 100 university campuses. In Europe, GreenWheels is dominant in the Netherlands and Germany, but the country with the most car-sharers per capita is Switzerland, where the first clubs emerged in 1987.
Arguments for
Frugal. Unless you drive for a living, or drive to and from work, the yearly cost of using a pay-as-you-go car is a fraction of what you'd spend on car ownership. You don't have to worry about the cost of monthly repayments, depreciation, insurance, fuel (up to a daily mileage cap), road tax or residents' parking permits. If you live in London, some of the providers also factor in the cost of the Congestion Charge.
Fun. You get to try out a number of different vehicles and aren't tied-down to driving the same car day in, day out. Between them, the car clubs operate family hatchbacks, hybrids (Toyota Prius, Honda Insight), frugal diesels (Vauxhall Corsa Eco, VW Golf Bluemotion) and even Mini Coopers.
Green. For each pay-as-you-go car there are typically 30 car club members. If each of these members replace an existing car with car club membership this takes 29 cars off the road. The fewer cars there are on the road, the less carbon is expended in the production of new cars. In congested city centres this could lead to fewer parked cars which would lead to less driving around hunting for spaces (and the wasted fuel and unnecessary emissions this creates).
Convenience. Because many car clubs have locations in different cities somebody from Manchester, for instance, can use a car when they visit Birmingham or Edinburgh.
Arguments against
Availability. You can't guarantee that there will be a car available in a location convenient to you. Of course you can book far in advance, but you can't always drive away whenever the fancy takes you. Inevitably pay-as-you-go cars are more popular at the weekends, making spontaneous day trips less likely.
Ownership. There's a social status to car ownership that isn't always trumped by the satisfaction of doing one's bit for the environment. Some of the companies insist on plastering their cars with logos, making it impossible to pretend that you're driving your own wheels.
Other users. Although there are contractual penalties for breaking the rules, it's not uncommon to find the car you have booked hasn't arrived back yet, or that the interior is littered, or the fuel tank close to empty (car club members are expected to fill up the cars when necessary, using the pre-payment card in the glove compartment).
Pets. Quite understandably, most car clubs forbid the carrying of pets. But this can be hard on environmentally-minded dog walkers.
Longer journeys. Car clubs only really make sense for short, urban journeys. If you want to book a car for an entire weekend, or need to drive from city to city, then traditional rental cars are more cost-effective.
Related links
Smart idea? Have your say...
Would you ditch your own car if there was a car club vehicle parked on your street? Or could you not bear to share? Let us know your thoughts on pay-as-you-go cars.
More motoring schemes and ideas
This is just plain stupid, who would give up their car to share one with god-knows how many people? Idiots that's who, I love cars and will never give one up for this. How long before these shared cars are being tracked, speed controlled and emmision controlled, think about that! @#$%in big brother bull@#$%
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Been going over 20 years in most towns & cities of West Germany. Owned & run by the tax-payer, now rolled out through Eastern Germany. State run, consuming cheap trainee labour from the benefit office, non-profit, a "Social Enterprise". Not such a high tech system, possibly evolving now, the vehicles were not new, but used, possibly repo's. Any make/model, including light commercials up to 3.5tonnes. Well serviced & maintained by personnel. Can be collected in one town, dumped in another, nationwide. A second system from the same office, if you wish to sell a spare seat, from a to b, at state rates/Km, or anyone wishing to purchase a ride, again at state rates/Km. The Km rate normally covers fuel, at least in the most efficient vehicle. Even gas guzzlers benefit from this financial assistance. The passenger pays the office, who then pay the driver when collecting the passenger at the office. The state office dictate the distance of the journey, thereby quoting both passenger & driver the same price. It could be a 20Km regular commute, or simply a 2,000Km one off. The only time lag for all above is matching driver to suitable vehicle, &/or passenger. It could be an instant match. Extremely popular with students & pensioners alike. Often sharing the same journey! A "Social Economy" is obviously much more beneficial than the extortionate commercial (Market) economy. It would be unfair to compare the twa!
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Welcome to COMUNISM realized in a pure EU Trockist form. Where is the freedom of private ownership??? George Orwell was 100% right. What happened to the "warrior nation" Britons were supposed to be?
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its not very easy to adopt the theory of couple of hours usage of car.specially in london if you need a car in the morning,say,7 in the morning and you want to go paddington to pick up some one in the morning rush hour you reach from willesden to paddington in one hour time ,another hour for coming back.another 1 hour for pickup and droppig the car+the cost of travel to reach and come back from where the car is approximately 3hours*6=18+(10 pounds cab to car park in case a very local journey to car park)=28 why not get a cab for £20 the most,to go and pickup from paddington. saeed
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Would be perfect for someone like me - I live in town and walk a lot, so I'd only need a car for doing a 'big shop' or having a day out - much cheaper than forking out to buy one! I think it's a great idea.
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Funny! How will this benefit parents with children dropping them off in the morning and picking them up also what would happen if you need a car for an emergency like getting the child to the hospital at 11.30 pm? You can not predict these things. The only person this will be good for is a city person without children or pets. Eventually if this did take off their will be a greedy person behind the wheel, what if a dirty person who was malting their lank hair all over the seats had the car before you, oohh! Or sticky sweets as these are realities. Lets live in a real world! People need to be mobile at anytime, when living in the country cars are essential for the health of the persons involved. We need a cheaper more inviromentally friendly fuel thats all. Cheaper, inviroment friendly fuel. Come on goverment dont bury those plans that were made years ago about sustainable energy, there is water, grass into alcohol, before there was oil a scientist used a different formula but oil is a waste product fom the ground that can be exploited and a revenue made but we can all make our own fuel. If the people made their own then the goverment will not be able to gain tax from us but surely they get enough from car tax. If there was not so much greed there would be more enterprise, more skills, better lifestyles for everyone, and a more constructively caring nuturing way of life. Everybody is unique but we are all trying to be square pegs to fit in square holes, but we should be ourself and to bloom in whatever sphere of life. This is independence, we are all different, we are all brilliant in our own way, never give up your independence as you will compromise who you really are. Keep your car, make your own fuel, do what you can and never give up your freedom.
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no way is money making exersise. The only way is to qwn / rather than lease or rent . There must be millions of people in this country who have discovered that, Why work hard to provide spmeone else with a living/ sometimes people find it necessary/ but they sure have to pay for the priviledge. John
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If visiting in an urban area or yes, for a few hours big shopping once a week hiring a car would be xlent. As it stands, however, my paid-for 1.5 Toyota is the better deal for me, especially when considering I split my time between one home and and another. The downside: Driving a manual gearbox when in heavy traffic at the house in a city. CeeJay
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i do not have a car, so for my shopping i get tesco to deliver to the door once a month with all my shopping on the internet it only costs £4.50 delivery, thats far cheaper than car shareing to do your shopping,
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There would be a glitch with insurance, there always is . some uninsured miscreant with driving convictions as long as his armwould be sorely tempted Dave Nottingham
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