An Idea? Car Share From Manufacturers
Discussion
Was doing some reading earlier and something came to mind.
Seems a lot of people base their buying choices - amongst other things, their car choices - on "worst case scenarios". Products that are not ideally suited to their actual needs or desires, but also to satisfy "what ifs".
What do I mean by that?
Well, buying the estate car instead of the saloon because you "may need to go to the tip".
Buying the petrol rather than the EV for the potential you may have to travel 400 miles in a day.
Buying the 4 door not the coupe because you may have to give your friends a lift sometime.
Yes there are car clubs and rentals etc, but would you be incentivised to buy / lease a car from a manufacturer if they offered a certain number of days per year with other products from their range?
Instead of buying a Macan, you get the Cayman you've always wanted, but a Macan 10 days a year when you need it?
Buy the Aygo as you live in a city, but get the Hilux when you have stuff to shift?
Apropos of nothing really, and a million problems to overcome I'm sure - just musing.
Seems a lot of people base their buying choices - amongst other things, their car choices - on "worst case scenarios". Products that are not ideally suited to their actual needs or desires, but also to satisfy "what ifs".
What do I mean by that?
Well, buying the estate car instead of the saloon because you "may need to go to the tip".
Buying the petrol rather than the EV for the potential you may have to travel 400 miles in a day.
Buying the 4 door not the coupe because you may have to give your friends a lift sometime.
Yes there are car clubs and rentals etc, but would you be incentivised to buy / lease a car from a manufacturer if they offered a certain number of days per year with other products from their range?
Instead of buying a Macan, you get the Cayman you've always wanted, but a Macan 10 days a year when you need it?
Buy the Aygo as you live in a city, but get the Hilux when you have stuff to shift?
Apropos of nothing really, and a million problems to overcome I'm sure - just musing.
BMW did this early on with the i3, in as much as you could borrow an ICE car for a few days a year for long journeys.
As a supplementary idea, I've often wondered about something similar to 'lux home swap' where members borrow each others houses. For example, an owner of a Continental GT might fancy a week or so driving a Porsche 911, so owners could somehow be brought together, with the platform facilitating delivery, insurance etc.
As a supplementary idea, I've often wondered about something similar to 'lux home swap' where members borrow each others houses. For example, an owner of a Continental GT might fancy a week or so driving a Porsche 911, so owners could somehow be brought together, with the platform facilitating delivery, insurance etc.
It's a nice idea. Pricey though I guess. I think I've had more than one passenger in my car maybe 3 times this year. but probably 10 times where I've used some (if not all) of the back seat area for carrying stuff. In reality, a Honda Jazz size vehicle would probably be all the car I need. And I wager that would be true for 90% of the people on here. We've all got so sold on bigger and taller vehicles that just aren't necessary. The alternative would be to rip it all up, start again with a transport network dominated by public transport and have hireable vehicles dotted around. But we are so wedded to our own personal transport now that this is not going to happen.
I imagine if manufacturers were to offer this, they'd just bump up the price of whichever lease/finance package it was attached to over and above what you'd pay for a few days rental anyway, plus you've then got the insurance implications--does the manufacturer cover this or would they expect you to?
Sounds like far more hassle than it would be worth for all parties.
Sounds like far more hassle than it would be worth for all parties.
POIDH said:
Olivergt said:
Didn't Volvo try something like this a few years ago?
I think they had some kind of version of this - pay for a car, but get to use different models when you need to.It's a nice idea, but it's not really any better than hiring a car.
It would either be "subject to availability" and therefore not much use, or the manufacturer would have to have loads of the alternative cars ready and waiting which would make the whole thing mega expensive.
hidetheelephants said:
Car clubs are a popular thing in many cities around the world, but London and the UK isn't because reasons, IIRC availability of parking was one problem but not the only one. I can't see what manufacturer involvement adds.
Plenty of car clubs operating in London when I lived there. Don't know if they're all still running, but Enterprise Car Club definitely is.The biggest player folded up tents a few months ago and the vehicle fleet dropped by ~80%. Compared to what's on offer in similar european cities it's pretty poor.
hidetheelephants said:
The biggest player folded up tents a few months ago and the vehicle fleet dropped by ~80%. Compared to what's on offer in similar european cities it's pretty poor.
That's a shame, I always found them very useful, although traditional rentals were generally just as convenient.An article about the Volvo subscription service and why it failed: https://www.tomorrowsjourney.co.uk/industry-insigh...
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