Aftermarket July/August 2022 Issue

an urgent gap that requires plugging.” Then there is the impact of the pandemic. During the first lockdown in 2020 there was a swerve away from public transport, and an upswing in the sale of used cars as people looked to keep themselves protected. However, people are unpredictable, and the fact that those same people also found themselves stuck at home, a situation that has morphed into a more widespread adoption of remote working, should not be ignored. Will those same people, who bought cars where perhaps they did not have one before, end up actually giving up car ownership entirely? Will more people do the same? There are those who think this is a possibility, and this raises uncomfortable questions for garages. Human behaviour can be unpredictable. Richard Falconer, Managing Director at Co Wheels Car Club, the UK’s largest community interest car club, commented: “The beauty of a pay-as-you-go subscription is that you can enjoy all the benefits and conveniences of a car without the commitment of owning it. You can book a vehicle wherever and whenever you want, for as long or as little as you like. Even half an hour will do. “A pay-as-you-go subscription is perfect for those people who tend to use public transport or bikes. When in need of a vehicle though, whether for a weekly shop or an outdoor trip, this subscription offers you the liberty to book a car at a time and place that best suits you.” Spectrum Most readers of Aftermarket are probably passionate about cars. Don’t say it too loud, but not everyone feels the same way we do. For them, is car ownership what they want? Is it all it is cracked up to be? Richard observed: “We started with car ownership. That's how things used to be, then leasing came into play. However, leasing makes more sense for business users than private users in terms of cash flow. This means a business can spread the cost of leasing rather than buying an asset. “At the other end of that spectrum, people have decided they don't actually need to own a car, or have one at all – They just need to use a car. It's a bit more like subscription services for mobile phones.” For garages, it is always useful to work out who your customers are, and who they are not. So, who is going for car sharing? “The main users are people who, for whatever reason, do not want a car full-time. That might be because they don’t have a parking space. If you're a city dweller, it is actually quite expensive. Just think about the fixed costs of owning a car, which are purchasing it, associated loan costs or interest costs, depreciation, plus servicing, MOT, insurance, repairs.” So, who does want a car full-time, if you are looking at it this way? Richard observed: “If you're a regular high mileage user who use that car five or even seven days a week, or perhaps every day, twice a day to get to work, then it makes sense. This is particularly the case if you live in a suburban area with poor public transport links, you've got a double garage and you've got a parking space at your workplace. “However, the average car can sit idle for 97% of the time. If you are an urban dweller, someone without that ready access to easily own a car, then it is easier to just pick up a car.” For one thing, when you buy a car, you tend to buy the biggest car that you might ever need. Even though you 10 AFTERMARKET JULY/AUGUST 2022 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net might have to drive to work every day on your own, if you've got a dog and children, you know you've got a family holiday to Scotland twice a year, so you'll buy a bigger estate that can fill all of those needs.” Reasoning According to Richard, if you dig into the reasoning, many journeys have a particular purpose: “The main reason that people actually use the car, which doesn’t come up in the surveys, is to basically carry shopping or bulky items. Most of the time they walk or cycle to work because they live nearby, or use public transport, so they're not dependent on it for that Monday Friday journey to work. “The other reason is they need to do a journey that's not easy by those usual methods. Public transport usually goes into city or town centres, but it doesn't actually go around. If you've got a multipoint journey, you're going from your home to the gym, then you're going to visit a relative, then you do some shopping, then you go back home, then you have a multipoint journey. That is not going to be easy on public transport. That's where the car share fills in.” One of the issues businesses discuss is the difficulty of dealing with younger customers, as they have different needs. There is the idea of the generational attitude to ownership where younger people have never really owned a lot of the things that they use. However, according to Richard, they are also seeing people at the other end of the scale: “Absolutely, most of the users tend to be younger people, and that's what we see. However, car share also makes most sense for retired people, because they don't need to own a car because they're not going to work every day. There's no point in putting all that money into something that will depreciate. They're saying that's going to sit in the drive and lose money.” National On where the company operates, Richard said: “We're a national company. We are everywhere, through Scotland, Dundee, Glasgow, etc right down to Birmingham, Newcastle, Bristol and Oxford. it's actually quite popular in places that already have high levels of alternative use. Oxford is a really good example. It's not a massive city, but it is a big location for car share because there are already a lot of people using bikes and alternative transport for any commute. Therefore, they don’t need to own a car. It's a small city, quite medieval in the centre, Victorian around it. Victorian terraces are not really suitable for cars. “We've got plenty of towns and cities that have still got that kind of housing. Beyond that core population of