A Third of Motorists Consider Car Clubs a Viable Alternative to Car Ownership

STOCKPORT, UNITED KINGDOM – March 27, 2009: Car clubs have come a long way since 2000, although there is still some work to do if they expect the public to view them as a viable alternative to car ownership; the latest research from TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk proves.

The leading green car guide asked website visitors, ‘In the current economic climate, would consider giving up your car and joining a car club instead to save money?’ Sadly for the established car clubs, the vote came to an overwhelming 68 per cent majority voting ‘No’. While this vote may sound negative, in truth car clubs have come a long way over the past few years.

Car clubs offer a flexible approach to car hire and have seen their popularity soar since the beginning of the century. According to CarPlus.org.uk there are currently 42 car clubs, running in 37 towns and cities across the UK, representing over 64,177 members using around 1,402 cars, compare that to the paltry 250 car club members of 2000.

And although the poll result may have weighed against them, car clubs have enjoyed a tremendous public support with the largest of them all- Streetcar recently winning the TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk’s ‘Innovation Award’ for 2008 as voted by visitors to the website.

Yet despite the economic downturn, car clubs are still being held back by the lack of availability of their cars within some areas meaning that for many people, they cannot so far offer a serious alternative to car ownership. London has the highest concentration of car clubs with 75 per cent of all car club vehicles located in the capital, while the availability of car club vehicles has lagged behind in other areas.

TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk’s editor, Faye Sunderland comments; “It is disappointing to see our survey weigh so heavily against car clubs but the truth is that many areas have yet to see one of these car club vehicles in their locality. With almost a third saying they would consider giving up their car to join a car club, this is a truly impressive result for the car clubs and probably a big improvement on the result we would have seen a couple of years ago. Hopefully, as people focus more on money-saving, the established car clubs will be given a fillip to advance their network of vehicles.

“As research has shown, car clubs offer considerable carbon savings over car ownership; as well as providing attractive financial savings, creating an opportunity for motorists to save themselves serious money and to be considerate to the environment.”