The Great 'Car Clubs Cost Cutting' Hunt

CWright

Hello all,

I'm a London resident and have been increasingly looking into the idea of joining a car club as there seem to be a load of new cars that have sprung up in my area recently - I live in South London. It's hard not to notice them in their bays as I walk to and from work.

I know there's several car club companies that operate in London and came across carclublondon.co.uk when searching for car club comparisons and special membership discounts. I found it pretty useful.

Still yet to decide which car club to join up with, but think def something I'll be looking to do in the next month or so. I'll be following this thread to see what others have done!

sawanderer

Just register by clicking on the link below, or by using the code F98A-EDF and you will get £30 of free Streetcar driving credit when you join. Just click on the link, or enter the Streetcar promo voucher coupon promotion code F98A-EDF.

Click on:
https://www.streetcar.co.uk/join/default.aspx and enter the Streetcar promo code F98A-EDF

:T

brigittejohn

We had our car written off a couple of years ago by some drunk who drove into it while it was parked on our street. Decided to try to do without one and worked ok, but missed the occasional convenience in rain, or for trips where transport is not the most convenient solution (late night, awkward connections when a 10 minute drive would do, family restaurant trip, picking up furniture, etc...).

We live in London and have been using Streetcar since November 2009, i.e. 9 months.
I have totted up the costs so far (listed clearly on the streetcar website for each member) and they come up to
£1077.96 out of which membership is £100.75
for the two of us (including partner membership).
We use the car mainly at the weekend to go out on Saturday night and on day trips around town and sometimes further away. We went to Southworld, Richmond and Southend for example, living in North London.
We took the additional insurance to bring the excess down to zero, and that is an extra of £120 for the 8 months of extra coverage.

All this compares very well to car ownership for us, as the insurance alone would have been about £800 for the year.

We have sufficient streetcars within a few minutes walk, since new locations have just been added. At the weekend it is usually necessary to prebook a few days ahead, not a problem for me.

I try not to think of the individual cost of each trip as otherwise you end up inconveniencing yourself and not using the cars, which for me was not the objective. It was simply to have the same convenience as a car but at a cheaper price.

The inclusive mileage of 30 miles is usually adequate for our trips. Occasionally we have to pay the extra miles which is no big deal. Last weekend we paid £20 for 80 extra miles to Southend. We would have had to pay petrol if it was our car.

So far no problem with anything. Great new cars.

Don't forget you can also hire the street vans under the same membership.

An additional plus that has not been mentioned by others in comparison to car hire companies is that you are not tied to their opening times. Indeed, I usually want a car in the evening, the weekends, or bank holidays when these places are closed. And when do you pick it up when you are working? Also, we don't have a car hire firm just in the next street to us...!!

Hope that is of use to other moneysavers.

CashHound

I've got a suggestion for you to save even more BrigitteJohn. I too am a member of Streetcar but was a little put off by the fee for zero excess. I did some searching around on the internet and discovered icarhireinsurance.

Europe-wide Car Hire excess is covered for £40/year, then you can take out the extra "Car Club" excess insurance on top for another £50/year. So £90 total for the year. Compared to Streetcar asking for £15/month = £180 for zero excess.

So it is quite a lot cheaper than Streetcars option, plus it includes excess reduction for all other car hire companies (for those longer trips). Considering the hire care companies will try and slug you £20 for a weekend car hire, the savings really add up quickly.

clipper99

use code B6CA-390 for £30 free credit

katja

I joined Streetcar at it's fledgeling state and signed up to the contract as an original member - they are now saying my status is going to be taken away from me and i have two options for signing up to a new and less desirable contract (see my email i cut and pasted below) however I did sign a contract and keep to my side of the bargain with all of that - can they just change theirs? i have less than 7 days to respond...there must be others in this situation!!!

katja

Dear Catharina,
On 15th August we invited you, as one of our Founder Members, to convert your Founder Member deposit to two years' free membership of Zipcar and driving credit of £200 (valid for 9 months).
You now have only 7 days to take us up on the offer to convert your membership or, sadly, your account will be closed and your deposit returned, as your current account status will no longer be supported.
All you need to do is reply to this email by 22nd September 2011 and we'll activate your new Zipcar account. Alternatively, you can switch to become a standard member, start paying an annual fee now and have your deposit returned. Either way we need to know as soon as possible please.
As such a long standing member of the club, we really hope you accept our invitation and join us on the next leg of our journey.
[EMAIL="foundermembers@streetcar.co.uk?subject=Re%3A%20Urgent%20%2D%20Respond%20within%207%20days%20to%20keep%20your%20account%20open%22"]
[/EMAIL]
Kind regards,
The Streetcar Team

Lum

There will almost certainly be a clause in the T&Cs allowing them to vary the conditions, and since they're not penalising you for leaving your only real option if you don't like the new T&Cs is to stop using the service. Sorry

Also it's generally better to make a new thread rather than bump a two year old one since many people wont bother reading all the way to the end and thus never see your query.

katja

I joined Streetcar at it's fledgeling state and signed up to the contract as an original member - they are now saying my status is going to be taken away from me and i have two options for signing up to a new and less desirable contract (see my email i cut and pasted below) however I did sign a contract and keep to my side of the bargain with all of that - can they just change theirs? i have less than 2 days to respond...there must be others in this situation!!!



Dear,
On 15th August we invited you, as one of our Founder Members, to convert your Founder Member deposit to two years' free membership of Zipcar and driving credit of £200 (valid for 9 months).
You now have only 7 days to take us up on the offer to convert your membership or, sadly, your account will be closed and your deposit returned, as your current account status will no longer be supported.
All you need to do is reply to this email by 22nd September 2011 and we'll activate your new Zipcar account. Alternatively, you can switch to become a standard member, start paying an annual fee now and have your deposit returned. Either way we need to know as soon as possible please.
As such a long standing member of the club, we really hope you accept our invitation and join us on the next leg of our journey.


Kind regards,
The Streetcar Team

sammiejo_2

Hi I have been investigating and I have come across whipcar which is free and uses local people and their cars who rent them out. It looks quite good actually has anyone had any experience of it?

Gingerlyfrugal

I travel from Rochford to Braintree every Saturday 07:30-14:30.
I am 22, but despite clear license & NCB cant get cheap car hire/sharing deals.

Any tips? I would be most grateful!