30 Apr 07
Parking fines are a thing of the past for Sam Barker
They're called car clubs because you pay a members' fee. This can be a one-off and refundable joining charge (£150 for Streetcar), or anything up to £50 a month. As with mobile phone tariffs, the more you pay up front, the better deals you get. So lower insurance excess, more free miles, lower charge rates and so on.
Streetcar's hourly rate is £4.95, which blows a big fat financial raspberry at the taxis. The weekday rate is £35, rising to £50 for weekends, and £195 for the whole week. You get 30 miles per day free, after which you pay 19p a mile. That sounds a lot, but it does include the petrol. If you need to fill up, you charge it to a fuel card. Bills arrive monthly and can be extracted automatically from your bank account via direct debit.
There are a couple of rules to break the habit of rental-car abuse. You're encouraged to give it a good clean for the next person (who may arrive five minutes after you've parked it up) with the carrot of a free hour in return for a good jet-washing. The stick is a £25 fine for leaving it filthy. You're also fined for returning late, even three minutes late, but you can ring the car club via the hands-free system to let them know you've hit the devil's own jam.
This renting revolution isn't perfect. 'The mileage charge is quite high,' reckons Barker. 'It's fine if you're just buzzing around town but if you need to go on a long trip then it can get a bit expensive.'
In fact, go too far or rent too long and the car clubs start losing out to the likes of National and Avis. A three-day weekend for £150 in the Streetcar Golf drops to £66 in a National Vauxhall Corsa -based on London prices we were quoted - and that's with unlimited mileage. On top of that you get a choice of cars, plus the option to return it somewhere else, neither of which the car clubs offer.
