Car Shares: Feel the Love, Y'allBack in the US, if you had proposed something such as Zipcar to me, I would have asked you what sort of hippie I appeared to be. As a self-certified 'car guy,' the thought of sharing a car was anathema. My car was kept palatially clean. I knew absolutely everything there was to know about the maintenance history of my car because I did it myself. Why would I want to share my car with anyone less diligent?
Before proceeding, allow me to elaborate on the concept of a car share. A car share is a 'pay-as-you-go' car club. Hence, you can book a car for an hour, several hours, a day, a week, a month, however long you like. The idea is to incorporate as much of the convenience of owning a car without actually owning a car. Why does it differ from a car rental? For starters, there are no ID checks, blood tests, child-sacrifices necessary upon pickup. Booking in advance via phone or Internet ensures that your desired vehicle is available when you want it; however, it is entirely possible to just phone up the company and request an hour, two hours, etc. worth of driving. It is simple, clean, and painless (as I will later describe).
Here in the UK, we joined the car club Streetcar. After a long courtship (investigating costs, raising funds, asking their father for permission) we finally took the plunge in May. Since then, we have used a Streetcar on a day's rental and for a long weekend with no complaints. Both cars have been part of VW's Bluemotion line; substantially nicer and more technically interesting than your run of the mill Vauxhall Corsa. Membership is near as makes no difference to £60 p.a. with insurance roughly £6 p.m. to reduce the insurance deductible to £250. Rentals are as low as £6 per hour ranging up to £60 for a day (fuel not included). Streetcar also has a line of vans for rental for the odd trip to Ikea, antique show, farm market, or Scotland.
So what's it like using a car share? After booking my desired vehicle online, the following was involved (with levels of difficulty):
1) Find the Streetcar (Medium)
Streetcar provides convenient Google maps online and sends a text message 15 minutes before your rental with your car's location. Nevertheless, being on the ground is a different thing altogether from Google's omniscient viewpoint.
2) Unlock the car (Dead Easy)
Welcome to the Future. Your Car is Ready.Every Streetcar member has a Streetcard. This standard card has an RFID tag inside that, when held up to the magic box behind the windshield, will unlock the car. I admit, this is probably dubious security, but you can just rock up straight off the street and get into a car; that is pretty cool.
All Hail the Wonder that is Magic Box.3) Inspect the car for Damage (Easy)
Every Streetcar has a vehicle log in which (nice) members are supposed to jot down any damage that the car might have incurred during their sojourn. So, a quick walk-around with a glance in the logbook and, if necessary, a call to Streetcar HQ to notify of any malcontent is all that is necessary to make sure that you aren't responsible for someone else's transgressions. That was one fear allayed.
4) Input PIN (Do you have opposable thumbs?)
A Proliferation of PIN Pads Pervades Our Polis
On joining Streetcar, you are given a four digit PIN. This is necessary to mobilize the car and to get the keys out of their lockbox in the glove compartment. This pad is also the communication device (yellow button at bottom) that links each Streetcar with HQ 24-7 and is also the docking station for the fuel card (more on that later).
5) Grab the keys and go! (Easy, peasy)
The Drive:
-------------
Driving a Streetcar is, well, as easy as driving any other car. While on the go, the keys lock and unlock the car as normal. The radio has iPod connectivity; an absolute must these days. Unlike a rental car, fuel is included in the cost of a Streetcar booking. This can be either good or bad, depending on the duration of a rental. When we took the Streetcar on a daytrip, we were responsible for fuel at a rate of 23p/mile. As we did not have to fill up the car (since it was a Bluemotion) the cost of fuel was low. When we took the Bluemotion Polo on an 800-mile trek across Devon, that cost ramped up substantially. However, all fuel transactions are billed directly to Streetcar via a corporate fuel card. Hence, there is no need to seek reimbursement for personal fuel outlays. Having all of the costs of a trip occur on one bill is, for obsessive budgeters like moi, a substantial advantage over standard car rental. Recently, Streetcar has started a promotion that any booking longer than 24-hours will have fuel included. Thus, there will be no fuel surcharge. This makes taking a Streetcar as attractive (to my mind, more attractive) than a standard rental car.
I personally have enjoyed having the opportunity to drive a couple of examples of VW's much-hyped Bluemotion line. After two trips, I observed 58 MPG in a VW Golf (doing substantial motorway driving at about 80 MPH) and well over 60 MPG in the Polo (with an average of 70 MPG on the motorway) despite doing some Devonian hill climbing. Both of these cars will leave a Prius with nothing but its Eco-hubris when it comes to achievable fuel economy.
I was not much of a fan of the electric power steering in the Golf; it felt artificial and weird. The Polo felt like a much better drive, but the gearbox places Reverse next to 1st with only a push down necessary to engage; particularly frightening if you need to quickly shift into 1st when the person you are following stops short on a 15% grade. Giving the Bluemotion treatment to both Golf and Polo endows both cars with the suspensions from their GTi brethren. However, both cars are let down by their low-rolling resistance tires that give up long before the driver is interested. It is an altogether schizophrenic experience on single-track and narrow two-lanes for the spirited driver, but wonderfully well thought out for the average drive. Despite having low-powered diesel engines, both cars were turbocharged; an absolutely necessity on any drive where the topography is not reminiscent of Illinois.
So to sum up the pros and cons of car sharing, in a bulleted list for the engineers out there:
Pros:
-------
- Substantially better cars than one could afford for such low sums of money
- More convenient than hire cars
- Relatively low cost of fuel
- Superlative fuel economy
- As much car as most people with access to public transport need
- Kinda quirky, cool, and fun
Cons:
-------
- It is not your car
- Mostly diesels or low-powered petrols
- Hidden costs of insurance and gasoline
- Annual membership fee
- Can't necessarily have the car you want when you want without advanced planning
All in all, I have been more than pleased with the car sharing experience and, as long as my income is limited, will absolutely look to it in the future as part of an integrated transport network for getting from Point A to Point B. After all, that's what cars were about in the first place.
Give Car Shares a Chance. Try Their Website!
Every Streetcar has a vehicle log in which (nice) members are supposed to jot down any damage that the car might have incurred during their sojourn. So, a quick walk-around with a glance in the logbook and, if necessary, a call to Streetcar HQ to notify of any malcontent is all that is necessary to make sure that you aren't responsible for someone else's transgressions. That was one fear allayed.
4) Input PIN (Do you have opposable thumbs?)
A Proliferation of PIN Pads Pervades Our PolisOn joining Streetcar, you are given a four digit PIN. This is necessary to mobilize the car and to get the keys out of their lockbox in the glove compartment. This pad is also the communication device (yellow button at bottom) that links each Streetcar with HQ 24-7 and is also the docking station for the fuel card (more on that later).
5) Grab the keys and go! (Easy, peasy)
The Drive:
-------------
Driving a Streetcar is, well, as easy as driving any other car. While on the go, the keys lock and unlock the car as normal. The radio has iPod connectivity; an absolute must these days. Unlike a rental car, fuel is included in the cost of a Streetcar booking. This can be either good or bad, depending on the duration of a rental. When we took the Streetcar on a daytrip, we were responsible for fuel at a rate of 23p/mile. As we did not have to fill up the car (since it was a Bluemotion) the cost of fuel was low. When we took the Bluemotion Polo on an 800-mile trek across Devon, that cost ramped up substantially. However, all fuel transactions are billed directly to Streetcar via a corporate fuel card. Hence, there is no need to seek reimbursement for personal fuel outlays. Having all of the costs of a trip occur on one bill is, for obsessive budgeters like moi, a substantial advantage over standard car rental. Recently, Streetcar has started a promotion that any booking longer than 24-hours will have fuel included. Thus, there will be no fuel surcharge. This makes taking a Streetcar as attractive (to my mind, more attractive) than a standard rental car.
I personally have enjoyed having the opportunity to drive a couple of examples of VW's much-hyped Bluemotion line. After two trips, I observed 58 MPG in a VW Golf (doing substantial motorway driving at about 80 MPH) and well over 60 MPG in the Polo (with an average of 70 MPG on the motorway) despite doing some Devonian hill climbing. Both of these cars will leave a Prius with nothing but its Eco-hubris when it comes to achievable fuel economy.
I was not much of a fan of the electric power steering in the Golf; it felt artificial and weird. The Polo felt like a much better drive, but the gearbox places Reverse next to 1st with only a push down necessary to engage; particularly frightening if you need to quickly shift into 1st when the person you are following stops short on a 15% grade. Giving the Bluemotion treatment to both Golf and Polo endows both cars with the suspensions from their GTi brethren. However, both cars are let down by their low-rolling resistance tires that give up long before the driver is interested. It is an altogether schizophrenic experience on single-track and narrow two-lanes for the spirited driver, but wonderfully well thought out for the average drive. Despite having low-powered diesel engines, both cars were turbocharged; an absolutely necessity on any drive where the topography is not reminiscent of Illinois.
So to sum up the pros and cons of car sharing, in a bulleted list for the engineers out there:
Pros:
-------
- Substantially better cars than one could afford for such low sums of money
- More convenient than hire cars
- Relatively low cost of fuel
- Superlative fuel economy
- As much car as most people with access to public transport need
- Kinda quirky, cool, and fun
Cons:
-------
- It is not your car
- Mostly diesels or low-powered petrols
- Hidden costs of insurance and gasoline
- Annual membership fee
- Can't necessarily have the car you want when you want without advanced planning
All in all, I have been more than pleased with the car sharing experience and, as long as my income is limited, will absolutely look to it in the future as part of an integrated transport network for getting from Point A to Point B. After all, that's what cars were about in the first place.
Give Car Shares a Chance. Try Their Website!
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