Car clubs
A car club is a membership scheme that offers people use of a car on a pay-as-you-go basis.
These schemes can save you the additional costs and inconvenience of owning or using your own car, and mean that you have easy access to a car for those occasional journeys when you need one.
We have teamed up with three car club operators – Enterprise Car Club, Ubeeqo and Zipcar - to provide cars in dedicated car club bays all over the borough, so that car club members are close enough to walk to one easily.
Apart from clubs using dedicated car club parking bays, there are also car club vehicles available through Zipcar’s Flex scheme, which includes a proportion of electric vehicles.
Benefits of using a car club
Membership of a car club is not suitable for all people, but if you do not use a car very often it can be an attractive alternative to car ownership, or to having a second car in the household. Car club members tend to drive only when they really need to – much less than car owners – so having a club in the borough can help cut car use overall. Zipcar Flex also offers a chance to try electric vehicles.
The charity CoMoUK (formerly Carplus) has published evidence on the benefits of using a car club (CoMoUK website).
Car clubs and on-street parking
When new car club bays or vehicles are introduced some residents might be concerned about 'losing' an on-street parking space to the car club, but research (Carplus/CoMoUK) has consistently shown that car clubs lead to there being fewer cars parked in an area.
This is because some people who join the club will do so in preference to private car ownership. In some cases this means they sell an existing vehicle while in others they may defer purchase of a car they would otherwise have bought. Every single space used by a car club is really a parking space that is used by several residents rather than just one.
Car club bay locations
Most car clubs in the borough use on-street car club parking bays. These reserved spaces ensure that members of the car club know precisely where the car is for them to pick it up and drive away, and are also assured that the space is available for them to return the car for the next user.
Because the cars in the club are available 24 hours a day, the bays in which they are situated must also be available at all times for the sole use of the car club. As a result, if you park any other vehicle in a car club bay at any time, you will be liable to receive a Penalty Charge Notice.
Locations and how to join
For up-to-date locations, details of membership rates and how to join, visit the websites of the operators below.
Further information
Contact us to find out more, to let us know if you'd be interested in having a car near you, or if you have any concerns about car clubs.
CoMoUK also provides information and an overview of other car club operators and their locations.