Car clubs catching on with cash-conscious Britons

By Matthew Jones

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Fed up with the cost and hassle of keeping their own car on the road, Britons are increasingly signing up for clubs where vehicles can be hired by the hour for just a few pounds.

"We have seen a 25 percent spike in membership month-on-month since the credit crunch started to bite. People are working out the cost of motoring and seeing they can make savings of up to 80-90 percent by using car clubs," said Paul McLoughlin, managing director of Zipcar, one such car club.

"People are feeling the pinch in their pockets and looking to alternatives."

Car clubs like Zipcar differ from traditional car rental companies in that members pay a joining or annual fee -- typically about 50 pounds ($100) -- and use smartcards to unlock vehicles left across the city in designated parking bays.

In contrast with rental firms, many car clubs give free petrol for up to 60 miles a day and members can have a car for as short or as long as they want.

The concept is well established in other countries and Zipcar boasts 225,000 members worldwide, most of them in the United States.

The AA motoring organization estimates the cost of owning a car, whether it is used or not, to be about 4,000 pounds for an average family car including depreciation. This does not include fuel costs, repairs or parking fees or road tolls.

"We have seen a huge rise in member numbers since fuel prices started to go up," said Paul Johnson at Zipcar's competitor Streetcar, Britain's largest car club with 35,000 users and cars available from 3.95 pounds per hour.

The schemes are most attractive to people who live in cities, commute to work via public transport and who use vehicles only occasionally.

QUICK TRIP

Most of the car clubs in Britain concentrate operations in London, but many of them have vehicles in other towns and cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh. In all more than a dozen conurbations have a car club presence.

"Car clubs are great for the short, odd trip -- such as going to the supermarket or collecting someone from the airport," said Roberta Hobbs, who joined Zipcar in January.

"Our car, a Range Rover, died and we made the decision not to replace it," the mother-of-two told Reuters.

The television producer said the cost of getting a new vehicle, maintaining it and the problems of street parking near her central London home were deciding factors.

"I did my sums and reckoned the cost of keeping a car on the road in London together with fuel, parking and maintenance was in the region of 5,000 pounds."