Driving down the costs

Posted by Anita Brook at 11:45 on 27 Apr 2010

• Print
• Share
• Comment

According to the DVLA, car owners spend over £5,500 a year running their vehicles - that equates to multiple pairs of shoes, bags and mini-breaks in cultureful European cities.

Always looking for ways to decrease amounts spent on boringness (cars just aren't my thing) in order to make way for glamorous treats, WhipCar, the world's first neighbour-to-neighbour car rental service, really caught my eye.

This clever site, Whipcar.com, connects people whose cars are sitting idle with drivers (safe ones we hope) looking to use a car for a short amount of time.

For those of you that need a car, but not every day, WhipCar provides a much cheaper alternative than a hire company - perfect for city dwellers who very rarely venture off tubes and trams.

If it's your car being put up for rent, you choose the price and the amount of time it's available for. Great for when you're on holiday, or if you travel to work by public transport. I'm sure you don't need my help thinking of ways to spend the extra cash!

Along similar lines is the National Car Share. This is ideal for regular commuters - there's bound to be loads of people where you live going the same direction every day. Simply register the journey you make and either pick up a passenger or get a lift. If you're the passenger, a contribution towards petrol is bound to be cheaper than the train and as the driver, a bit of extra money will help towards those ever-increasing petrol prices.

These sorts of schemes really appeal to me as they're a good example of people power - help each other out, get to where you want to go, and save or make some cash.

• Next entry
• Previous entry