With the price of petrol has soared by 20 per cent in the past year, there has never been a more significant time to consider how you can spread this cost.
The average UK commute to work is now a gruelling distance of 8 miles per day – time-wise, this adds up to a mind-numbing 200 hours per year. About 93 per cent of these journeys made by car are done so alone.
Money saved
In this Daily Mail study, it shows that a shocking one-sixth of our wages is spent on costs associated with work. The major part of this bill for working is made up of the costs associated with paying to drive to work.
For the privilege of sitting in traffic by ourselves while trying to get to the workplace, we fork out an average of over £2,250 per year. Yet if we decide to share this burden with just one other person, it would be the equivalent to gifting ourselves a nice juicy £1,125 pay rise – instantly! So what are the other benefits of sharing your car, besides this exciting incentive?
No more lonely commutes
One thing most of us miss when we are alone in our cars is the company of others. A long and sometimes stressful journey to work can seem quicker and more enjoyable when shared with another person or even a group of people.
If you are new to a city or just love meeting new people, then your car could be a surprising new social space – a place to network or make new friends. Plus time flies much quicker when you’re chatting to others.
Be environmentally friendly
If you are halfing your petrol bill each month by travelling with one extra person, then you are also effectively halving the levels of pollution the two of you were previously putting out into the environment.
Transport in general – particularly fuel consumption in cars – is a particularly pernicious contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in developed countries like the UK. Carbon dioxide damages the environment by trapping heat in the atmosphere, which causes global temperatures to increase.
If global temperatures continue to increase as they are doing, according to climate change scientists, sea levels will gradually rise, devastating wildlife in the polar regions of the Earth and leading to unpredictable weather patterns (and therefore mass migration) that will do the planet – and its population – irreparable damage.
Easing traffic congestion
Whatever you think about the importance of the environment, there’s no denying that if you take three people out of their respective cars and put them into one car driven by a fourth driver, then that’s three cars off the road for the same journey.
This provides more road space for everyone else, speeds up journey times and ultimately leads to a reduction in the number of overall accidents on the road.
Verdict
Once you choose to car share you should make sure you have the best vehicle for the job. If the one you currently have does not fit that bill, but you’re concerned about overspending, then take some time to seek out a car to suit your budget perfectly.
