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
good for you it sounds like a great idea! more room for us car owners to park our cars! ive got 7! mostly classics! and public transport is a joke!
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A good idea BUT not so goog if you tow a caravan for a fortnight would cost (i think)a fortune,so i think i will stick with my car.Dennis
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Ho' dear another space saving idea.. What next its someone out there making money.. you get nothing for nothing ..Car makers have been ripping us of for years and looks like the government have been doing the same,, what do we do go back to the horse and cart ,, well it worked and cost less,, do we go head with mad cap ideas .. Balactheblack? Says walking is good for him and his family,, ok it might be... or is it? What about the muggers the pollution... our streets are not safe just now knifings... don't you think we should be looking at crime putting villains away for if its life it should be life not just a couple of years for killing a person or worse, mind you what could be worse..a night out with Gordon brown maybe..... by the way Balactheblack you could have lost and still could lose a few pounds just don't over eat .. Stop smoking and leave the drink alone for a week.. The end of my story is lower the price of petrol crack down on the insurance companies who are overcharging us anyway, do away with road tax,,, Ho' and send a load of asylum seekers back home.. The way they arrived by boat...Now that’s the real problem we are simply overloaded what a great country great Britain is that’s why they all want to come here do you think they want to arrive here to look at the beaches of north Wales ...its the easy money the nhs freebies,, Where else in the world can you get a free doctor free meals everyday free bed and board looked after 24/7,,, only one place I know about the British Isles England .. Stop blaming the government vote with your brains and not your heart see what’s really going on Marcus North Wales Marcus North Wales
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We got rid of our car a year ago & haven't really missed it much, apart from a few times when we wanted to go out into Kent for a day or when we needed to do a big shop etc. We joined a car share scheme (StreetCars) 6 mths ago & have found it very good. The staff are always really helpful anytime I have needed to ring up with a query. We live in SE London & there are 2 cars within easy walking distance & another 4 within a short bus journey away. The cars start from under £4/hr depending on the model & there are vans to hire too. Last week we hired a van to collect a large mattress & do a big trip to the dump. It cost £8.95/hr. Well worth it for what we needed to get done. We do find we tends to be more organised in running errands & will plan to do several things at the same time whilst we have the car for a couple of hrs. At the moment we can hire a VW Polo for £39.95/day or a VW Golf for £49.95/day - Bargain! They also do very good rates for 5 day hires (Mon-Fri) or 7 day hires, which make them even more competitive with traditional car hire companies. From the beginning of July it will be even more economic to hire for longer periods (24/48 hrs etc) as the additional mileage costs (for trips over 30 miles) will be s@#$%ped. So you see cngabu, the costs are very good. And johnnyhotshots2003....haven't you seen the films?? All the roads would be gridlocked & we'd get nowhere by road anyway!! ;o)
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Post 33: "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" They check with DVLA (whilst you are on the phone registering) for any points or convictions & also have access to Insurance records to check your no claims etc. They will not accept anyone who has had a Drink Drive conviction within the last 5 yrs.
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Post 11: "why would you want to do it,what happen's if you ned a car at a drop of a hat ,do you have to book it?" You can book online or by phone but once you 've checked & found the nearest car that's available (v.easy to search for online) the booking is instantaneous & you could go immediately to collect the car. Obviously this scheme works much better in the city, where there are more vehicles available, but also there are public transport links available if you need to book a car slightly further away (usually less than 10 mins walk) if the nearest car to you happens not to be available.
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what use is this to people like me who live in a very rural area?, what happens if they are damaged in use?,who"s NCD is being used on them?,are they serviced on a regular basis?,precisely who is responsible if theyre in a poor or un-roadworthy condition?[im a mechanic and service my own cars on a regular basis at my garage as my children+grand-son travel in them] the local buses are unreliable[as they are 30-35yrs old] and only run every hour,the timetable stops at 9pm+starts at 7 am,so they are a total waste of time. never read so much "green"bollox in my life. if the govt spent a fraction of the tax from cars on the roads the vehicles using them would be much more fuel efficient and not keep breaking steering components due to @#$% roads. this idea is full of good intentions,but also full of @#$%.
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I've recently got rid of my ailing micra which was 12 years old. I wasn't using it much, mainly for out of London trips, in addition, it was stopping me using the bike or walking. The micra cost me £6,000 eleven years ago, for a 6 month old car. Someone better at maths than me can do the sums on depreciation! I couldn't afford to buy a new car and couldn't really justify it. I live close to good transport links, that go to most places I need to go to, usually in about the same length of time, most of these places I couldn't park a car in anyway (nb - nor could I park a carclub car!!!) I made my choice of club using their availabiity of cars, whizzcars and zipcars don't have cars anywhere near me and streetcars were not located in a place I would be happy to walk back from at night) I have used the carclub for 2 months now and my experience has been very good. I've always been able to book the car I wanted and even was able to decide on a whim to go and buy a hamster cage - turned up at the car, booked it via the car and drove off. Another advantage has been that you can hire different types of cars, I like to drive smaller supermini's (fiesta's etc) but needed an estate car for a one off journey, I had to travel a bit further to pick it up and it cost £1 more per hour, but it was fab. Re. maintainance etc, the cars are usually pretty new, the last car I drove was a 09 fiesta with below 500 miles on the clock!! (my usual car is a 07 fiesta). Re. enjoying owning and driving a car, I love driving, but don't like trips to the garage, paying insurance, worrying about it being nicked, cleaning it, worrying if the wheels are going to fall off, etc. I love driving all the more for not having to do those things and I don't find it any less enjoyable because it is someone else's car - infact I am finding myself saying hello to "my car" as I walk past it! I worked out that my car was costing me £1200 to run, before you even started putting petrol in it. Yes, I wince when I see how much it is going to cost me to use the car, especially in expensive months, but I would have paid about £500 already since I sold my car on it (it was due its MOT and road tax - not to mention £40 a month insurance) and I've yet to get anywhere near that amount. I think this is an excellent idea for people like me, but obviously not for everyone. I look forward to seeing cars available in a lot more locations.
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Can I suggest that people living in rural and the rest of the uncovered areas of the UK start asking for cars in their area - if enough people ask, they are likely to respond eventually - especially if you chose a company that has cars in your county - i.e. streetcar has cars in Maidstone, Kent, so would be a good company to pester for surrounding areas.
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I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER OF THE CITY CAR CLUB
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