After immigrating to the UK, many times after I settled down in accommodation, I would want to buy a car instead. However, if you live in a city such as London that already has a comprehensive transportation network and just want to drive to go shopping or sightseeing on Saturdays and Sundays, you can consider joining car-sharing Car Clubs, which is a short-term car rental service, instead of buying a car in a hurry.
Car SharingCar Clubs, provides short-term car rental services, and after becoming a member, you can use a car parked near you. Compared with traditional car rental companies, Car Clubs has more advantages.
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Rental car flexibility, which can be calculated by minutes, hours or days
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The pick-up point covers different areas, generally parked in residential areas, railway stations, etc.
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The rental procedure is simple, you only need to make an appointment through the APP for self-service pick-up and return of the car, and the process is completely self-service
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Car rental is available 24/7 regardless of office hours
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The car rental price already includes insurance and fuel
Generally, to join Car Clubs, you need to prepare the following materials:
1. Proof of address within 3 months (if not available, proof of address in Hong Kong may be provided)
2. Hong Kong/international/UK driver’s license (you can drive in the UK with a Hong Kong license plate in the first year in the UK)
3. Passport (photo and signature page)
Two of the largest Car Clubs in the UK: Enterprise Car Club andZipcar。
The biggest advantage of Enterprise Car Club is that the scope of service is distributed all over the UK, and there are more than 1,400 private cars and trucks available for hire.
Zipcar is mainly located in London, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, with 3000+ cars and trucks. Cars are parked on streets, train stations and other places to rent cars, and a one-way (One way) car rental service is provided, which is the Zipcar Flex service that rents and returns cars (A to B) at different locations.
membership policy
Enterprise Car Club: Accepts members aged 22 or older with only one year of driver’s license. There are 4 membership systems, Enhanced Plan (the most expensive membership fee but the cheapest car rental fee), Standard Plus Plan, the car rental fee is about 50p more per hour than the Standard Plan, but it includes 60Miles, the latter is suitable for long-distance driving. In addition, there is Under 22 Plan (only applicable to those aged 19-21 who have held a license plate for 1 year or more).
Zipcar: There are relatively many membership restrictions. Must be 23 years or older and must have held a driver’s license for more than one year. If you are 75 years old or over, you need to hold a license for at least 2 years. All members must have no serious infractions for the past 3 years and no alcohol or drug-related offenses for the past 7 years.
There are 3 membership systems, namely Basic, Smart and Plus. Membership fees can be used to offset car rental fees, so Zipcar’s membership fees will be much cheaper than Enterprise Car Club.
The hourly and daily rentals of Plus and Smart will be cheaper. Since Zipcar will transfer the monthly billing fee to you in the form of credit, it is also a good choice to join the paid plan if you will definitely rent a car every month.
There are two forms of car rental, namely package Miles, and the other is Pay-Per-Mile which is more flexible. The former is 60 miles per day, and if it exceeds, there will be an extra charge, depending on the car model, weekdays or holidays. The latter, although you have to pay for every mile, the cost of car rental is relatively flat, which is suitable for short-distance rental.
The Zipcar Flex service is different from the general Car Club’s arrangement of returning the car at the rental place, but it allows members more flexibility. When renting a Zipcar Flex car, members can rent a car at point A and return the car at point B within the specified range. Charges can be calculated at £0.31/minute or £14/hour, including 60 miles.
Insurance
All Enterprise Car Club vehicles are insured and provide third party and passenger liability coverage. In the unfortunate event of vehicle damage or theft, and when the accident is judged to be the fault of the member or cannot be held accountable to a third party, the member only needs to pay an excess fee of £750 at most. If the repair cost is less than the excess cost, you will only pay the lower amount.
Members can also choose to pay £10 per month or £90 per year to reduce the excess to £100 per incident.
In London, no Congestion Charge ( CC ) is required if the vehicle is rented within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ). If you rent a car from outside the CCZ, you will have to pay £15.
ZipcarComprehensive collision insurance, third-party property damage insurance, and unlimited third-party personal injury coverage have been purchased. Members are required to pay a damage fee of £750 per incident. Members aged 19-24, members who have been deducted 4 points or more or have had traffic accidents in the past 3 years are high-risk members who need to pay £1,000.
All Zipcar members who use Zipcar to enter the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) do not need to pay Congestion Charge.
Arrange late
Sometimes the itinerary plan does not keep up with expectations, and the arrangement in case of late return depends on the situation. Enterprise Car Club And Zipcar, if there is no other member booking in the future, just extend the booking time through the APP.
If the member returns the car late without notifying the Enterprise Car Club, the member will be charged £30 and a fee of £0.2 per minute. In addition, it is even more necessary to bear any expenses incurred by members who use it later due to waiting.
As for Zipcar members, they will be charged £35 per hour for late return (up to 3 hours) and additional car rental fees.
Notes:
1. Check the vehicle for damage before departure.
2. The damage report can be found in the storage box in front of the co-pilot
3. If you find any problem, take a photo first to prove it so as not to be held accountable in the future.
4. During the booking period, when the fuel tank of the vehicle drops to 1/4 or below, the vehicle needs to be refueled.
5. The fuel payment card can be found in the co-pilot’s front storage box or on the side of the dashboard. After payment, just put it back in place. (Pay attention to the upper limit of the payment card)
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