Basil

Basil

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

Fancy taking your neighbour's motor for a spin?



Since moving into my flat about a year ago i have made it my mission to actually get to know my neighbours, rather than just avoid eye contact and hope i never need their help. My road is full of varied occupants; most friendly, some slightly odd and one downright rude, however the good certainly outweight the bad. Anyway, i'm completely digressing. The reason for this waffle is that i'm a HUGE advocate of schemes like freecycle (www.freecycle.org) where you get to give and receive items that are now longer wanted within your neighbourhood (and it's often some cracking items although i did once see "one left shoe" and "keys to the kingdom of god" on there..) However through various sofa giveaways and chest of drawer pickups i've come to realise the  value in these type of mutually beneficial exchanges. 

So imagine my delight when, as a neighbour loving fan of sustainable things, i came across Whipcar (www.whipcar.com). The concept is simple, lots of people around you have cars and not everyone needs their car all of the time, so why not make a bit of cash by effectively renting out your car. The vehicle owner benefits from some extra cash and the hirer gets the freedom of having the occasional use of a car without all the ties that ownership brings.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

3 comments:

  1. www.whipcar.com makes that site sounds much more interesting than it actually is. I had visions of a mobile S&M club!

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  2. Now that would be a novel idea (and a sure fire way to get to know your neighbours!)

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  3. I'm a massive fan of the car clubs like Streetcar. Not sure I could be bothered with the hassle of this, although prices and convenience of cars nearby is interesting.

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