Has anyone used a car club? Does it work?

go4it

It has come to my attention that my car costs a fortune - tax, insurance, MOT, repairs, petrol etc. I'm using it for silly little journeys which I could get the bus for or could even walk. Now I don't want to give up car driving completely as it's handy for random trips etc, hence why I have started looking at car clubs. The one in my city is Whizzgo. It all seems good - anyone got any experiences? Has anyone ditched the car and saved a packet, or have you just kept your car because financially the costs were about the same?

lf846

Hi,
For a while a was a member of a car club (not Whizzgo but very similar). Personally I found it really quite expensive and after a few months just bought my own very cheap car. Short trips to the supermarket that take a couple of hours used to end up costing me £8-£10, quite a lot for such a short trip. They also have to be booked for a specific amount of time with very steep charges if you go over this time, so you have to be very careful you don't get stuck in traffic on the way back. They are also very expensive for longer trips like a weekend away as the extra milage charge is a lot more than usual petrol charges. You are also responsible for any damage that happens while you have the car. I was unlucky in a car park once and someone had scratched the side of the car while it had been parked. I was then charged £240 for this damage although it had not been my fault.
I can see the potential benefits and if you are a very occasional user it may work out cheaper, but personally for me it didn't. If you have an old, small second hand car they can be just as cheap to run in my opinion.

Fire_Fox

We don't run a car and you get used to it very quickly. I use the bus for most short journeys; for groceries I only shop every two weeks now, get a taxi home (£3-£4) or get my shopping delivered (free delivery code for Asda on these boards). For longer journeys I try to get cheap rail tickets and once or twice a year Mr. Fire Fox get a hire care to visit his parents.