Find Out About Car Subscriptions

Find companies that offer Car Subscription Services

Carpe

Land Rover Jaguar are behind the team at Carpe Car Subscriptions and unlike the other providers, Carpe offers a lvel of membership which dictates the type of car you drive.

The subscription from Carpe includes the vehicle, maintenance, road fund licence and breakdown cover, as well as fully comprehensive insurance. At this moment in time, this service is only available to 25 year olds and over.

Terms are usually 6 months and require an additional charge if you want to change or end your vehicle within this period.

ONTO

Onto (Formally Evezy) offer Car Subscriptions purely for electric charging. Subscriptions can be taken for as little as a month but have limited vehicles due to the nature of their products/services.

They are quite a new company and recenty rebranded as ONTO.

Cocoon Vehicles Ltd

Cocoon Vehicles are based in Derby, in the middle of the UK. They have been offering a car subscription service since 2007 and are very well established in the car industry.

Cocoon Vehicles offers flexible car subscriptions from 1 month up to 12 months and have a bank of at least 300 vehicles, which seems to be much higher than other providers.

Cocoon’s service includes maintenance, road fund licence, breakdown cover, and service. All customer needs to do is fuel and insure their vehicles, which they feel works out cheaper than one who offers an inclusive package.

Cocoon also offers incentives for subscriptions over 90 days with free delivery in England & Wales when the Documentation Fee has been paid.

Elmo

Elmo is a car subscription service based around a website and technology, aiming to allow you to select a vehicle online in minutes.

Elmo do not take a refundable deposit and customers can keep the vehicles as long as they like on a rolling monthly contract.

30 days notice is required to return the car.

Elmo’s basic package includes the car, fully comprehensive insurance, maintenance, breakdown cover and they even a make contribution to offset your carbon.

You can also add extra’s such as a home charger or additional mileage.

What are Car Subscriptions?

Car Subscriptions are a great way of running a car on a month-to-month basis, similar to traditional contract hire and leasing but without the tie-ins or responsibility of ownership or long term leases.

What a car cubscription service, you can quickly get a car, usuaully within a few days and keep it for as little as a month.

You then have the option to pause, upgrade or downgrade easily without any penalties or additional fees.

Car Subscriptions sit nicely between daily rental vehicles from the likes of Avis and Hertz and long term contract hire and leasing from companies such as Arval and Lex Autolease.

With Car Subscriptions many of the providers include the rental, maintenance, servicing and breakdown cover as part of their monthly payment, some even offer optional insurance.

You responsibilities are nice and simple, keep the car in good order, report any breakdowns, service the car adhereing to the manufacturer guidelines and return the car within its standards. You will of course need to fuel it and insure it, where required.

Car Subscription Providers in the UK

The Car Subscription market is growing everyday, with more and more providers dipping their toes in the water to see if it works for their business model. Here is a list of providers already operating car subscriptions in the UK:

Many of these car subscription providers cover the basics within their payment, which includes: Breakdown Cover, road Fund Licence, Servicing and Maintenance. However, some of them may impose age restrictions, deposits, the inclusion of insurance and administration charges such as PCN processing fees and late payments.

Many of the Car Subscription businesses offer Electric Cars and Hybrid Vehicles, which is an ideal way to try these new vehicles on fleet before committing long term.

Some of the companies also offer corporate facilities such as accounts and account managers, along with VAT invoices, this can make managing a fleet much easier for many business owners.

How much are Car Subscriptions?

The cost of a monthly car subscription depends on the type of vehicle, the mileage requirements and the length of time you’d like to commit to.

Depending on the car subscription company, the longer the car subscription term, the cheaper the subscription.

Prices can be fround from £200 per month up to £2000 per month for high end cars or prestige vehicles.

It is also a great way to trial electric cars in your fleet, with many of the car subscription providers offering these cars for not much more than a traditional lease.

Look out for things like joining fees, refundable deposits, admin charges and return standards, these all differ from company to company.

Car Subscriptions vs. Traditional Leasing/Buying

The biggest positive to car subscriptions is flexibibility. If you needed to end a car lease early, there would be large penalities to pay. If you sold a vehicle, you might make a loss.

Car Subscriptions also have the benefit of not having to pay for road fund licences, MOT, servicing, breakdown cover and sometimes insurance.

With the flexibility side of things, you can pause, upgrade or downgrade really easily. This way you could actually drive a different car every month, or each time a new plate comes out from the DVLA.

Car Subscriptions vs. Renting

A car rental is a short term solution and although many of the mainstream companies offer long term solutions, generally car subscriptions can work out cheaper, especially over a longer period.

Insurance excesses can be quite high and if opting for an Excess waiver, this can workout extremely costly.

Are Car Subscriptions Worth It?

This all depends on the Car Subscription provider and vehicle that you use. Car Subscriptions are ideal for those who want a flexible contract and haven’t got a massive amount of money to put down.

Some of the Car Subscription companies also offer used cars which may prove to be cheaper than a new car subscription vehicle.

It is also worth bearing in mind the location of the car subscription as sometimes high delivery costs can be off putting.