Over 8,500 people belong to Scottish car clubs

Carplus Annual Survey reveals 20% increase in club membership in Scotland

Scottish car clubs are making cleaner driving accessible and affordable for more people, says a new report by Carplus, the national body for car club operators.

The Carplus Annual Survey shows that car club membership in Scotland has grown by nearly 20%, with 8,566 members now using 324 cars.

The report reveals that, in general, Scottish car club members are early adopters, over 90% have smartphones and over 25% of them access transport apps on a daily basis. They are also interested in driving electric vehicles, with around 1,000 Scottish drivers being introduced to driving electric vehicles over the past year.

Some 22% of the car club fleet in Scotland is electric, and the first hydrogen vehicles have been introduced to the fleet in Aberdeen.

A Carplus spokeswoman said: “There are further benefits of car clubs. On joining a car club, Scottish members reduce their annual mileage by an average of 967 miles. Each car club vehicle represents 3.5 private vehicles removed from the road.

“In 2015 Scottish car club members drove over 8 million miles less after joining the car club - over 300 times round the world! Each car club car replaces at least eight privately owned vehicles, freeing up space on congested streets. That means that 1,200 cars were taken off the roads because of Scottish car club members.”

The publication of the Scottish results follows the release earlier this week of survey findings for England and Wales, and a specific report on car clubs in London.

Carplus and its sister body Bikeplus promote accessible shared transport including car clubs, shared bikes and 2+ car sharing.

The spokeswoman said: “Carplus and Bikeplus work to change the way people travel to reduce the environmental impact of transport and improve access to transport for all. We support and encourage measure that promote car clubs, car sharing, bike sharing and other shared mobility schemes which complement public transport, cycling and walking to provide affordable and flexible travel.”