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A volunteer food project in Rotherhithe has provided a large number of cooked meals weekly for two years to elderly residents and vulnerable locals in south London. However, their operations face major disruption by the announcement that they will not have cars and vans on New Year’s Day.

The group had relied on Zipcar, the app-based vehicle rental service that customers to access its fleet of vehicles from the street. It caused shock across London when it declared it would shut down its UK business from 1 January.

It will mean many helpers cannot pick up supplies from the Felix Project, which gathers excess produce from grocery stores, cafes and restaurants. Other options are less convenient, more expensive, or do not offer the same convenient access.

“The impact will be massively,” said Vimal Pandya, the community kitchen’s founder. “Personally me and my team are concerned by the operational hurdle we will face. A lot of people like ours are going to struggle.”

“Faced with this reality, everyone is concerned and thinking: ‘How are we going to carry on?”

A Major Blow for City Vehicle Clubs

These volunteers are part of over 500,000 people in London registered as car club members, who could be left without easy use to vehicles, avoiding the burden and cost of ownership. Most of those members were probably with Zipcar, which held a dominant position in the city.

The planned closure, subject to consultation with staff, is a serious setback to the vision that vehicle clubs in urban areas could reduce the need for private vehicle ownership. Yet, some analysts have noted that Zipcar’s exit need not mean the demise for the concept in Britain.

The Potential of Car Sharing

Car sharing is valued by many urbanists and green advocates as a way of mitigating the problems associated with vehicle ownership. Typically, vehicles sit as two-tonne dead weights on the side of the road for 95% of the time, occupying parking. They also involve large CO2 output to produce, and people who do not own cars tend to use active travel and take transit more. That benefits cities – reducing congestion and pollution – and boosts people’s health through more exercise.

What Went Wrong?

Zipcar was founded in 2000 before its acquisition by the US car rental group Avis Budget in 2013. Zipcar’s UK revenues barely registered compared with its owner's overall annual revenue, and a deficit that grew to £11.7m in 2024 gave no reason to continue.

Avis Budget has said the closure is part of a “broader transformation across our international business, where we are taking deliberate steps to simplify processes, enhance profitability”.

Its latest financial reports said revenues had declined as drivers took fewer and shorter trips. “These changes reflect the ongoing impact of the economic squeeze, which is dampening demand for discretionary spending,” it said.

London's Unique Hurdles

Yet, several experts noted that London has specific problems that made it much harder for the sector to succeed.

• Patchwork Policies: Across 33 boroughs, car-club operators face a patchwork of varying processes and costs that made it harder.
• Congestion Charge: The closure coincides with electric cars start paying London’s congestion charge, adding unavoidable costs.
• Parking Permit Disparity: Locals in some boroughs pay as little as £63 for a year’s electric car parking permit. A floating car club would pay over £1,100 per year, creating a significant barrier.

“Our fees should be one-twentieth of a private parking cost,” argued Robert Schopen of Co Wheels. “We remove vehicles. We introduce cleaner models in their place.”

Lessons from Abroad

Nations in Europe offer examples for London to follow. Germany enacted national shared mobility laws in 2017, providing a nationwide framework for parking, support and exemptions. Now, the country has 5.4 shared cars per 10,000 people, while France has 2.1 and Belgium has 6.3. The UK trails at 0.7.

“What we see is that shared mobility around the world, especially in Europe, is growing,” said Bharath Devanathan of Invers.

Devanathan said authorities should start to view vehicle clubs as a form of mass transit, and integrate it with train and bus stations. He added that a potential operator was looking at entering the London market: “Operators will fill this gap.”

What Comes Next?

The company’s competitors can be split into two camps:

1. Fleet Operators: Which maintain their own cars. Examples Denmark’s GreenMobility, France’s Free2Move, and Germany’s Miles Mobility.
2. Peer-to-Peer Services: Which allow users to rent out their own vehicles via an app – similar to Airbnb for cars. Examples Britain’s Hiyacar and the US’s Getaround and Turo.

Turo, a US-headquartered P2P service, is assessing the UK gap. Rory Brimmer, its UK managing director, said there was a “significant chance” to win more users. “There is a void that is going to need to be filled, because London still needs to move,” Brimmer said.

Yet, it could take a while for other players to establish themselves. For now, more people may feel forced to buy cars, and many across London will be without a convenient option.

For the volunteers in Rotherhithe, the coming weeks will be a scramble to find a way. The logistical challenge caused by Zipcar’s exit underscores the wider implications of its departure on community groups and the prospects of car-sharing in the UK.