If you live in a large metropolitan city like Chicago or New York City, driving can be expensive, especially with rising gas prices, congestion and parking fees. If you are like many city dwellers and only have an occasional need to drive a car, purchasing a car might not be the most financially logical decision right now. Luckily for you, there is car sharing.
Car sharing started a couple of years ago and has since grown to 24 programs throughout the U.S. It is a great program for people who only need a car for several hours. If you have never used car sharing before here are so basic facts to get you started
What is Car Sharing?
Car sharing is very similar to renting a car, but for a shorter period of time, often by the hour. There are usually several hubs around each participating city where you can pick up a car after reserving it online. Everything from reservation, pickup and return is self-service. Many car sharing programs are non-profits involved with environmental initiatives and offer eco-friendly cars such as the Toyota Prius. I-GO in Chicago recently started offering two plug-in hybrids to its fleet of rental cars.
How Much does Car Sharing Cost?
While it varies by what city you are in, generally you pay a registration fee and a set amount of dollars per hour you have the car. In some programs there is an additional charge for mileage. Generally, a four hour trip can cost between $20 – $40, depending on what city you are in. You can also reserve a car for the entire day for around $60 – $80. The fees you pay include gas, insurance, road side assistance and generally a set amount of free mileage.
What Cars are Available?
Depending on what program you sign up for, there are a variety of cars available for car sharing. Most car sharing services offer a variety of eco-friendly vehicles like the Toyota Prius and Honda Fit as well luxury vehicles like Mercedes and BMWs.
Where is Car Sharing Available?
Car sharing services are offered in more than 80 cities across the U.S. You can view a list of car sharing cities here. According to a study by University of California, Berkley, US car sharing programs have 309,437 members who share 6,093 vehicles.
Is Car Sharing Safe? Are the Cars Clean?
The Wall Street Journal recently reviewed four of the largest car sharing services in the U.S. While each service had minor problems, there were no issues with safety and the cars were all clean and drove without problems.
Is Car Sharing Right for You?
Car sharing is most cost-effective if you live in a big city and do not drive daily. Because of the costs of insurance, gas, parking and other car maintenance costs, only occasional drivers will benefit from car sharing. According to I-Go, car sharing can save families as much as $4,000 a year on transportation costs.
The environmental benefits of car sharing are an added bonus of the program. Because of the eco-friendly vehicles used in the program, car sharing can reduce pollution and traffic congestion by reducing the number of cars that are on the road.
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Car sharing is very common.One who does not have their own car, they take a car on rent.This is really beneficial information for them.
Wow, so cool. In my city there is not such a company that can share cars. It is very comfortable as for renting a car a man should pay much money but he needs a car only for a few hours.
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