Car clubs provide socially inclusive, low emission mobility which helps to break dependency on private car ownership. Pay as you go cars offer affordable, occasional access to cars to benefit individuals and organisations.
A car club is a member-based organisation that provides access to pay-as-you-drive vehicles. These vehicles are available for hire for as little as 30 minutes up to several days at a time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Car clubs provide vehicles to members on a pay-as-you-drive basis, providing much of the convenience of owning a car but without the hassle or costs of repairs, depreciation, insurance, servicing or parking. Car clubs tend to be organised on an area basis with cars located in clusters so that if one car is not available, a member will only have a short walk to access another car. Most car clubs enable members to reserve cars online, over the phone or by smartphone app, unlock the vehicle with their membership card or smartphone app and drive off.
Car Clubs can be useful both for individual members, by providing low cost access to a car or van and for organisations by providing an alternative to pool cars and grey fleet (where employees cars are used for business journeys).
Car clubs offer a lower cost per mile than grey fleet and save time and money for your organisation by reducing administration costs. The car club also covers all the costs of owning and operating the vehicles, including insurance, tax, fuel, parking permits, cleaning and servicing.
Organisations don't have to join a public car club but can have their own car club set-up.
You can join online by paying a membership fee and choosing either, an hourly or daily rate and a mileage rate. Members are billed for the total number of hours and miles used at the end of each month.
Vehicles can be booked online, over the phone or using an app. To get into a car club vehicle simply swipe the membership card over a card-reader on the windscreen.
There are a number of variations on how car club schemes operate. In the UK, the main model to date has been the round-trip scheme. Currently in Scotland it is only the round -trip, back to base model that is operating.
• Round-trip ( back to base) car clubs involve a car club member booking a specific car, located in a dedicated parking bay, for a period of time and then returning the car to the same dedicated parking bay before the end of the reserved time.
• Fixed one-way car sharing involves a member starting a reservation in an available car at a designated parking bay and driving to another designated parking bay, where the reservation ends. This model is most often used when electric vehicles are involved and a charging point is required.
• Floating one-way car sharing involves a member spontaneously identifying an available nearby car, reserving that car and driving it to their destination, wherever that may be. To end their reservation, they must park the car within a specified geographical operating area, allowing for one-way trips or round-trips.
• Peer-to-peer car sharing enables people with underused vehicles to offer them for rent to their neighbours and other members in the local area. Under this model, a car club service provider provides insurance cover for its members and takes a modest commission for arranging the hire and providing cover.
The various offers may appeal to different groups for different types of journeys. In complementing public transport, walking and cycling, car clubs allow people to build “mobility lifestyles” that mean they do not feel they need to own private cars to the same extent as they have done historically.
For a list of car clubs clubs and their operating areas visit www.como.org.uk or contact them at scotland@como.org.uk for more advice on how a car club could work as part of your workplace sustainable travel measures.
For more advice on how to make shared modes work for your organisation, contact CoMoUK at scotland@como.org.uk and they can talk you through all the options that are available in your area.
Find out more by downloading the Energy Saving Trust Scotland's best practice guidance document on Grey Fleet.
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