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Car Clubs

While the focus of WhatGreenCar? is to help car-buyers find the greenest cars on the market, we also recognise that new mobility services also offer greener forms of motoring. One such mobility service is the 'car club'.

• What is a car club?
• How do car clubs work?
• What is the cost of using a car club vehicle?
• Are car clubs good for the environment?
• Where can I find a car club?

What is a car club?Return to top

Car clubs provide vehicles (usually cars and vans) to members on a pay-as-you-drive basis. Vehicles operated by a 'service provider' are made available to club members through a contract agreement. Car clubs are usually organised on a community basis with cars being located as close to a cluster of members as possible - members typically live within 10 minutes walk from the nearest car station. A large city may operate several car stations as part of one scheme.

Car clubs best match the needs of drivers who need to use a car or van on an occasional basis, but who don't want the expense and responsibility of owning a vehicle. Car clubs make most financial sense for: motorists who drive less than around 8,000 miles per year; two and three-car households who have non-essential use of a second or third car; and businesses that can use a car club vehicle to replace pool cars and/or staff's own vehicles for business trips. In the UK, car clubs operate in both urban and rural areas - however, most service providers operate most of their fleet in highly populated urban areas.

How do car clubs work?Return to top

To use a vehicle from one of the four main UK car clubs - City Car Club, StreetCar, WhizzGo, and ZipCar - you must first become a member. In principle, anyone with a full valid licence held for at least 12 months, and aged between 18 and 75 can apply for membership. Applicants must provide the Club with their driving licence details, and are usually asked to declare any endorsements and/or convictions and confirm their insurance claims history. Final acceptance of membership depends on the applicant's details and driving history, and any restrictions imposed by the car club's insurance company.

Once a member, vehicles can be booked by the hour (or half hour) either by telephone or on the Internet - the notice required can be as little as a few minutes, or up to 12 months in advance. If the required vehicle is available, then the booking time is then confirmed by the call centre (if booking by phone), or by text and/or email (if booking using a mobile or the Internet) and the vehicle reserved. In most cases, vehicles are then accessed from a car station using a smart 'proximity' card (issued on membership) that, after identifying the member, automatically unlocks the vehicle and initiates the booking. The car or van is then started in the normal way using an ignition key usually kept in a key safe/the glove compartment inside the vehicle. The smart card is again used to lock the vehicle at the end of the booked period. At the end of the booking, the vehicle automatically sends all the user and mileage information back to a central computer for billing.

What is the cost of using a car club vehicle?Return to top

Like mobile phone companies, each car club has its own set of tariffs, and to become of member of a car club usually requires a joining and/or annual fee of between £25 and £75 and, in some cases, a returnable deposit. Once a member, access to vehicles is paid for by the hour (or half hour) and/or by the mile. Hourly rates range from around £4 to £5 per hour and mileage rates from 20p to 25p per mile. Typically, the first 30-60 miles are 'free' (i.e. only time is paid for), after which the mileages charges start to apply. Fuel is normally included in the hourly/mileage tariffs, and is paid for using an on-board fuel card.

Tariffs for four main UK car clubs*

*For more frequent users, recurring fees can be used to lower the hourly rates, and monthly packages are available. There are also day rates. See individual websites for more details.

At first sight, these hourly and per mile charges may seem on the high side - however, they need to be compared with the real costs of owning and running your own vehicle. According to the AA, the total costs of running a petrol or diesel car are around £115 per week (60p per mile) for a car costing £13,000 to £20,000 a new (assuming average annual mileage of 10,000 miles). The size of this figure often comes as a surprise, as most motorists only consider fuel costs when it comes to calculating the cost of running a car - the true cost also includes depreciation, cost of capital insurance, road tax, servicing, parts, parking and tolls.

Most tariffs mean that car clubs offer excellent value for occasional use and small mileages (as compared to owning a vehicle, or using a taxi or a hire car for a half day) - although most clubs do offer day and weekend rates, for longer periods and long-distance car travel, traditional car and van hire companies may be able to offer a better deal. The pricing of tariffs reflects the main purpose of car clubs - to provide access to shared vehicles for occasional and local use. For this reason, some clubs have linked-up with one of the major hire companies to provide cars for longer-term use and long journeys - this way clubs ensure that most of their vehicles are available for the majority of members most of the time.

Are car clubs good for the environment?Return to top

Evidence in the UK and mainland Europe clearly shows that, once established, car clubs reduce total car miles driven, with members walking, cycling, and using public transport more often, as well as travelling less. The research also shows that this reduction of car miles is a direct result of breaking the link between car use and car ownership - exactly the service that clubs provide.

In the UK, several studies show that former car owners increase their use of non-car transport modes by around 40% after joining a car club. Members who owned a car before joining see their mileage fall, by an average of around 25%, with some research showing a reduction of up to two-thirds. Evidence from mainland Europe also shows car mileage reductions of 28% (Belgium) and 45% (Bremen, Germany). At least 30% of members in both these areas reported using trains and buses more, on average by 680 miles per year.

Car clubs also encourage a shift to newer, more fuel efficient (lower CO2 emissions) and better maintained vehicles. The use of newer cars also means lower non-carbon emissions such as NOx and particulates (responsible for local air pollution). A common scenario is for new members to give up a more polluting older vehicle when they join a car club. Figures from one UK car club reveal that 45% of the private cars replaced were more than 10 years old.

Car clubs also have the effect of reducing the number of cars on the road. Car club users typically give up owning a first or second car on joining; others defer purchasing one, preferring to use the car club vehicle instead. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact number of cars taken off the road for each club, there is evidence that 72% of members of a car club with locations in Bristol and London have given up one or more of their privately owned vehicles or deferred the purchase of a vehicle. In general, UK studies suggest that each car club car typically replaces at least 6 private cars (with 4-5 private cars replaced in Belgium and 7-10 in Bremen, Germany). Some research puts the number of vehicles replaced as high as 20. Whatever the exact figure, taken overall, it is estimated that by 2010 there will be 300,000 fewer cars on the road as a result of car club development.

The effect of reducing car mileage, increasing the use of non-car travel, reducing the average age of vehicles driven, and of removing some cars from the road is to significantly reduce overall environmental impacts. While these are difficult to quantify exactly for every club, European research estimates that car club members reduce their total travel CO2 emissions by 40% to 50%. This is an impressive reduction given that transport is the only sector of the UK economy in which carbon emissions have continued to increase since 1990, rising by over 14% (1990-2005).

References: Carplus website, Environmental and social benefits; UK car clubs: an effective way of cutting vehicle usage and emissions? Matthew Ledbury, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, 2004; Environmental Assessment Report WP6. European Mobility Services for Urban Sustainability (MOSES) Project, 2005; car club Research Report by BioRegional Consulting Ltd. February 2007; Car Sharing Offers Route to Carbon Savings, UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) 2007.

Where can I find a car club?Return to top

According to Carplus, a national charity promoting responsible car use in the UK, as of the start of 2008 there are currently 48 car clubs running in 41 towns and cities across the UK, representing over 36,000 members (with 28,000 members in London alone) using 1,300 cars. As the number of car stations are becoming too numerous to list, and more are being added on a weekly basis, the best way to find the locations of car clubs near you is to use the Carplus managed interactive UK car club map.

The number of car clubs in the UK has increased significantly over the last 5 years - so much so that the Club membership rose by 60% in 2006/07, largely due to support of several London Boroughs. However, their development elsewhere in the country has been much more haphazard - for example, there are few car clubs in the West Midlands. As of 2008, four main service providers operate the vast majority of UK car club vehicles - these are: City Car Club, StreetCar, WhizzGo, and ZipCar.

The popularity of car clubs has not gone unnoticed by national government - and there is now a debate among policy makers about supporting the roll-out of a national network of schemes. According to Dr Brenda Boardman, the director of the Demand Reduction theme of the UKERC: "Car clubs are a successful way of encouraging behavioural shift, as experience in London, Switzerland and the USA has already shown, and there are clear carbon savings that would be made through the setting up of a comprehensive national network."

All the main four car clubs operate mainly new vehicles and usually replace these when they are 2 or 3 years old. For historical reasons, each Club has tended to partner with a particular manufacturer to provide car club vehicles. StreetCar vehicles, for example, are almost exclusively Volkswagens and their fleet comprises diesel VW Polo BlueMotions, petrol and diesel VW Golfs as well as some VW Transporter vans. WhizzGo tend to use Citroens - their fleet includes the C1, C3, C4, C8, Picasso and Berlingo Multispace MPV/van - but have recently added the Toyota Prius to their line-up. However, although City Car Club used to be closely aligned with Vauxhall, they now offer Honda Civic Hybrids, Nissan Micras, Ford Fiestas, and Kia C'eeds as well as their more traditional line-up of Vauxhall Corsas and Astras. Zipcar members are currently able to choose from a fleet that includes the Mini Cooper, Toyota Prius, Toyota Verso, Honda Civic Hybrid, Honda Jazz, Audi 3 and BMW series 1 and 3.