Netf lix … for cars
No need to buy or lease – pay monthly and swap models when you fancy
DRIVERS are turning away from buying or leasing their cars – and taking out a monthly subscription instead.
Put off by the rising costs of owning and running a car, they are signing up for deals that let them change models – or hand back the keys – whenever they like.
The services, offering everything from runarounds to executive saloons, have been compared to on-demand film and TV streaming services such as netflix, with no need to sign up to a long-term contract.
Customers simply pay a flat fee for a month’s rental, which, unlike buying or leasing a car, includes everything needed to get on the road – insurance, breakdown cover, road tax and routine maintenance.
At the end of the period they can either pay to keep the car for another month, swap it for a different model or hand it back and walk away without any penalty. Felix Leuschner, the founder of Britain’s largest car subscription service, Drover, which was set up in London two and a half years ago, believes that up to one in
‘All-inclusive experience’
ten drivers will subscribe for their vehicles within the next decade. He told The Times that his customer base has risen from 400 to more than 2,000 in the past year, adding: ‘People are really frustrated with the typical car purchase experience, especially on the used car side. We are trying to provide a more seamless and all- inclusive experience.’ Experts say the new motoring services are being aimed at young people, who increasingly sign up with firms such as netflix, Amazon Prime and Spotify instead of paying for cable and satellite TV packages or buying CDs and DVDs of their own.
The services are also hoping to fend off the challenge from cheap app-based taxi firms such as Uber.
Drover provides subscriptions on behalf of car dealerships and motor manufacturers and has about 100 cars available to use at any one time.
Prices start from £ 169 a month for a small Toyota Aygo and £365 for a nissan Juke, going up to £1,785 for a Range Rover Sport and £1,981 for a luxury BMW 7 Series.
its subscription deals also include discounted petrol in a partnership with BP.
As drivers can change their cars on a month-by-month basis, the service differs from the growing number of car clubs in large towns and cities, which for an annual fee offer only a limited number of vehicles that are booked online on a hourly basis.
But car manufacturers have a challenge on their hands to attract younger drivers – even if they use netflix as their inspiration.
A recent study revealed under a third of people aged between 17 and 20 hold a driving licence, down from nearly 50 per cent in the early 1990s. Licences held by those aged between 20 and 29 dropped from 75 to 63 per cent over the same period.