Do Not Forget The Risks Of Vehicle Sharing
On July 29, 2010 in Finance
If you reside in in a big city, owning a vehicle is usually both costly and a hassle. Getting a parking spot may compete with locating Osama Bin Laden in its difficulty. Spending money on parking can leave a significant hole in your wallet. Because of the sheer number of motorists on the highway, car insurance quotes tend to be higher in large cities. Gas mileage is reduced during city driving because of the relatively slow rates of speed and regular halts. Consequently, many city dwellers are saying no thank you to car ownership and relying on alternatives. Public transportation remains an important choice, however a comparatively new idea is taking over in some U.S. urban centers: vehicle sharing.
As outlined by CarSharing.net, at the start of 2010 there were 27 vehicle sharing programs in the U.S., helping 388,000 members and sharing 7,500 automobiles. They go by names such as Zipcar, Car2go, and Community Car. The programs charge a yearly membership fee and may even charge an application fee; Zipcar, for example charges a $50 annual fee and a $25 application fee in the Washington, D.C. area. A separate charge applies for each use of an automobile (for example, $30 for a four-hour reservation), which covers gasoline, insurance, and a specific number of miles.
The kinds of people most likely to use a vehicle sharing service include:
* Those who usually make use of the bus but who need their own vehicle sometimes
* Those who own one car and occasionally require a second
* Those who own compact vehicles but occasionally require a bigger vehicle