The information provided on this page has been collated to support borough officers and Councillors to access information on Car Clubs. , For further support or information please contact:
Oluwafemi Biyibi
Principal policy and project officer
Oluwafemi.biyibi@londoncouncils.gov.uk
Industry bodies
- CoMoUK – CoMoUK is a charity focused on supporting and advocating for shared transport modes, like car clubs. Their work includes conducting research and providing data to support car clubs, providing best practice guidance, supporting car club development projects and providing technical advice and consultancy to local authorities and transport planners. They also provide an accreditation scheme for car clubs across the UK.
- BVRLA – The BVRLA, or British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is a membership body for companies engaged in vehicle rental, leasing, and fleet management. They represent over 970 companies that are responsible for over four million cars, vans, and trucks. Their membership also includes car clubs. As a membership organisation, they advocate on behalf of their members, provide their members with guidance and best practice, and serve as a leading industry voice.
Funding
There is no central government funding to support car clubs at this time. However, government grants for plug in vehicles will often help the purchase of electric vehicles for car clubs.
Car club procurement
Approaches to procuring a car club operator vary greatly between London boroughs. We are working with borough officers to identify how we can support a consistent approach to procurement and operation.
To support local authorities, CoMoUK published their Car Club Procurement Guidance document (2019). The document offers advice on the following:
- Types of agreements local authorities could enter with car clubs.
- The types of car club models available
- The value of accreditation
- Policies to support car clubs
- Procurement routes
- Managing and evaluating a car club scheme
- Re-tendering and closing a car club scheme
Car club accreditation
Accreditation of car club services provide boroughs with confidence that the service being procured meets a quality standard. We recommend that all boroughs considering including accreditation as a requirement for responses to procurement tenders. The accrediting body for car clubs in the UK is CoMoUK who have clearly set out a set of standards for car club operators in their Car Club Accreditation Criteria . CoMoUK’s scheme includes three forms of accreditation and requires operators to provide evidence that they meet a set of criteria including:
- Business requirements
- Service provision
- Safety requirements
- Data collection
Reports & Case Studies
- CoMoUK has a growing suite of car club guidance and case studies for local authorities.
- Transport and Environment’s 2021 report Barriers and opportunities for shared battery electric vehicles, highlights the barriers and opportunities for electric vehicles, and includes recommendations for local authorities on increasing electric vehicle car club uptake.
- CoMoUK has published the latest edition of the Car Club Annual Survey Report which gathered evidence from over 8000 car club users.