Saturday 30 April 2022 The Guardian •Money^57
of the owners view cars as a form
of transport rather than their pride
and joy. To get her through the
summer holidays, she has just
leased an MG electric car for four
months, which will soon go into the
car pool to be shared by other users.
“Our car used to cost us just
over £300 a month in insurance,
depreciation, maintenance, tax,
etc. For the last six months I would
say we have spent £100 on average.”
In east London, the introduction
of the capital’s ultra-low emission
zone meant Scarborough faced
having to sell his diesel car or pay a
charge of £12.50 a day to use it.
“I weighed up buying a newer
car that would conform to Ulez
but decided to give the car sharing
schemes a go before I did, and I am
so glad I did ,” he says.
He generally uses his bicycle for
short local trips, and a mix of car
sources whenever he needs four
wheels – the commercial sharing
schemes Hiyacar and Zipcar, or a
conventional rental from the Sixt
offi ce not far from his home.
“Getting a vehicle has never been
a problem. It really helps that there
are so many car clubs in this area. I
am virtually assured of being able
to get one – even at the very last
minute,” he says.Motoring
Could now be the
time to give up
car ownership?
I
t has been two years since
Richard Scarborough ditched
his ageing diesel vehicle in
favour of using car clubs,
and the 60-year-old graphic
designer from Hackney says
he can’t see himself going back.
In Oxford, Emily Kerr is part of
a carshare in which 20 households
share seven neighbour-owned
vehicles. She is so delighted with
the way it has gone that she has
started helping others set up
similar schemes.
Scarborough and Kerr are among
the growing number of people
who have found that it is perfectly
possible to get around without
owning the car they drive by hiring
or sharing one an hour at a time.
“ Most cars sit unused for the vast
majority of the time, so it makes
perfect sense for communities to
share them,” Kerr says. “It’s better
for the environment, and it’s better
for your bank balance .”
It’s been six months since she set
up Share Our Cars in east Oxford.
Hers is a “closed loop” carshare
scheme, meaning only those who
live locally can use it, provided they
don’t have a poor driving history.
The group partnered with the
carshare provider Hiyacar, which
vets new entrants and provides the
online booking system and the all-
important insurance. The cars are
owned by individual members of
the scheme.Two months into the project,
Kerr sold the family Honda SUV to
use the shared vehicles instead.
“There are fi ve cars all less than
fi ve minutes’ walk from my house,”
she says. “If I need to use a car I
log on and book it, paying about
£7 a hour for short hops – less an
hour for longer drives. We have a
WhatsApp group to talk to each
other. And if I needed to get a car in
an emergency, I’d be very surprised
if I couldn’t get one straight away.”
She says she typically pays £90 to
get a car for the weekend, usually
borrowing it from someone who
drives most days during the week,
but rarely on Saturday and Sunday.
“Most people have quite
predictable driving patterns so you
soon get to know whose car is going
to be free at any one time,” she says.
She says the group have not
had any serious accidents or
disagreements. It helps that mostMore Britons are saving
cash and helping the planet
by using shared or hired
vehicles. Miles Brignall
talks to some of them▼ Richard Scarborough in Hackney,
east London, with a Hiyacar. He
ditched his diesel car two years ago“The cars aren’t luxury models
but they do the job. Zipcar has vans
which are useful sometimes.”
On average he pays about £10 an
hour and his bill is typically £50 a
month.
“I don’t have to worry about a
big maintenance bill, and I am not
adding another unnecessary car to
the road ,” he says.
Graeme Risby, the Hiyacar chief
executive , says the cost of living
crisis means there has never been a
better time to try car sharing.
“For us the motivation was to
have fewer cars on the roads – to
get communities and neighbours
sharing vehicles that were often
sitting unused outside people’s
homes,” he says. “In the early days
(2016) we wanted people to post
their cars on the platform, and
we provided the insurance, with
anyone able to borrow the car.
“ We now see the closed-loop
schemes as increasingly important- particularly in rural areas. It
seems people like to know that
their car is being used by their
near neighbours. As the national
fl eet moves over to electric, these
schemes are going to become
the future because we know not
everyone can buy a £30,000-
£40,000 electric vehicle.”
‘It makes sense to
share. It’s better for
the environment, and
it’s better for your
bank balance’Emily Kerr
Car sharer, OxfordGet started
How to join or set up a clubProvided you are at least 21 and
don’t have more than six penalty
points on your licence, it’s easy to
borrow a car share car.
Zipcar may be the best known
club, but users say it has become
pricier. Hiyacar is another provider
that is worth a go. It has lots of
cars in the UK’s bigger cities – both
branded cars belonging to fi nance
fi rms and standard cars owned by
other households. For a two-hour
hire of a Seat Ibiza in Bromley this
weekend, Hiyacar quoted us £11.72.
Its typical daily charge is £45.
There is a £500 insurance excess,
meaning you have to pay the fi rst
£500 of any damage you cause,
although regular users would be
advised to buy excess cover from
£45 a year.
If you’d like to rent your car out
to neighbours, it’s free to register
with Hiyacar. You block out the
times you need the car, leaving
it available for your neighbours
to use at other times. The car is
insured by the club, meaning that
your no-claims bonus is unaff ected
if a sharer has an accident.