1. Car ownershipis more about the status symbol while car sharing is about getting access andvalue for money.
Car ownership symbolizes freedom and independence. Car sharingis getting popular as more people are migrating to densely populated cities andalso getting comfortable with the shared economy (Zimmerman,E. 2012).
Owning a car costshigher since it incurs insurance rates, parking fees, depreciation, wear andtear costs etc. Whereas, car sharing comes with a small membership fee andnumerous discount packages suiting to the demand and use of the customer. Forpeople who consider money as an important criterion would definitely go for carsharing as it saves money. People who are rich and can afford to buy cars mightnot like this idea of car sharing since authority, independence and statuscarry more importance to them than money to them. For instance, Zipcar whichruns in Los Angeles charges frequent drivers $8.
10 per hour from Monday toThursday and $9 on Friday and weekends. Zip car does bill customer for tollsbut one does not have to pay for gas and parking which saves a lot of money andadds another financial incentive. They just have to pay an initial membershipfee of $25 to become a member (Jones, S. 2017). Owning a more expensive car comes with a higher loan,insurance and fuel costs- ride sharing makes more financial sense.
The balancebetween convenience and cost is a key consideration for car sharing people andmakes them feel satisfied by saving a lot of pennies. Car owners for whom moneysaving is not essential, go with owning expensive cars because that is whatmakes them feel proud and satisfied. Shared mobility services can also help inreducing environmental pollution due to the decreased number of vehicles on theroad. A study on Car2go- the largest car-sharing operator in the world,estimated a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. For physically disabledpeople, car sharing can be a good alternative rather than owning a car. Many carssharing companies reward customers with benefits.
One gets reward points oneach ride. The reward points can further be redeemed for airline or amusementtickets which makes the user willing to take more rides. Referral system alsorewards the user with points which can be redeemed. So also for senior citizenswho do not want to depend on others, car sharing can be a good option tocommute rather than dependency on younger ones.
