Car Club

[Mimpty]

Does anyone use the car club?

I have been without a car for about a year now and hire from Arnold Clarke at Seafield when I really need one, but the thought of being able to collect a car from so close by is really tempting as I see it parked on the High Street.

I've been on the verge of joining a few times but then feel I can't justify the £200 membership fee when the cost of hiring for the day from Clarke's is the same as booking from the car club. Is it worth it?

How does it work - where do you collect/return keys from/to?

[mr magnolia]

Would like to say we use the car club, but like you, we were put off by the joining fee - no reduction if two join - how helpful is that? Also at our present location lugging children and car seats up and down tenement stairs and round the corner isn't the best activity in the world. Others must have thought similarly as our local space by the Kings Theatre disappeared after the relaunch a while back.

I like the idea but I think CEC will have to address the fixed costs before the idea will take off.

So cobblers to the environment - we use our own car!

[nickchild]

Yes, Maureen and I have used the Car Club and were instrumental in getting one placed down in Porty. We are among a dozen or so locals who do. Please join us and see what it's like. You can also access the other 14 cars around Edinburgh too.

Because we've been members for so long, we don't have the uptodate details for you, but we really don't think it's correct to say that it costs £200 a year or that there aren't reductions for dual membership.

Anyway, we absolutely love it. It now really couldn't be better or easier to use (as long as you have, as you do, internet access for booking). We used to have two cars of our own, we now have none - admittedly that's because there's such a good bus service through Porty and our kids are grown up! Cost is something like £2.30 an hour, and 17p per mile. For longer hirings you get a car delivered and picked up at your door on cheap rates. Of course you'll want those wonderful LRT bus travel cards for £330 or whatever a year that do everything bar take off at the airport for you!

The cost argument is wierd when you look at it. How much do you pay to run your own car? Several thousand a year at least - when I commuted and was paying a loan, it was £6000 per year. Remember to include all the expense and hassle of parking, of insurance, of road tax, of cleaning it, of servicing, of repairs, of worrying about vandalism, of depreciation in value etc etc. I would still think it was good selfish value to be a Car Club member at £2000 a year, never mind saving the environment and the world!

And you're bothered about whether it's £100 or £200! Car's are necessary for some purposes and people (kids for example!), but they do drive us into irrational financial logic, don't they!

[Porty]

Well said Nick. Im in a business where we collect in-depth financial information on people day to day income and expenditure. We have conducted this excercise on something like 3000 households in the last 4 Years and I see them all. It is no exaggeration to say that the MAJORITY have motor and travel expenditure that reads like this:

Car Loan; £200 per month
Car Insurance: £600pa
Repairs (Tyres, MoT etc) £300pa
Petrol: £20 PER MONTH!

£20 of Petrol may if your lucky get you 200 Miles travel. I make that £1.40 per mile. And many households have 2 Cars!. I think the phrase you used was something like irrational financial logic. Damn straight! (I am a 2 car family but at least we use the things for work)

BTW welcome Nick, I just noticed you are a new user.

[bellybabe]

I think we spent more than that when we had one Porty - at least £50 a month on petrol, and that's only counting local journeys. And servivcing etc always seemed to be more than £300!
We made a decision to not replace the car after an accident, and we have noticed a huge difference financially.
BB

[mr magnolia]

Oh I am ashamed..

Q. Can my husband/wife drive?
A. Only registered members can drive the cars. However, we do offer discounted membership for members of the same household. Membership for a second user is £6 per month or £70 per year for national rates and for London it is £7 per month or £80 per year. (a different bit of the website says slightly different figures though)

this is a quote from www.smartmoves.co.uk and obviously is a change from when we investigated it last. Husband and wife cost will be therefore £21/month or so plus hire etc.

Maybe we will have to wait until the kids are bigger, like you, but we will investigate further.

[Mimpty]

Took a look at the web-site again.
£15 per month and £2.80 per hour.

After my trek back from Tesco on Sunday it is looking more appealing. Given the time I had to wait for the bus and the the difficulty in getting off the bus (it was so overcrowded) I was very hot, fed up and the frozen broccoli had started to defrost.

[mr magnolia]

But Tesco.com is only £5 and you dont even have to get off the chair...

[Mimpty]

Don't have a computer at home. I can only get on the computer at work - lunch times and early evenings only.

[mr magnolia]

Mimpty

this is drifting slightly away from the car club, but if you can get onto the web at work you can do the tesco.com (or whoever) very quickly - if you have one of their big brother tracker, er, loyalty, cards you will find that when you first log in you already have a list of 'favourites' built up from your previous shopping.

The mr magnolia method is to establish a staple list and always order the same stuff, thereby omitting all thinking and allowing the process to take about three minutes.

This method is however now banned by mrs magnolia but we do use it to buy thouisands of tins of tomatoes and have someone else lug them up the stairs!

[Sandra]

I agree Mr Magnolia using sainsbury/tesco on line to buy things like the aforementioned tinned tomatoes, bottled water and other heavy bulky stuff is advised, its definitely worth the £5 for someone else to carry the stuff up the stair.

[Mimpty]

Continuing the drift away from the car club.....
I gather this service used to be bad for giving you food quite near to the sell by date. Does this still happen or have they stopped that?

Are you able to specify delivery times? It takes me about an hour to get home and I am rarely home before 7. Do you tip the delivery boys?

[bellybabe]

You don't tip the delivery people; you can specify a two-hour time slot up to about ten o'clock, I think. The delivery price varies according to the time and day, the most being £5.99, and the cheapest being £3.99. And whilst we use it all the time now we are without car, yes, they do still give you stuff too close to the sell-by date at times - especially for things like bread. We were pretty horrified to find the last loaf we ordered had turned green within two days of it arriving. Always seem to get the less appealing veg, too, but I get most of the veg on the High St so it's not a big problem. Except when i order baking potatoes and they're the size of satsumas.
But it's definitely worth it for the crates of tinned tomatoes, and the orange juice and so on...
BB

[Epykat]

I use Tesco.com all the time and I think I'm in love with the Tesco delivery men (yes, all of them ). They are always so cheery and it's no bother to park their van on the High Street, lug the boxes through five doors and up a flight of stairs (and I mean that genuinely!). Although sometimes things are a bit close to the sell by line and you sometimes get things you didn't order and vice versa - it's worth it for the excitement!

[Guest]

When we get round to the FAQ section I will have something to say about thread continuity. However, I acknowledge that I'm probably one of the worst offenders for going off at a tangent.

Anyway, have to confess we have flirted with online grocery shopping. Wouldn't consider buying fruit, veg etc this way but I agree it is handy for bulk purchases of heavy and awkward items, esp for those without transport. We tried Sainsbury's. They have free daytime delivery slots midweek which is fine because Froglette works from home.

The first time we tried it, it was a disaster. My guess is that our shopping was done by a teenage boy who had never shopped in his life before. Since then they have obviously drafted in some sensible, older women and there hasn't been a problem.

I work round the corner from Makro now so tend to pick up bulky items there and shop locally for everything else.

[Kirstielove]

Try using the "write note" facility to ensure goods aren't too close to it's sell/use by date.

Kirstie

[Porty]

Always seem to get the less appealing veg, too, but I get most of the veg on the High St so it's not a big problem. Except when i order baking potatoes and they're the size of satsumas.
But it's definitely worth it for the crates of tinned tomatoes, and the orange juice and so on...
BB

Im sorely tempted but choosing to desist.

[Lizzie]

If anyone is interested our local Asda Superstore is due to start on-line shopping next month and rumour has it the delivery is free if you live within 20 minutes by car from the store. Still waiting to hear further info re delivery times etc.

[bellybabe]

.

Since then they have obviously drafted in some sensible, older women and there hasn't been a problem.

A little sexism creeping in there, do i detect? I know lots of younger women who are good at shopping, and lots of men, young and old...
consider your knuckles rapped, young man!

Lizzie, thanks for letting us know about Asda - we've been checking their website for over two years waiting for the great day!

BB

[Sandra]

not if you get Dr Pepper when you asked for diet coke!! - sometimes they try to think what you want and get it totally wrong. But on the whole online shopping for bulky heavy items is great!

[Sandra]

Must admit, me and my partner, who sometimes posts on here both love supermarket shopping!! (sad I know, but we both love food!) We both love local shopping too as the produce is fab.

[Guest]

Our first attempt was hilarious. Our shopper was obviously hooked on brand names so, for example, when the store didn't have Brand X brown bread, he/she substituted Brand X white bread. Hey, guess what - we eat brown bread and we don't particularly care which company produces it.

We chose a variety of recipes of baby food for a 6 month old baby. When several of our choices were unavailable we were given instead the correct flavour but for a 1 year old baby! And so it went on. We were even given the wrong size of nappies. Hmm, let me think, what's crucial here - the fact that the size is right, or the fact that they are made by Pampers? Sorry Bellybabe, it just had to be a teenage boy! And yes, I know, we shouldn't have been using disposables in the first place.

[nickchild]

Especially if we're against a new supermarket, shouldn't we all be shopping locally. Imagine there's a roof over the high street and it's no bigger than a real supermarket! And you'll find it's cheaper than supermarkets lead you to believe. And it's friendly. And it's better quality. And there's less of that ghastly world destroying packaging. And and and!

And if it's Tesco that's planning to build, and you can get it delivered, why do we need another Tesco nearer than the others!!

Meanwhile, back at the car club, here's the link for info from the horse's mouth:
http://www.smartmoves.co.uk/eccc_costs.html

[Richard]

.... a roof over the high street - now there is an idea........

[Bob Jefferson]

A long overdue bump for this topic. As you will see from this excerpt from Maureen's latest newsletter, the Car Club has gone from strength to strength and is definitely worth considering as a transport option:

City Car Club Update

Cynics said it would never take off, but it has. The Edinburgh City Car Club has been growing now for over seven years and there are now three cars in Portobello alone, and more to come across Edinburgh, including the new Craigmillar car.

Our car club (of which I am a member) is the biggest in the UK, a pay-as-you-go way of driving a new car – for an hour or a day or longer - without having to own one. You only pay for what you use, and it can cost as little as £3.60p an hour. No garage bills, no road, tax, no insurance, no car loans, no petrol to buy, no depreciation, its own parking space within easy walking distance. You can save hundreds of pounds a year and help ensure there are hundreds fewer cars on the road to get in everyone else’s way.

All you do is book on line or by phone, unlock with your membership card and jump in, drive way and enjoy your journey. More on line at www.citycarclub.co.uk or phone 0845 330 1234.

[nickchild]

Thanks for posting this para on the City Car Club from Maureen's Councillor's Report.

I just want to add how magical the Car Club has been for us for many many years now. And to remind anyone interested to overcome their "That's expensive!" reaction to the costs given.

When you buy a car, "your car" sits there proudly and you use it "freely" forgetting the arm and a leg it costs to buy and to run it. Compared to those £1000s, a few ££s to use a City Car Club car only when you need it, are in totally different leagues of expense.

Even if you forget that wider calculation, a quick run to the Seafield dump is minimal, and an evening's outing costs half the cost of the two taxi runs you might have made.

So that selfish calculation works even if you're not bothered about reducing parking and traffic congestion - or helping postpone the day when the world's sea levels rise up Bath Street!

It is great that Porty now has three cars. So there's always one free.

[Robin!]

£5 for someone else to carry the stuff up the stair.

Think of us poor drivers, who have 15 heavy shoppings to deliver. When customers help, it makes a difference for us guys