If you need occasional use of a car or van but you don’t want the hassle of owning or maintaining the vehicle, then car clubs are the answer. They give you flexible, cost-effective, and convenient access to the right vehicle for your needs, without the expense of buying, fixing, or insuring them yourself.

But I get it. If you are new to the idea you might be a bit apprehensive. This guide should clear things up for you, as well as highlighting the main national providers, and even giving you a quick comparison to help you choose between them.

Major Car Clubs Operating Nationally

These are the best known companies operating across the UK (or most of it):

Operator	About
Zipcar	UK’s largest car-sharing club — ‘Roundtrip’ and ‘Flex’ models.
Enterprise Car Club	Established operator — around 1,400 vehicles across the UK.
Co-Wheels	Largest community-interest operator — 800 vehicles in 70 towns.
Hiyacar (peer-to-peer)	Platform for renting locally owned vehicles via app.
E-Car or others	Other nationwide options accredited by CoMoUK.

Other companies exist, but this covers the biggest and most far reaching of them.

How Do Car Clubs Work

Car clubs are basically a pay as you go service. People can pay to use a car typically by the hour or by the day, with everything included in a single rate.

There are 4 stages:

• Sign Up – All car clubs require ID checks, a driving license, and membership, whether it is a free membership or a monthly fee. Usually, free memberships mean slightly pricier hire charges, whereas monthly memberships may be given back in hire credit or reduced hire charges.
• Book a car – Use the website or app to book the vehicle you want, and get the information you need on where to find it and how to access it.
• Use the car – Use the app to unlock the car and off you go. Fuel, insurance, service etc. are all included in the price. You may have a limited mileage allowance, with additional fees if you go over this mileage, but it’s usually quite generous.
• Return the car – You will either have a designated bay to leave it in, or a wider zone. Make sure the car is clean and has the requisite amount of petrol left (there is a petrol card in the car if you need to fill up), then end the trip on the app.

Each car club will have it’s own rules and structure, but the concept remains the same throughout.

Car Club Comparisons

Here is a brief description of each major car club in the UK.

Zipcar

This is the biggest car club in the UK, with thousands of cars and vans available to book instantly through the app. That said, it’s mainly available in London, Bristol, Oxford, and Cambridge, so while their fleet is huge, they are quite concentrated in terms of area.

Members can choose between round trip bookings, where you collect and return the vehicle to the exact same bay, or Zipcar Flex, which is designed for one way journeys within designated city zones and the car can be left anywhere that’s legal.

Best for: People in London and the South who want quick, flexible access to a wide range of vehicles, even for super short periods.

Enterprise Car Club

Known as City Car Club at first, but since rebranded and grown into one of the most established car clubs in the UK with around 1,400 vehicles. They are truly a National company with vehicles in most major cities and many towns too.

Enterprise charge for hire time then add a mileage fee on top, but there is a daily cap, and you can hire the cars for longer too. It’s a return to bay business model, so you have to return the car from the place you found it, but rental periods can be extended via the app if plans change.

Best For: People doing round trips who need slightly longer rental periods.

Co-Wheels

Although they have a smaller fleet of around 800 cars, Co-Wheels are available nationally in smaller towns or the outskirts of big cities where their competitors may not have a presence. So they have positioned themselves as the car club for people who don’t live in the biggest places.

Co-Wheels are also environmentally conscious, so their fleet includes a lot of electric vehicles and low emission vehicles, all of which are fuel efficient. They are generally the cheaper option of the big three, too.

Best For: People outside the largest cities who want to keep their carbon footprint (and their hire bill) as small as possible.

Hiyacar

Hiyacar take a completely different approach to other car clubs. Rather than maintaining a fleet of their own, they are a platform which connects car owners who want to rent a car locally. This also makes it relatively cheap, since the owner has few overheads, and there are many more types of car available than with traditional car clubs.

Everything including insurance is handled through the app, and with this being a peer to peer model you usually deal directly with the car owner on the day, although some cars can be accessed via the app. You might even decide to list your own car if you have one. The only real downside is that an owner can decide not to accept your booking.

Best For: Local and last minute hires which are potentially available in even the smallest towns and villages.