RECORD petrol prices are prompting drivers to give up owning their own cars and join car clubs to cut their motoring costs.

More than 1,000 people joined Britain’s biggest car club, Streetcar, in the past month as fuel edged towards £1 a litre. Four out of ten gave high petrol and diesel prices as the main reason for joining.

Streetcar charges £4.95 an hour, then the first 30 miles a day are free, with each mile above that costing 19p. Members pay none of the fixed costs such as insurance, road tax, servicing and depreciation.

There are 30 car clubs in towns and cities around Britain with almost 10,000 members, up from only 250 in 2000. Dozens of local authorities allocate parking bays for the exclusive use of car-club members.

According to Carplus, a charity that supports car clubs, each one replaces five privately owned cars and members who give up a car when joining reduce their mileage by more than 50 per cent.

Caroline Hyde, an account manager from Finsbury Park, North London, joined Streetcar last month after deciding to sell her Nissan Micra to help to pay a deposit on a flat.

She said: “I was paying £550 a year in insurance, £120 in road tax, £50 in AA membership and £25 for a parking permit and yet I was only using my car about twice a week.

“Seeing fuel advertised at 99p a litre was the final straw. As a car club member I only pay for the time I have the car and I know exactly how much it is going to cost me.”

Ms Hyde, 26, lives just over a mile from the nearest car club parking bay. She said: “It’s not as convenient as having the car parked outside your door but it’s a good incentive to think carefully about whether you really need a car for your journey.”

Stuart Barker had his car stolen and was thinking of replacing it when he discovered that there was a car club car parked near his home in Wandsworth, South London. He said: “I no longer need to worry about my car being nicked or vandalised. Those are issues for the club, not me.

“You have to plan ahead but the system is pretty flexible. I recently booked two hours via the internet for a trip to B&Q but found I was running late. I rang the club call centre and no one had the car after me so it was OK to extend my booking by an hour. The whole trip cost me just £15.”

Mr Barker, 31, said that a car club was a good compromise for anyone willing to use public transport for most trips but who occasionally wanted to use a car. “I play golf and I would feel a bit of an idiot with my golf bag on a bus,” he added.

Carplus calculates that those who drive fewer than 6,000 miles a year will save £1,500 by joining a car club.

CityCarClub, which has 2,500 members, is converting some cars to biodiesel, a blend of diesel and carbon-free fuel and is opening a new club in Norwich. Dirk van Dijl, its chief executive, said: “We prefer small, fuel-efficient cars because our members tend to be more switched on about the environment.”

HOW IT WORKS

• The three biggest clubs — Streetcar, CityCarClub and WhizzGo — have websites giving the precise location of the parking bays for their cars
  
  
• Members pay a deposit of £100-£150. Cost of membership is £25-£40 (Streetcar has abolished membership fees)
  
  
• They can book cars via the internet for as little as half an hour at a time. Fees range from between £4 and £5 an hour, with a daily rate of about £35. There is a set number of free miles, after which a charge is made per mile
  
  
• Streetcar members receive a “smartcard” which they use to unlock the car by holding it against a reader behind the windscreen. They enter a pin code on a keypad on the radio and remove the keys from the glovebox
  
  
• Bookings can be extended by ringing the call centre. A fine is usually imposed if another person has booked the car
  
  
• Members pay by direct debit and receive monthly statements