If you drive less than 10,000 miles a year, sharing a car with others is a good way to get the benefits of driving a car, without any of the hassle of owning a car (or having to sit next to a motormouth each day, as with conventional lift-sharing).
Companies like Co-Wheels (a social enterprise) offer modern hybrid cars that you rent by the hour, and the company pays for everything else: the car, maintenance, cleaning, road tax, insurance and even pre-paid fuel & breakdown cards in the glovebox). Peer-to-peer car-sharing clubs like Turo let car-owners earn up to £6000 a year passive income, by letting others share use of their vehicle (fully insured).
Car-sharing does not just free up funds for you, but helps to reduce road traffic. Most people’s cars sit on the road for 96% of the time. Car-sharing clubs means each vehicle is mostly driving around, freeing up 19 out of 20 car parking spaces. This also helps to reduce the monopoly of expensive car parks (and hospitals that charge a fortune for people visiting sick relatives).
If you need to find a parking space, use the popular app JustPark that lets you pay far less for parking in someone’s driveway or private parking space. This is also a good way for small offices or hotels to earn passive income, by renting out car parking spaces at weekends or out-of-season.
A knock-on effect is less multi-storey car parks (these are lit all night, causing light pollution issues for local wildlife & birds). Abroad, turtles have been known to visit them to lay their eggs, mistaking them for the moon.