Published On: September 22, 2016
Do people who live in busy cities like London really need to own a car? We put it to the test with DriveNow...
The My Organic Hunter team visits London stores every day to find and promote all those that sell organic products or produce. We want people in London to know the locations of all the places where you can buy organic products. We try to be as green as possible so we regularly use public transport or we hire the Santander cycles (which are great fun and good exercise), but this is not always practical and sometimes we do need to use a car.
We were recently introduced to a company called DriveNow who offer a car sharing service for people who live in busy cities like London. The concept is genius … a car sharing service on a casual hire basis. Brilliant for people who only want the use of a car on a casual basis (like ourselves), or for people who want the convenience of a car, but don’t want the hassle of associated costs that come with ownership - insurance, tax, fuel, maintenance etc. this is all included in the rental so everything is taken care of.
Their fleet of immaculately maintained cars are dotted around the city, currently throughout the North East London Business area which covers the active areas of Hackney, Haringey, Islington and the lower half of Waltham Forest. All you have to do is register with DriveNow, locate and unlock your chosen car via the app on your smartphone, tablet or laptop, pick it up, drive to your destination and park free in any residential bays anywhere within the business area, so parking should never a problem.
The choice of quality cars available are the latest models of BMW or MINI
- BMW i3 – the all-electric car
- BMW 1 Series
- MINI / MINI Countryman Series / MINI Convertible - DriveNow are pleased to be the only car-sharing service in the UK to offer soft-tops as an option. The MINI Convertible is super sleek, stylish and fun.
I was excited and intrigued by the idea so I registered with DriveNow and I wasn’t disappointed. Using the service is easy and the cars we have used have been amazing. This has saved us valuable time (and more than several soakings due to the infamous British weather) it was fun and didn’t cost a fortune, you pay only for the time you drive.
Our overall thoughts: Absolutely brilliant! We have been really impressed with DriveNow and we now use their service regularly. We mainly use the electric cars which means we are doing our bit for the environment (unless its unseasonably hot … then we take the convertible J) And for now we won't be buying any cars for the foreseeable future.
