Who are Share Our Cars?
We do three things:
Promote and advocate for all types of car-sharing
Create 'closed loops', a new way of sharing cars in trusted groups with friends or neighbours in E. Oxford
Help people who want to create their own 'closed loops' in other areas
We want to make it easier for communities to share cars. Whether that's local neighbourhoods, a church or mosque, a low carbon community group, a group of friends, family members or even just for a road trip, it can be easy to share your car with other drivers when you're not using it.
We created the UK's first neighbourhood closed loop trusted group in East Oxford, partnering with Hiyacar (Airbnb for cars) who verify the drivers, provide the insurance, and manage the booking system. Find out more about how we manage our local group here.
What is car-sharing?
There are loads of different ways to share cars - all are great, and some suit some people and some suit others. You can informally share a car with a friend or family. You can make your car available to people to borrow when you're not using it, with an app like Hiyacar, Turo or Getaround - or do what we did and use Hiyacar to get a local group of people to share their cars with each other. Or you can get rid of your car altogether and share someone else's. Find out more about the different types of car-sharing here
Why car-share?
Transport is the UK's largest source of emissions. Most of this is from privately owned cars. EVs are brilliant, but we can't just replace them 1:1. Most cars are unused 96.5% of the time (according to the RAC). So sharing them makes sense.
Many people need to own cars. Others value the convenience of accessing one when they need it but don't actually want the hassles and expense of owning one.
Our vision is of a future with fewer cars, where we have shared EVs available on our streets when we need them, and where the space outside our houses can be used for other things.
Read more about the benefits of car-sharing here.
Could you be interested in setting up your own trusted group on Hiyacar?
Groups can start as small as one borrower and one lender - you can start small and grow, or start as a larger group.
Click here to find out more.