CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh

How is the car club nowadays?

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  1. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    I've been a member of Edinburgh's 'City Car Club' for a good long time. More recently it became 'Enterprise Car Club'. I'm going to ask for comments on here because I'd assume that members of this forum are probably over-represented in being members of the Car Club.

    How are they doing now that they are well established as 'Enterprise Car Club'?

    As would be expected, as would be reasonable, they are going to start to do things in new ways. I'm currently encountering their newish and relatively restrictive process for validating a licence - but I think I've understood it...

    However in looking for comments on this I've also come across at least one website with a host of very negative comments, from people who feel they have been charged for damage they didn't cause. Given that the Internet can magnify certain things above others - in this case inevitably magnifying negative over positive - I'm cautious about putting too much trust in these... but on the other hand they have the ring of truth about them. They feel like the kind of comments I'd expect to see about your average car hire company... and I long ago learned to be very careful with hiring from some companies, making sure that every little scratch was recorded and so on.

    Generally I've been more relaxed with the car club, trusting that they treated these cars just a little bit more flexibly (recognising that it wouldn't ever be easy to pin blame down for minor dents and scratches) - but I'm wondering whether it's time to start to treat this like any other hire... being really careful to record absolutely every scratch and dent, no matter how tiny, viewing the car in daylight and so on... and with that in mind whether the whole thing may become too much of a hassle.

    Any thoughts from other club members? This matters for a bike riding community in a car-centric city...

    Posted 7 years ago #

  2. SRD
    Moderator

    We've not noticed any changes since Enterprise took over.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  3. Kenny
    Member

    Bizarre coincidence... was talking about this yesterday for the first time in years. I'd also be interested in knowing opinions, especially from people who *don't* live in the city centre. I'm on the west side of the city, closest one to me seems to be Drum Brae Leisure Centre, but I'm wondering how often the car is actually there... and therefore how often I wouldn't be able to use a car.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  4. fimm
    Member

    We've been members for years and have noticed no changes. Validating my licence was a slight faff (and I half expected to be challenged as my name has changed!) but I had no issues.

    We live near Tynecastle stadium and have 5 cars within easy walking distance; I can think of another a little further away; it is very unusual to not be able to get any of them.

    I can't comment on areas where they are thinner on the ground. There may be a bit of a catch-22 problem; people don't join up because there aren't many cars in their area; so there doesn't appear to be any demand for cars in that area; so more cars aren't provided.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  5. kenny
    Member

    I've been a member of the City Car Club since it first started, and this is the first time they asked for my licence. As I still have a parchment one they told me to bring it into their Annandale Street branch. The staff there told me that you get up to two hours "free" parking in the city now - in pay and display (and maybe residents' only) spaces.

    I use it very little, so cannot comment on the quality of service impact of the Enterprise takeover.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  6. BenN
    Member

    I use Enterprise Car club all the time, and have to say I love it. Living in Warriston we have tons of cars within a 10 minutes walk (or a few minutes scoot...), including a Leaf. The day rates often work out cheaper than a regular rental, and the two hours free parking is really handy.

    You DO have to check your bill to make sure that you haven't accidently been charged for the previous hirer's miles, which has happened to me a few times. Having said that the 'clubhouse' staff are really fast to respond and resolve any problems quickly.

    I've never had any damage problems with them, but I rent from car club / old fashioned rental so often that I have a yearly excess free policy to cover such eventualities just in case.

    Best example of how useful they are: My wife went in to labour unexpectedly at 3:45am on a Thursday morning this December. Within 20 minutes I had booked and collected a car and we were on our way to hospital. (Disclaimer: when ECC found out about this use, they comped the day's rental and mileage and sent us a John Lewis voucher to celebrate, so not ENTIRELY neutral endorsement!)

    Posted 7 years ago #

  7. fimm
    Member

    BenN that was nice (how did they find out?)!
    Yes, one thing I will say is that we've used day hires a few times since the days rates became lower - there's always a balance between paying less for a long hire and the faff of having to go to a conventional hire place to get the car.

    Our best use was probably the weekend of our wedding. Mr fimm collected the car from outside Waverley. This meant we had a car when we needed one. The day after the wedding we drove back to our flat, dropped off all the presents and our wedding outfits etc etc, picked up our suitcases for the honeymoon and drove back to Waverley, leaving the car there and heading off on the train.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  8. mccolville0221
    Member

    When you hire an electric car from Enterprise, are you charged for electricity in the same way you would be charged for petrol if you hired a petrol car?

    Are there any other charges? I'm thinking of joining.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  9. rbrtwtmn
    Member

    Well no chain of horror stories so far at least.

    For the moment I'll put the negative comments I came across down to the inevitable situations where damage has been done and nobody can prove who caused it... That has to happen sometimes I guess. I certainly had it during a conventional hire before.

    But I'm also going to continue to watch this site:
    https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/enterprisecarclub.co.uk

    And I'm going to be a bit more careful about reporting any existing damage and perhaps taking photos of the returned car....

    To be positive though - I've generally had no problems at all. Early on (whilst still City Car Club) we had a situation where the car wouldn't open, but I think I'd locked it with the card when I should have used the key - and we're probably talking about 10 years ago. And recently there was an occasion when the car space had a car in it when we returned... with me needing to call them to ask what to do. That was a major hassle (as it seemed likely to lead to a parking ticket which I didn't want to be blamed for as there was no possibility of parking anywhere else sensible).

    And are cars available? - for short trips generally yes - I have probably 4 vehicles within a 5 minute walk and several others a bit further away.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  10. fimm
    Member

    When we returned to our spot to find a car parked in it and that car already ticketed I'm afraid I had no sympathy at all - one of the benefits of being in the Car Club is the ease of parking and the point is you are trying to promote Car Club membership over owing your own car - just like it should be easier to get there by bike and park your bike when you get there because we would rather you went by bike than by car.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  11. neddie
    Member

    you would be charged for petrol

    I don't think you have to put petrol in the Enterprise car club hires (I may be wrong)

    Otherwise for every short journey, half of that journey time would be getting petrol... which wouldn't make sense

    Posted 7 years ago #

  12. fimm
    Member

    You should put petrol in a car club car if the tank is a quarter full or less. There's a card in the car that you use to pay for it.
    You get charged a mileage rate on top of your flat fee - so if I were to hire one for a lot of short trips over a weekend that would cost less than taking one to the Highlands and back.

    Posted 7 years ago #

  13. CycleAlex
    Member

    Used the Car Club for the first time this morning - really handy service. Got a nice hybrid and it didn't cost me anything since I got a referral credit.

    First time driving in Edinburgh too - something I'm glad happened at 05:00!

    Posted 5 years ago #

  14. ianfieldhouse
    Member

    I'd been thinking of signing up recently. Like @rbrtwtmn I'd come across the Trustpilot reviews and that was enough to put me off. It's good to hear that things aren't as hopeless as those reviews make it look.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  15. CycleAlex
    Member

    I thought it was quite a slick process overall. Signed up and reserved a car all in the app and then unlocked the actual car with my bank card.

    Only disappointment was that they restrict driving hours and certain cars for <22's. Feel free to message me for a referral if you do decide to sign-up (~£20 free credit).

    Posted 5 years ago #

  16. unhurt
    Member

    I've got a membership and use it from time to time - been SUPER handy having access to a panel van that lives on my street for a couple of hours. Definitely worth the £2 a month membership. The £700 excess for damage does worry me a bit, but if you use them a lot there's a (rather more expensive!) membership that takes that down to £150 (I think). However, the excess only applies if you're at fault or the other vehicle can't be traced. Assume it focuses the mind on driving carefully - probably a good thing if you, like me, drive a van maybe once a year...

    Posted 5 years ago #

  17. SRD
    Moderator

    our main issue is that they seem to have removed the cars nearest us, and the others in the area seem to change constantly, so you rarely drive the same car. and some of them have odd / unusual ways of starting .

    Posted 5 years ago #

  18. jonty
    Member

    Yeah - I sometimes find car-specific advice a bit lacking (though I think that's fairly common amongst all hire providers.) I once spent a good ten minutes figuring out that getting a Fiat 500 into reverse involves lifting a collar underneath the top of the gearstick, and then two years later totally forgot and did exactly the same thing in a van.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  19. fimm
    Member

    jonty I had exactly that experience with a car hired at the airport - a long time ago when you had a long walk from the pick up desk you your car.

    As stated upthread, Mr fimm and I are very happy with our Car Club membership. We have had a couple of new cars in our area recently.

    We have also had a couple of comedy "how do you start this then?" moments. The worst was probably the electric car... Only once have we been late to something due to Car Club Car problems - and the car that you own is just as capable of not starting or whatever, if not even more so.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  20. Arellcat
    Moderator

    I am also a member of Enterprise Car Club. I used their vans when I moved house, and the odd trip since, but for the last couple of years I've not used ECC at all, on account of Enterprise having no vehicles within about three miles of my house, and no vans within about seven miles. I'm all for 'mobility as a service' but I'm the only car*-free person in my street and I don't see my neighbours following suit until there are more vehicles closer by. But ECC isn't interested.

    * I think of my motorbike as more of a very powerful bicycle.

    Posted 5 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/apr/30/car-sharing-is-now-the-time-to-give-up-owning-a-vehicle

    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. Tulyar
    Member

    @chdot That article certainly written with a London bias!

    For Scotland 2 main players Enterprise and Co-wheels

    Enterprise has the concession with Edinburgh who are a corporate user Glasgow switched from Enterprise to Co-Wheels - a CIC which also has partnerships with locally run operations, who gain the use of the management systems, and reciprocal access to other Co-Wheels operations UK-wide. Enterprise remain in Glasgow, but use private parking spaces either in NCP car parks, at Enterprise Car Hire sites, or negotiated with private property owners with parking spaces. Both I think offer a dual membership deal with a nominal subscription to the 'other' operator

    Co-wheels especially has deals with Housing associations & other audiences and for a £1 lifetime membership some deals offer £25 driving credit to get you started. They also have linked car clubs on Bute and Orkney, Hydrogen cars in Aberdeen and an all EV fleet in Central Glasgow

    In Newcastle some 10 years after an initial attempt was perhaps before its time, Go Ahead buses are offering a deal with bus passes and car club memberships, and waiting for the bike hire scheme to return

    Posted 3 years ago #

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