Car Sharing: Four Digit Savings (or More) for Infrequent Drivers
To the right is my dream car. Dark, sleek, severe, sexy and utilitarian. Yes, I’m gay and I want a Subaru Outback. In my defense, I was a young child when I said to my father who knows cars, “Dad, what’s that beautiful car?” He said, “That’s a Subaru GL. No one really makes a big deal of it.”
My lust for a Subaru must remain unsated for a while longer (and at least until they make a hybrid). As long as I’m living in San Francisco, I don’t need a car except for trips to Trader Joes, Costco or to big box retailers outside the city. It would be stupid to make financed car payments, have insurance, and pay for parking to use a car roughly twice a month.
I decided to look into car sharing now that my building participates in a local service called City CarShare. Car sharing is popping up all over major cities and metropolitan areas. If you’ve been thinking about ditching your car for economic or environmental reasons, please keep reading to learn more about car sharing.
How Car Sharing Works
First there’s an application fee. Prices vary widely between companies, between $15-150 dollars.
There are membership costs, either monthly (approximately $10/month) or annually (ranging from $35-$50/year). Some companies that don’t have membership fees require a monthly commitment payment plan starting at $50. Memberships and payment plans can be shared within a household, however, no one outside the household account can drive the car.
Some companies request a refundable deposit, but most do not.
Student or company discounts on memberships and rates are offered by several companies.
Gas and insurance are included in your rates for the majority of car sharing companies. All you pay for is for how much you drive.
You’re charged either by the hour (somewhere between $4-15/hour depending on the car model you select) or by the day (approximately between $50-70/day). Some companies with lower hourly rates also charge for each mile driven, often less than $0.50/mile.
Getting a car is easy. Car sharing services have designated parking spots located in dense communities and business districts. Go online, pick the location nearest you, and select your desired car model and a time slot for when you need the car. Reservations for time slots can be made the same day. There’s no going to a rental agency and filling out paperwork each time you pick up or drop off the car. Swipe an encoded card in the car window, and you have access to hidden keys and the car. Timely return car to where you picked it up, and you’re done.
Essentially, it’s like owning a car, but at scheduled times. If you return a car late, you’re heavily fined because you’re making other people wait for the car.
That’s all there is to it.
The Savings
Yes, this is what you’ve been waiting for.
Zipcar has a great calculator to illustrate the savings to be reaped in car sharing. Their calculator takes into account monthly expenses such as: car payments (including depreciation); finance charges; insurance; gas; license, registration and taxes; maintenance and parking.
Using Zipcar’s default data based on a 2006 AAA study on average driving costs (which includes $238 as a monthly car payment), they estimate $839/month for car ownership. That’s $10,068/year.
To make this a fair comparison, let’s say the average car owner wants to significantly cut down their car dependency. They decide to get by with using a Zipcar 4x a month, and for about 3 hours each time. That comes out to $100/month, or $1200 annually according to Zipcar’s calculator.
Compared to car ownership, that’s $8,868 in annual savings. Imagine the savings for someone who pays more than $839/month on their car. That easily bumps savings into five digit territory.
Obviously car sharing only works for short distance or duration trips. Someone who relies on a car for lengthy commutes or getting around rural areas would not benefit. But for someone like me who needs a car only twice a month and for about four hours each time, I’d only pay $66/month or $798/year. Compared to average driving costs, I’d save $9,270 by avoiding unnecessary car ownership.
See For Yourself
Carsharing.net is a great place to look for car sharing near you. They have a comprehensive list of car sharing services in cities and regions across the globe. You’ll also find some interesting statistics that may provide compelling reasons other than whopping savings to give up your car.
Think you still need a car after finding out how much you can save?
The Forester is better. 😉
We just have the one Forester at the moment but I’m heading toward a Prius.
We also registered for the Flex Car service because there are times when my partner is at work at the university and I simply can’t come and pick her up and take her to an appointment – because I’m already shuffling kids around to their appointments! We haven’t used it yet, life is slow and quiet right now. But I suspect we’ll be using this quite a bit in the fall.
I looked into doing this but decided against it. I think it’s too expensive unless you’re using the car for 2 hours or less. I also live in a city (DC) and can easily rent a car for a full 24 hours through priceline and it will only cost me $25 or so. I probably do this once a month, if that often, and I just save up all the errands that require wheels to perform.
The only times I really wish I had a car for a short time is when I’m grocery shopping. But even with that, if I’m doing a small shop I just use my cart and if I’m doing a monster shop I use peapod or similar. Their delivery charge is less than a car service would be for the time it takes to shop and I find that I spend less because I don’t have impulse buys.
They are a great idea though and much better than owning a car in a city. They just aren’t the best idea for me.
I have been using Zipcar in NYC instead buying a car, but there are some issues, mainly that you are dependent on the other members to be respectful, and that just isn’t always the case. In fact, I am finding that it is often not the case.
The cars get returned late, or they are filthy, or they need repair. People with kids seem to never wipe up candy and juice spills – it really can be disgusting.
It’s a great service if those kinds of things don’t bother you, or if getting the car isn’t critical (in case it’s not there when you go to pick it up). But, after a couple of years of this, I’m ready to buy my own car.