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Lift sharing is a great idea, if you can find someone to share with, but always play it safe until you know the person: tell people you are lift sharing and let them know when, where and with whom. Take your phone with you and try googling the person before you go.
Cars pump out anywhere between 100g and 500g of CO2 per km, so sharing this between as many people as possible is a good idea. There is also all the SOx and NOx to think about, which is not to be taken lightly, I can tell you.
There are some specialist lift sharing websites out there, such as Liftshare or Carshare, but most of them can be a bit complex or strict about how you go about looking for lifts.
There is a lift sharing site here on Ecoboom, which is simple and easy to use but might not be the best if you have very complex requirements. The fact that potential car sharers have a presence in the Community should help with the security of knowing who you might be sharing with, checking them out a bit first to see if you fancy the idea or not. You can also use the car sharing facility here to move goods, parcels etc. and not just yourself – if you have a half empty delivery van, why not fill it? You can always ask for a contribution for the trip. The same goes for taxi rides.
Happy sharing!
Similar to lift sharing are Car Clubs. Car Clubs are a great idea if you do not drive about very frequently. The basic idea is that there are new cars parked around the major cities in the UK that are owned by the car club. They are always parked in the same place, so people know where to pick them up. You join the club, book your local car online (or next nearest if that one is taken), turn up, enter your pin number to unlock it and off you go. When done, just pop it back in its parking bay.
It is in every other way just like hiring a car. The cost is around £4.50 an hour or £40 a day, with some surcharges if you drive more than 50 miles a day (or so).
There are a few clubs about that have cars in a reasonable number of the larger towns and cities, but the best seems to be City Car Club. For longer hire periods, such as taking a car for a whole week, Whizz Go may be a bit cheaper. City seem to have more cars, too. I have not researched this too deeply, so you should make up your own mind about the best for your lifestyle and area. The government funded Car Clubs has a listing of (almost?) all the cars available in the UK through all car clubs, great or small.
The ETA do a good total cost calculator for car ownership, taking into account depreciation, insurance, maintenance etc. This will help you work out whether a car club is a good idea for you or not.
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