Quote :

"Should you share a car? A big roadblock to giving up your keys is the occasional need for a car. In more than 40 cities, car-sharing services offer low-hassle wheels -- cheap. By Liz Pulliam Weston Marc Bovee is committed to not using his car -- and that's quite a commitment in wheels-crazy Los Angeles. Bovee's Jeep Wrangler has been garaged since August 2005, in part because he uses a vehicle-sharing service called Flexcar. Whenever the bus or subway won't get him where he needs to go, Bovee, 43, visits the Flexcar Web site to find and reserve cars, which are parked in designated lots and garages around L.A. Once he arrives at his chosen vehicle -- often a hybrid, although sometimes just a fuel-efficient Honda Civic -- Bovee opens the door by placing his membership card over a reader installed on the windshield. He gets the keys from the glove compartment and drives off, returning the car when he's done buying groceries, running errands or taking a weekend trip. He doesn't face the lines or paperwork of a car rental counter. And all the costs of operating the car -- gas, insurance, registration, maintenance, carwashes, you name it -- are included in the $10 hourly fee he pays in addition to a $40 annual fee. Special promotions and daily maximum fees help make longer trips affordable. Flexcar, which is based in Seattle, says its average member spends $80 a month on the service, a far cry from the typical $863 monthly cost of maintaining a midsize car in Los Angeles. Average car ownership costs by cityLocation Annual cost* Monthly cost Detroit $11,844 $987 Philadelphia $10,672 $889 Los Angeles $10,361 $863 Boston $9,660 $805 Miami $9,216 $768 Baltimore $9,125 $760 Denver $8,949 $746 Houston $8,467 $706 Topeka, Kan. $8,078 $673 Grand Forks, N.D. $7,423 $619 Sioux Falls, S.D. $7,401 $617 Knoxville, Tenn. $7,399 $617 National average $7,967 $664 *The figures reflect the annual costs, including fuel, routine maintenance, tires, insurance, license and registration fees, finance charges and depreciation costs for a 2006 midsize sedan driven 15,000 miles a year for four years. Source: Runzheimer International, American Automobile Association For his part, Bovee says the arrangement is easier on his wallet and his conscience. "I made a commitment to reducing my dependence on foreign oil," says Bovee, a film sales coordinator who used to drive his Jeep an average 12,000 miles a year. "To me, it makes so much sense. ... Why have a car any longer than you need to?" It's that kind of sensibility, along with rising oil prices and increased media attention, that has sent car-sharing on a roll. Car-sharing advocates say the services can be a smart choice for a variety of drivers, including: * Urbanites who don't want the hassle or expense of owning a car. * Families and couples who want to avoid the costs of a second or third car. * College campuses hoping to reduce congestion and parking hassles. * Corporations that want to replace fleet vehicles with a more cost-effective solution. For the most part, car-sharing ventures take one of three forms: * For-profit ventures like Flexcar, Zipcar and Communauto, which operate largely in big cities and on a few college campuses. * Nonprofits like Chicago's I-Go, City CarShare in San Francisco and PhillyCarShare in Philadelphia. * Grass-roots cooperatives, which can be tiny (like the three cars shared by 15 members of the Dancing Rabbit ecovillage in Rutledge, Mo.) or extensive (like Vancouver, B.C.'s Co-operative Auto Network, with a dozen locations in and around the city). More than two dozen such agencies now offer shared-vehicle services in the United States and Canada, according to car-sharing expert Susan Shaheen, with more in the works. The number of users rose 46% in 2005 to more than 100,000, says Shaheen, research leader for the California Partners for Advanced Transit and Highways Program, and had climbed to about 118,000 as of June. Every month, enrollments at Zipcar have doubled compared to the previous year, says CEO Scott Griffith. As of August, Zipcar claimed 65,000 active members nationwide. In some neighborhoods in New York and Boston, Griffith says, one out of 10 adults over 21 is a Zipcar member. "I'm the guy who four years ago was running around with a PowerPoint presentation, saying this is going to be 1 million people someday, and people laughed at me," says Griffith, whose company is based in Boston. "They might still be laughing, but at least they're not doing it in the same room." Most car-sharing services stress their convenience and low costs, but advocates see car sharing as a partial antidote to a host of urban ills, especially congestion and pollution. Every shared vehicle replaces at least five and as many as 15 private vehicles, according to a recent report by the National Academies of Sciences. The difference between sharing and renting Car sharing seems to work best, at least as a commercial venture, in congested areas with good public transit, says John Williams, a Flexcar spokesman. The typical user is one who walks, bikes or uses transit for most purposes, but occasionally needs wheels for errands or short trips. That certainly describes Denise Klein, 63, who lives and works in downtown Seattle. Klein has a personal Flexcar account for errands, shopping or visiting her granddaughters, as well as a corporate account for business trips related to her job as executive director of a nonprofit. "There are six different cars I use regularly and another 10 I've used occasionally that I can walk to very easily," Klein says. "I've never not been able to get a car when I needed one." Klein said she did once wait 30 minutes, by choice, when another member was late in returning a vehicle she wanted. "When [the driver] pulled up, she had a baby in a car seat and the car was full of stuff that she'd bought," Klein says. "I offered to drive her back to her apartment and helped her carry her stuff up." Car-sharing services like to promote that kind of community sense, which is actually a necessity for the sharing to run smoothly. Members are typically responsible for leaving the cars clean for the next user, and many services provide gas cards so drivers can refill tanks that get low. Giving up the keys Klein hasn't always been car-free. For the first four years or so of her Flexcar membership, Klein and her husband owned a car that he primarily drove. With a salary in the low six figures, Klein easily could have afforded a second car, but says, "I didn't want to be encumbered with something I didn't need." Finally, more than a year ago, Klein convinced her husband to get rid of his car. The couple was paying more than $100 a month just to park the vehicle, plus another $80 to insure it. "I said, 'We're paying all this money for it and we're not using it that frequently,'" Klein says. "Psychologically, it was harder for him, but he did it." Bovee in Los Angeles said he's almost ready to take the same step. He wishes there were some Flexcar locations closer to his home in West Hollywood, but says his year without his car has proven that even in L.A., he can do without it. "I think I'll put it on Craigslist soon," he said. "'Jeep needs a new home.'""

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/ShouldYouShareACar.aspx


Could this work at State? There are apparently several "shared" cars at UNC through the zipcar website.

8/30/2006 9:15:45 PM

I have a friend of mine who uses flexcar in seattle, he loves it.

8/30/2006 9:54:21 PM

flexcar hates our freedom

8/31/2006 1:46:21 AM

The turrists win if we use flexcar.

[Edited on August 31, 2006 at 1:47 AM. Reason : .]

8/31/2006 1:47:02 AM

why does it cost so much to own a car in detroit? it's motherfucking MOTOR CITY for pete's sake!

8/31/2006 1:51:23 AM

those prices aren't really representative of any meaningful "average".

8/31/2006 2:00:39 AM

do they ferrari flexcars? no then it won't work in Miami

8/31/2006 8:55:12 AM

this is a pretty good idea.

8/31/2006 8:58:04 AM

I like flexcar's spirit.

Two thumbs up.

8/31/2006 9:35:29 AM

10/10.

8/31/2006 10:25:52 AM

Philly has a car share program, and i'm pretty sure the toyota tacoma and the mercedes are the most popular...paying for insurance and/or parking up here is $$$, so i think its worth it for lots of people who don't drive a ton. besides the fact that most people here drive like maniacs (there are actually signs at intersections that say "wait for green").

8/31/2006 10:26:22 AM

ahahaha

wait for green

8/31/2006 10:33:04 AM

cant imagine it would work well in raleigh with all the urban sprawl

8/31/2006 10:37:48 AM

i dont see how something like this would work around state. unless i get a bike also and ride my bike to school. then i have to drive to apex for work every day. I dont see how that could happen.

8/31/2006 11:02:32 AM

This kind of thing only works well where you can clearly use public transportation for day to day activities like work and/or school, but need a vehicle for things like groceries, or visiting friends out of town, etc.

Not really a good description of most of Raleigh.

8/31/2006 11:54:32 AM

^^i mean't for like the dorm rats. i couldn't really see it working to well for the majority of students or people in raleigh

8/31/2006 7:21:25 PM

^^ agreed

this is a really cool idea though

8/31/2006 7:25:42 PM

Carolina has it, and its a boondoggle

8/31/2006 7:39:20 PM

Quote :

"i mean't for like the dorm rats."

i just read the other day that ucsd is part of a pilot flexcar program specifically for 18-20 yr olds -- seems like a pretty good deal for kids in the dorms without a car on campus, i think it's like $8-10/hr and it includes gas, insurance, etc

8/31/2006 7:47:22 PM

Quote :

"This kind of thing only works well where you can clearly use public transportation for day to day activities ... Not really a good description of most of Raleigh."

Don't get me started. I moved here from San Francisco, where I could walk to the corner and catch a bus to anywhere in the bay area. I remember telling the realitor, "I want to live near a transit hub". She must have laughed out loud. I didn't realize the only transit hub around here is the I40/440 interchange.

It's one of the few things that piss me off about this place (other than the lack of good ethnic food). Every city has it's own bus system and the group that could tie it all together (the Triangle Transit Authority) is a commuter system that doesn't run buses after 8:30 in the morning until 3:00 pm. What the hell is that? No busses during the day? No wonder they don't have enough ridership.

Even LA, the city of cars, has a good bus system now. Anyway, just venting .... All the best .....

Bobo:

Quote :

"The problem with vision is that it takes 20 years to figure out who has it."

9/1/2006 8:17:12 AM

remember Raleigh has no culture

9/1/2006 8:24:49 AM