If you reside in in a big city, owning a vehicle is usually both expensive and a headache. Getting a parking spot may compete with finding a Taliban commander in its difficulty. Paying for car parking can leave a significant hole in your wallet. Due to the large quantity of drivers on the road, car insurance quotes are usually higher in large cities. Gas mileage is reduced during city driving due to the fairly slow speeds and frequent stops. As a result, many city dwellers are saying no thank you to vehicle ownership and counting on alternatives. Public transportation remains an essential alternative, but a relatively new concept is taking over in many U.S. urban centers: car sharing.

As per CarSharing.net, at the start of 2010 there were 27 vehicle sharing programs in the U.S., helping 388,000 members and sharing 7,500 automobiles. They go by names like Zipcar, Car2go, and Community Car. The programs charge a yearly membership fee and may even bill an application fee; Zipcar, for example charges a $50 annual fee and a $25 application fee in the Washington, D.C. area. Another fee applies for every use of an automobile (for example, $30 for a four-hour reservation), which covers gas, insurance, and a specified amount of miles.

The kinds of individuals likely to utilize a car sharing service include:

* Those who normally make use of the bus but who need their own vehicle on occasion

* People who own one vehicle and from time to time need a second

* People who own compact cars though occasionally require a larger automobile

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