Rise of car clubs changing UK driving habits, report shows

Date: 10/5/2011

British motorists are changing the way they make use of their vehicles as a result of the rise of car clubs, a new study has found.

An annual survey conducted by Carplus uncovered the fact that of those who are members of car clubs - which encourage vehicle sharing to cut driving costs - one-third had reduced car ownership as a direct result, while 30 per cent have put off buying a new motor.

Furthermore, car clubs members rarely use their shared vehicles, with less than two per cent of those who are part of such organisations hiring cars on at least a weekly basis - despite the fact that membership of car clubs is growing at a rate of 70 per cent annually on average.

This prompted Carplus Chief Executive Chas Ball to suggest that these drivers are being made more aware of motoring costs and therefore using other forms of transport instead thanks to their car club membership.

Analysis of the responses by TRL (Transport Research Laboratory) indicates that for every vehicle operated by a car club, more than 20 vehicles are taken off the roads.

"Importantly, car club members do not only drive less but the cars they drive are, on average, 26 per cent more efficient than the average UK car - and this is steadily improving," explained Dr Sally Cairns of TRL.

Carplus is a national sustainable transport charity that works to reduce the UK's reliance on private cars by campaigning for greater use of more environmentally-friendly and affordable methods of getting around.

Posted by Mary Treen