We've used one whenever we've been bangerless and would certainly use them again. It feels weird paying for each journey, but makes sense if you set a monthly budget and regard that as the cost of having car access. It's economic and cheaper than owning a car if you don't drive very often. Also, since car club cars have their own parking spaces, it's sometimes easier than running a car in town.
The only thing to check is where the cars actually are - it's not much good if you have to walk 30 mins to find one.
The prices they quote seem much higher than just hiring a car conventionally, especially if you want it for a full day. I pay £24 a weekend with Enterprise (will rise to £36 next year, as they will insist on 3 day weekends. I guess guaranteed parking is a plus for you though. Hourly rates are only useful if you can return at odd times, like 11pm Sat night!
As swisstone says, we've been using Streetcar (http://www.streetcar.co.uk/) for just over a year now. It's been very successful.
We live in Hackney, and there has hardly ever been a time when we can't book one fairly nearby. The monthly fee doesn't seem unreasonable, and the hourly fee now includes mileage. And with the included petrol card, you don't even have to pay for petrol (unless you end up at a station that doesn't take the cards, in which case you have to send them the receipt and reclaim it).
We haven't done the sums to compare the cost to our last year of having our own car, but it doesn't feel like we're paying more, certainly, and we don't get that thing of having to get the road tax and service and renew the insurance all at once. Someone else takes care of that.
Downsides? Although all the cars are Golfs (there are a few Polos), and so very similar, you never quite know all the ins and outs of the controls in the way that you do when you've owned a car for a while.
Having to get it back to the parking space by a set time (though you can extend by text message, if nobody else has it booked). Also having to unload your luggage at home and then go out again to take the car back. But as I say, that's rarely been very far for us.
Oh, one other nice feature is that they all have a jack for an MP3 player and/or an iPod dock connector.
And they've always been very helpful on the phone when I've had to call. It's not 24-hour, but they are open till about 10pm.
One of my colleagues lives near me and is a member of Streetcar and uses the car based in Park St car park (about 20 minutes walk away) fairly regularly. She's very keen on it, and I think it is an alternative to owning a car for her family.
I keep dithering over joining. The current nearest space is far enough away to be a pain especially as I usually have Charles to take into account and his current car seat is not very portable. For most occasions we want a car, it's for a weekend away and that's still only a few times a year, in which case weekend deals at the local rental agencies are usually cheaper.
The things I would use a car-club car for are things I currently have workarounds for or manage without - part of me would just like to make life a bit easier for me personally and part of me wants to make it easier for everyone who doesn't drive to get around and do things. E.g. it's very frustrating that the local NCT branch always hold their nearly-new sales on a Sunday in a local village with a crap bus service because "everyone drives". If I join the car club/get a lift I can go, but then I'm perpetuating the "everyone drives" meme.
In any case, I have a cunning scheme to persuade our newly-launched residents association into investigating getting a parking space assigned on our heavily-parked up street, because I think it might have a beneficial effect in allowing quite a few local people to give up second/only cars and maybe reducing the local parking pressure. That won't help my personal dilemma in going from 0-car to car-club, but it might help my neighbourhood a bit.
I've joined Connect for the times I need something bigger than my tiny car (especially as they're now adding vans). At the time membership was free, which made sense for my infrequent usage...
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 09:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 09:04 am (UTC)Car Clubs
Date: 2009-09-16 09:23 am (UTC)The only thing to check is where the cars actually are - it's not much good if you have to walk 30 mins to find one.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 09:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 10:12 am (UTC)We live in Hackney, and there has hardly ever been a time when we can't book one fairly nearby. The monthly fee doesn't seem unreasonable, and the hourly fee now includes mileage. And with the included petrol card, you don't even have to pay for petrol (unless you end up at a station that doesn't take the cards, in which case you have to send them the receipt and reclaim it).
We haven't done the sums to compare the cost to our last year of having our own car, but it doesn't feel like we're paying more, certainly, and we don't get that thing of having to get the road tax and service and renew the insurance all at once. Someone else takes care of that.
Downsides? Although all the cars are Golfs (there are a few Polos), and so very similar, you never quite know all the ins and outs of the controls in the way that you do when you've owned a car for a while.
Having to get it back to the parking space by a set time (though you can extend by text message, if nobody else has it booked). Also having to unload your luggage at home and then go out again to take the car back. But as I say, that's rarely been very far for us.
Oh, one other nice feature is that they all have a jack for an MP3 player and/or an iPod dock connector.
And they've always been very helpful on the phone when I've had to call. It's not 24-hour, but they are open till about 10pm.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 11:54 am (UTC)I keep dithering over joining. The current nearest space is far enough away to be a pain especially as I usually have Charles to take into account and his current car seat is not very portable. For most occasions we want a car, it's for a weekend away and that's still only a few times a year, in which case weekend deals at the local rental agencies are usually cheaper.
The things I would use a car-club car for are things I currently have workarounds for or manage without - part of me would just like to make life a bit easier for me personally and part of me wants to make it easier for everyone who doesn't drive to get around and do things. E.g. it's very frustrating that the local NCT branch always hold their nearly-new sales on a Sunday in a local village with a crap bus service because "everyone drives". If I join the car club/get a lift I can go, but then I'm perpetuating the "everyone drives" meme.
In any case, I have a cunning scheme to persuade our newly-launched residents association into investigating getting a parking space assigned on our heavily-parked up street, because I think it might have a beneficial effect in allowing quite a few local people to give up second/only cars and maybe reducing the local parking pressure. That won't help my personal dilemma in going from 0-car to car-club, but it might help my neighbourhood a bit.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-16 01:27 pm (UTC)