We explain the scheme’s costs below.
But you can skip directly to our prices, or try our experimental new cost calculator.
Consider the Comparison
In 2024, car owners spent over £3,800 to run their cars.
That’s over £1,000 for depreciation (the value of the car), almost £1,000 on fuel, £700 for insurance, and then there’s MOT (£50), repairs, tax (several hundred for older cars), and break-down assistance, etc.
A vehicle is really about getting from A-to-B, so given an average car drives 6,300 miles each year, this works out at roughly 60p per mile.
That means spending over £300 a month, much of which is regardless of whether you even use the car much. And car ownership can be unpredictable, hitting you with unexpected repair bills, and a car off the road, often when you least expect it! Let’s face it — owning a car is a struggle.
Car sharing saves money and worry!
Source SmartCarCheck 2024
Clear Costs
Community-owned cars are, for many, a cheaper alternative. We’ve a simple pricing structure so driving a POD car is a predictable and relaxed experience.
Our prices are designed to make POD sustainable and a reliable option. We also need to make our service accessible to the community. We will continue review the best level to ensure these things, together with car availability.
Key prices in effect from 1st May 2025 (which were reduced following our first regular review!):
These prices are the same for our compact Yaris hatchbacks and capacious Corolla estates.
The day rate (a cap at £50) kicks in when the hourly cost reaches £50, i.e. after 8 hours and 40 minutes. It applies to any single hire in a 24-hour period, and does not need to fall within the same calendar day.
Furthermore, if you are going on a longer trip, the day rate will reduce to £40 from the 3rd day onwards.
Check out the likely cost of your hire including time and distance (including fuel costs!) with our automatic cost calculator tool. (N.B. this is still experimental so results are not guaranteed.)
Regarding subscriptions: additional members of a household may join for a discounted rate of £3 per month. Any of your household who have a current, active subscription will be insured to share the driving with you, no matter which of you booked.
* A subscription of just £1 per month is available for users with a low income. To be clear, this special rate is also available for additional household members who are also on a low income.
You can opt to pay an additional £12.50 per month as an insurance excess supplement, reducing the excess from £1,000 to just £100. However, most of our users seriously consider other insurance excess protection products that are available commercially, which can cover you not just for us, but for your holiday hires as well. When purchasing such a product by the day, or annually, simply check the option for “car clubs” to include POD.
Our insurance allows us to cover drivers aged over 25, who have held a licence for 2 years. As of 2026, users below that age or with a newer licence will be considered by the insurer with an increased excess.
As of 2026 our insurance now allows us to cover drivers over 75, at absolutely no extra cost or excess, although there is a slight extra formality as we must refer each driver to the insurer for their confirmation, which takes a couple of days.
Joining POD involves an application process, during which there is a one-off £25 sign-up fee.
Read about the many other benefits of car-sharing.
Full transparency
In most circumstances, the prices above will cover everything. There’s a few additional details for POD users to be aware of – such as saving money by returning a vehicle early; paying extra for returning late; and the fees for speeding offences or parking fines.
| Additional Fees and Refunds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rate for starting your use up to a maximum of 20 minutes earlier than booked time, if the car is available. (See 11.1 in terms & conditions.) | Normal £5.75 hourly rate, working out at 9.6p per minute. | |
| Rate of refund (against predicted booking cost) for returning a vehicle early. (Costs are generated after the booking, not before, so it’s not actually refunding, more like a discount on the predicted cost, because we simply don’t charge the unused time in the first place.) (See 12.2 in terms & conditions.) | Normal £5.75 hourly rate, working out at 9.6p per minute. | |
| Rate for returning a vehicle late. Note that if your booking benefitted from the “day-rate cap”, i.e. the booking is capped at £50, this means no more cost for time used over the 8 hours 40 mins, up to 24 hours. It does not extend the end time you have booked, so the car is still due back at whatever time you booked until, it doesn’t suddenly become booked for a full day unless it already was. (See 12.3 in terms & conditions.) | The late fee is 29p per minute (3x the normal hourly rate). The fee is in addition to the normal cost of actual time used, so the total payable works out at 38p per minute, including the normal 9.6p per minute rate that you’d be paying for the time if not late. In other words the total cost of over-time use is the over-time portion costs 4x the normal hourly rate. | |
| Rate for amending or cancelling * a booking , except bookings of more than 3 days **. (See 10.2 in terms & conditions.) | No charge, these are free * except for hires of more than 3 days **. | |
| Calling breakdown service due to breakdown, damage, accident, etc. (Bear in mind that there is an insurance excess that may apply to any incident leading to an insurance claim, plus we do charge for damage due to negligence, etc. — see below, and see full terms & conditions.) | No charge, the breakdown service is included, free. | |
| Any damage caused where the user has not acted in compliance with POD’s insurance or if caused through negligence / malice. (See 7 in terms & conditions.) | The full cost of any damages, plus a £50 admin fee. | |
| Deep-cleaning charge for leaving the car dirty/not in a fit state for use, including having smoked or vaped in the car, or carried a pet in an allergy-safe pet-free car, other than in an emergency. (See 15.1 in terms & conditions.) | £50 | |
| Administrative fee for non-payment of all or part of your monthly bill. This excludes the first attempt, or of course if non-payment was a technical fault from our system. (See 9.2 in terms & conditions.) | £50 for each subsequent attempt to contact. | |
| Administrative fee for dealing with speeding offences, parking fines, unpaid tolls, etc. (See 15.1 in terms & conditions.) | £25 | |
* This will be monitored. If a user is found to be cancelling or shortening a large number of bookings, they may be asked to cover costs at POD’s discretion.
** Bookings of more than 3 days carry a cancellation fee to avoid disruption to our provision. This is 50%, chargeable for cancellations made within 2 weeks of the booking.
Examples of Savings
How do costs compare to owning and running a car?
Of course, it depends how much you use your car. Car sharing inevitably isn’t going to be cost-effective if you rely on a car every day for commuting. But if you own a car and use it less often, POD could be cost-effective, enabling you to give up the costs (and hassle!) of car ownership.
Remember, the average cost of running a car in the UK was more than £3800 in 2024. Here’s a few examples of people of would save money with POD…
Emily — £505 annual cost
Emily is concerned about the environment and wants to do her bit to reduce carbon emissions. She usually gets around by foot or on a bicycle and uses public transport for longer journeys, but has to ask friends for a lift when she can’t use public transport (e.g. to transport something heavy).
Emily needs a car about once/month for 1-hour odd jobs about town, such as going to the tip or moving furniture.
She also goes to see her grandma for an afternoon in Blackburn four times/year, and once a year she heads away for a weekend getaway in the Lake District.
After the monthly fee, she calculates she will pay just £433 for the year. And without having to worry about MOTs (typically £50 before any needed work) or insurance (hundreds of pounds), she makes a big saving and has a lot less headache!
For Emily, car sharing saves money!
| Monthly fee (£6.00 per month) | £72 |
| Monthly odd-jobs (12 one-hour, 8 mile trips) | £97.80 |
| Visiting grandma quarterly (4 five-hour, 50 mile trips) | £175 |
| Lake District weekend (two-day, 200 mile trip) | £160 |
| Total | £504.80 |
Chris — £1,387 annual cost
Chris is semi-retired, now works part-time locally and lives in a terraced house where parking is difficult.
Chris knows that giving up the car is probably the right thing to do, but is mainly motivated by avoiding the hassle and cost of car ownership (parking, tax, insurance, MOT, repairs, etc.).
Chris would use a POD car for a weekly pickup of his grandchild after school, regular hospital visits and the occasional day trip.
For Chris, car sharing saves money!
| Monthly fee (£6.00 per month) | £72 |
| Picking up grandchild weekly (40 two-hour, 15 mile trips) | £410 |
| Regular hospital visits (12 five-hour, 50 mile trips) | £525 |
| Occasional day trips (4 one-day, 150 mile trips) | £380 |
| Total | £1,387 |
Sarah — £ annual cost
Sarah is a single parent on a low income with one child at a local nursery and another in a local school.
She uses public transport for work, but needs a car for the weekly shop, occasional trips to the recycling centre, and to visit elderly relatives who live 25 miles away.
The family take their holidays at the seaside in the summer.
She calculates this to be cheaper – and a lot less hassle – than owning a car.
For Sarah, car sharing saves money!
| Monthly fee (£1.00 per month) | £12 |
| Weekly shop (52 two-hour, 15 mile trips) | £832 |
| Recycling centre or family visits (12 five-hour, 50 mile trips) | £525 |
| Trips to the seaside (6 one-day, 150 mile trips) | £570 |
| Total | £1,939 |
Gill and Sam — £454 annual cost
Gill and her partner Sam work from home.
They walk everywhere around Hebden Bridge, although Gill occasionally drives them to Todmorden or Halifax.
They are happy to take the train most of the time.
For Gill and Sam, car sharing saves money!
| Monthly fee (£6.00 per month) | £72 |
| 12 two-hour, 15 mile trips | £192 |
| 2 one-day, 150 mile trips | £190 |
| Total | £454 |
Next Steps
Think you’ll save money, hassle, and the environment? Then take the next step…