Westminster City Council has renewed its car club scheme with Zipcar for a further two years.

The scheme is available to Westminster residents and businesses and provides members with the use of cars parked in on-street places across the city and throughout Greater London.

The hourly and daily rates all include insurance, the congestion charge and fuel for 40 miles - making the scheme an alternative to car ownership for city drivers.

Each hire also includes one hour’s free parking in Westminster.

The car club currently has 185 vehicles at 128 locations and members can choose from a range of vehicles including VW Golfs, Audi A3s, people carriers and vans.

Members of the scheme can locate and reserve a car 24 hours a day (online, by using the Zipcar smartphone app or by phone), unlock the car with their membership card, and drive away.

Westminster residents can join the scheme at a discounted rate of £25 for their first year, less than half the standard Zipcar annual fee.

There are also discounts available for Westminster businesses who want to join the scheme.

Cllr Daniel Astaire, Westminster City Council’s Cabinet Member for Business, said: “We are pleased to continue our partnership with Zipcar and we have ambitious plans to increase membership of the scheme and use of the current fleet of vehicles.

“This scheme is a win/win situation, offering great benefits to individual drivers in Westminster and improving the local environment for everyone.” 

The car club scheme contributes to reducing congestion and carbon emissions.  

CarPlus survey data from December 2012 shows that 39% of Westminster Car Club members have sold at least one private vehicle since joining, with an additional 32% deferring purchase of a new vehicle.

Since the scheme started in 2009, the total number of Car Club members in Westminster has grown to around 9,500, making Westminster - in membership terms - the largest car club borough in London.

Taken together, this represents more than 6,300 vehicles taken off road through sale or deferred purchase.

The survey also showed that 91% of Westminster Car Club members take public transport at least once a week.

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