Saturday, July 16, 2011

What Is Car Sharing?

Car sharing offers all the benefits of owning your own car without all the burden. The concept is like renting studio space. You have 24 hours in a day, and people can sign up to rent that space in 30-minute increments. You can rent the space for as long as a day or more. Then when you’re done, the space is free and open for someone else to reserve. The difference with car sharing is that the “space” you’re renting is not just space but an entire vehicle that you can use to drive as far and long as your time permits.

Sharing vs. Renting

Getting a rental car differs from car sharing because rental cars require you to pay for your own gas and insurance and limit the time you can rent a car to full-day increments. You could not just rent a car for an hour or two, and those items that are included with car sharing—insurance, roadside assistance, and gas—are additional costs when you rent with a rental car company.

Car sharing can save you money if you need to have a car only sporadically. Taking day trips or using a car to transport heavy purchases or moves are ideal uses for a car sharing rental. These are trips that take only a few hours to complete and no more than 24 or 36 hours at the most.

People who will need a car to drive around for an entire weekend or more are better off getting a rental car. The savings generally begins to level out after the first 24 hours. Then the cost of car sharing becomes more expensive than renting. It is likely that the car sharing system was designed that way on purpose. It is best used for local and shorter term trips.

Pros and Cons

The benefits of car sharing are its convenience and low cost. However, because you are sharing a vehicle with hundreds of others, you do run into the following problems:

--Not having a car available at the time and place you prefer
--Ending up with a car that is not up to your own standard of cleanliness

The workaround to these obstacles is, of course, planning. Reserving a vehicle well in advance reduces the likelihood of not being able to reserve a car when you need or want one. Brining a hand vacuum or some baby wipes to spruce up a car before you drive it can resolve the cleanliness issue for most people.

Car sharing is catching on with a lot of people, and those who remain flexible can enjoy the benefits of it the most.

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