Questions about closed loops

Why use a closed loop trusted group and not just use a car club like Zipcar / Co-wheels?

Car clubs rock. We love them. They're great where they are, but they aren't everywhere - many people don't have access to them. It can be difficult for them to expand, and there can be issues with availability.

We need to reduce car usage, switch to EVs, use car clubs, car pool, AND Share our own cars. These solutions are complementary, not exclusive. The good news if you live in Oxford is that Co-Wheels are adding 25 new cars during 2022 so there should be even more car-sharing choices.

Who can join a closed loop trusted group?

You can set it up any way you like. We did the first group as a neighbourhood car-share, so anyone who lives within 6 streets (and passes Hiyacar's driver verification) can borrow any of the cars we have put up for loan. But it's also possible to share with a group of friends (you just need to give Hiyacar a list of names). You set up the group, so you decide.

Do I need permission from the council to set up a closed loop?

No! That's the beauty of this approach. Unlike conventional car-clubs, which can take a while to set up due to required permission and logistics, you just need at least one car which you want to share. This means it's possible to easily launch a neighbourhood car-sharing club in an area which might not get a Zipcar or a Co-Wheels for a long time.

Click here to find out more about setting one up

Borrowing a car in a closed loop trusted group

How much does a car cost to rent?

That depends on your insurance profile and the car you're renting. On the Hiyacar app, as a driver, you can get a quote before you finalise your rental. The cost of rental will be insurance, plus booking fee, plus the fee you pay to the car owner. Cars are charged at an hourly rate.

As an example, it costs me £14.82 to borrow my neighbour's Kia for three hours. That's £7.32 in insurance, £6 in rental cost, and a £1 booking fee. Insurance gets cheaper if you do 10 borrows, and then cheaper again if you do 20.

Note - if you're a driver in a Closed Loop / Trusted Group, you can also see all of Hiyacar's public cars.

How will the car compare to a standard hire car?

To a degree that depends a bit on what you decide to do in your loop.

We decided to say that people wouldn't leave rubbish in the cars (no banana skins or crisp packets) but personal stuff is fine (spare umbrellas, driving shoes, dog bed, kids car seats). We also decided that if it was borrowed for a trip of under 10 miles, there was no need to refill the tank.

Think of it like borrowing a friend's car, not hiring at Avis or Hertz.

I have kids and dogs and am worried about making the car dirty

Don't be! In our groups, we know that many of our car owners also have kids / dogs. They will specify this in their car listing, and if they don't want kids or dogs they will say this and then you can borrow a different car.

Are there other limits on who can borrow a car?

There are some insurance limitations. You need to be aged between 23 and 75. Details are on link below.

https://help.hiyacar.co.uk/en/articles/67268-member-criteria

Why does Hiyacar need to see my insurance history / verify my driving license?

Hiyacar have a high standard for driver verification. This allows owners to lend their car safe in the knowledge that you are who you say you are.

Hiyacar's insurer looks at 33 different data points before calculating your insurance premium for each journey. The reason the insurers ask for your job title is that apparently it can affect your insurance profile.

Are there EVs?

It depends on who lends out their car! Hopefully someone near you will lend out an EV. There's a couple being loaned in Oxford at the moment, one of which is public (not in a closed loop).

Lending a car in a closed loop trusted group

Can any car be loaned out?

The main restriction is that the car has to be less than 15 years old. Unfortunately, no Teslas are allowed (very expensive to insure due to high acceleration) and you probably won't find many Lamborghinis.

Who can rent my car?

Anyone in your trusted group can sign-up and request to borrow your car. Once they’ve requested, you can accept or decline. No one under 23 or over 5 is able to borrow it for insurance reasons.

Inside the app, there’s a car calendar (which is very easy to fill in) where you can say which days your car might be available on and then people can look at the car’s availability on a given day before requesting. Once they’ve requested, you can accept or decline. You have no obligation to loan it to anyone who asks.

Practically, in our loop, people mostly use WhatsApp to communicate - either asking an individual if their car is free, or messaging the whole group - and therefore if your car is only in the loop, it's less important to keep your calendar up to date.

Is it insured? Will it affect my car insurance?

Yes it's insured, fully comprehensive, and with roadside assistance included for the driver. Hiyacar's insurance effectively sits on top of your own insurance so if a claim is made whilst it's being loaned, it will not affect your own no-claims bonus. More detail on the Hiyacar website below. Hiyacar will also deal with all of the insurance claims and any issues if the car is left dirty / with minor damage.

https://help.hiyacar.co.uk/en/articles/66420-how-does-the-insurance-work

Can I trust the drivers?

Hiyacar have a stringent verification and vetting process and bad or problem drivers aren't permitted to borrow. All drivers are on the electoral roll and will be age 23-75.

Can I put in any restrictions – I do/don’t want kids or dogs in my car?

In our group, we ask users to say a sentence about themselves and why they want to borrow your car when they message you with the request.

It's also helpful if you can say a bit about your car and how you use it on the app. So you can say that you use it Mon-Fri but it's available most Sundays. You can say your car is often quite messy and you don’t care what goes in it, or you can say that you’d prefer not to have kids or dogs in the car. Then we trust that only people who fit that profile will borrow it. They’re your neighbours, afterall.

How much will I earn if I rent my car as part of a loop?

That depends on how much you charge for your car! Hiyacar gives you a range of options. Some people in our group priced towards the bottom of the recommended range - which seems to more or less cover costs.

Generally, people who are in a closed loop only don't rent their cars out very often (maybe a couple of times a month). Their main motivation has been to make their car available if needed to allow other people to give up their cars.

If you want to rent commercially via Hiyacar you can just list your car on the app, and as you're making it available to a much wider pool of people, you'll likely get a lot more requests and more money. I tried this and it was great. It does tend to take a few months to build up your car profile if it's rented commercially. See additional question below.

How clean does my car need to be?

Not that clean! We say that rubbish (e.g. banana skins, crisp packets, water bottles) should be removed from the car before it’s loaned out but there’s no need to hoover it or to remove the stuff that you usually keep in your car. Imagine that you're lending it to a friend - that's how clean it should be.

Drivers understand that the car is not being loaned out for profit and therefore do not expect it to be as clean as a hire car. If you're renting it commercially (see above), it probably needs to be a bit cleaner.

How do you know who is responsible for minor damage?

Hiyacar have a check-in system which we can use with their app, it’s really quick and easy (involves taking photos).

What about petrol?

In our group, we've said that if someone rents it for less than 10 miles (i.e. trip to the tip, supermarket etc) they don't need to fill it up, but if it's for longer, they should do.

What's the sign-up process?

Easiest way to do it is to download the Hiyacar app and just sign up your car. It won't be released to be rented until you've either had an introductory call with Hiyacar Customer Service or just messaged them and said you don't want to if you're in a loop. Hiyacar will see the area you're adding your car from and will automatically put it in a loop.

How do we do key handover?

In our group, we just arrange keys on the Hiyacar message system. Sometimes the driver picks them up at the start of the rental, or if the owner knows they're going to be out, they drop the keys through the driver's letterbox. At the end of the rental, the driver posts the keys back through the owner's door.

How much will I earn if I rent my car on Hiyacar not just as part of the loop?

Again, it somewhat depends. London, Bristol & Edinburgh are currently the biggest areas for Hiyacar. I spoke to them about a few examples of people who are currently renting out their cars, and as you can see below, it depends! If you're renting your car in Oxford, you'll probably need to wait a few months until enough people know about it until you get significant rentals. I've written about my own experience of renting my car out in Oxford (before I sold it) here.

Morgan in Bristol lends out his 2012 Alfa Guilietta. He uses it during the week and some weekends, and makes it available to loan every other weekend. His average monthly rental is £70

Mark in Wokingham lends out his 2009 Land Rover Discovery. He uses the car regularly, but occasionally lends it out for a week when he is elsewhere, and doing so covers the cost of owning it. His average monthly rental is £126.

Emma in Wandsworth lends out her 2013 VW Golf. She uses it Tue-Thu to commute to work and her boyfriend uses it to go to football during the week. She makes it available most of the rest of the time apart from when she needs it for weekend trips. She also made it available for week-long rentals in July and August. Her average monthly rental is £409.15

Michelle in Clapham lends out her 2012 Fiat 500. She used to use it to commute, but with WFH she isn’t using it much, and she makes it available a lot of the time. Her average monthly rental is £215.20

IFCAR

What is IFCAR?

IFCAR is the name of the first trusted group, in Iffley Fields Oxford. You can join if you live here. Click here for more details.