Online Extra. . . Should You Share a Car?

Today 18 car-sharing programs serve residents of more than 40 U.S. communities. Find out if it would work for you.

By: Mary Beth Klatt | March 20, 2007

Karen Weiss, 51, didn't want to pay $12,000 for a second parking space at the condo she shares with her husband, Keith, in Madison, Wis. So Weiss, who works for an insurance company, got rid of her Jeep and started sharing cars with the 500 members of Community Car. Now when she wants to run errands around town or even visit her parents in Iowa, Weiss uses one of the local car-sharing service's 11 vehicles, located within walking distance or a bus ride from her home.

"I consider it my safety net," Weiss says. "I love having it."

Whether owning a car is too expensive, maintaining it too much hassle or parking it too difficult, more Americans are beginning to reason like Weiss. "I'm very happy and excited that car-sharing has begun to enter the mainstream," says Kevin McLaughlin, director of the nonprofit industry website CarSharing.net.

After concentrating in major cities beginning in the late 1990s, car-sharing programs are cropping up in college towns like Chapel Hill, N.C., and Boulder, Colo., and in even smaller communities like Nevada City, Calif. Today 18 car-sharing programs serve residents of more than 40 U.S. communities, according to Susan Shaheen, a transportation research scientist at the University of California.

They range from the small nonprofit Dancing Rabbit Vehicle Cooperative in Rutledge, Mo., with 15 members and three autos to the two major for-profit companies—Zipcar, with more than 85,000 members and 2,500 shared vehicles in 13 U.S. locations; and Flexcar, with more than 40,000 members and 1,000 cars in 10 markets.

What exactly is car-sharing? It's not like borrowing your sister's Lexus for the afternoon if you promise to refill the gas. You pay an annual membership fee, typically $35 to $100, for access to a group's fleet of cars, parked in designated spots. To use one, you generally pay $8 to $10 an hour, including gas (typically paid with a group debit card), insurance and maintenance. Sometimes the charge is by the mile; day rates are often available as well.

Eligibility varies: Zipcar has no age limit for licensed drivers; Flexcar evaluates drivers older than 75 individually.

Sharing autos has been popular in Europe for more than two decades, says Shaheen, who began studying the phenomenon in 1996 after attending a lecture about its popularity abroad. "I was so inspired by the impact on behavior," she says. "I wondered if car-sharing could transfer to the U.S."

It has. There's usually an event—an accident, a new job, marriage, a need for an extra car, a desire for simplifying—that prompts a car owner to consider car-sharing, says Dave Brook, who founded CarSharing Portland [Oregon] in 1998. Even then, what often triggers changes in driving habits is spending at the gas pump. "It's a variable cost of car ownership that most directly affects us," says Brook. "Often when we're thinking about taking a trip, we think, 'How many tanks of gas is it going to take?'"

Car-sharing isn't for everybody. Potential members who make a lot of trips may find it just doesn't pay. And with convenient parking spaces limited, especially in urban environments, getting access to a car might be complicated.

But car-sharing does mitigate some common urban problems, Shaheen says, though exactly how much is hard to gauge. It can ease traffic congestion, she says, because every shared car replaces at least six individually owned vehicles. It's not unusual for new members to sell their own cars after joining, and other members postpone or avoid buying an auto. Car sharers also tend to drive less than individual car owners, she says.

All of which tends to create a sense of community. Weiss is so taken with car-sharing that she drove a Community Car vehicle in a parade and talks up the program to her friends.

"Sometimes they look at me funny," she says, "like, 'You don't have a car? How do you get around?'

Car-sharing is "perfect for a pair of downsized empty-nesters," she says.

Mary Beth Klatt is a writer in Chicago, where she uses I-Go, the local Flexcar company.

Additional Related Links

Calculate Your Potential Savings Using Car-Sharing

I Got My First Driver's License at 62

Going Car-Free

Reinventing Life After Driving

Locate a Car-Sharing Facility Near You (Car-Sharing.net)