London has lost ‘catastrophic’ 89% of car club vehicles since Zipcar exit

The number of car club vehicles in London has fallen by a “catastrophic” 89% since Zipcar ended its service in late 2025, with former users being pushed to consider buying or leasing.Car clubs allow drivers to use vehicles parked around a city, using apps to book and unlock them. Zipcar dominated London’s car club market before the US company’s shock decision to pull out in December 2025. That left a gap that has yet to be filled for Londoners without a car.There were only 330 car club vehicles available for rent in London six months after Zipcar’s withdrawal, down from 2,800 before, according to data from Collaborative Mobility (CoMoUK), a charity. Only about 100 of those 330 cars have been added since the end of the year.Former Zipcar users in the capital are considering turning to private car ownership in order to fill the gap. A survey by CoMoUK found 9% of 216 former users said they had already bought or leased a vehicle to replace the car club, while 55% said they were considering it.The numbers highlight the gap left in London’s car-sharing market. Free2move, owned by the carmaker Stellantis, Enterprise Car Club and the British company Co Wheels have said they are considering expansion in London, but none have yet announced a decision to meaningfully increase numbers. The peer-to-peer car-sharing companies Hiyacar and Turo have also experienced increased interest but are reliant on private owners listing their cars.Car clubs reduce the overall need for vehicles, cutting carbon emissions and saving the costs of ownership for users. However, clubs in some places have struggled to make money.London should be one of Europe’s most attractive markets for car-sharing, with extensive public transport and 42% of the population going without a car. However, it has been held back by the lack of centralised rules and processes, according to Richard Dilks, the CoMoUK chief executive.“We’re massively down overall,” he said. “That’s a catastrophic result for a sector that is doing well across Europe.”Dilks said some London boroughs had cut fees and made licensing easier for car clubs but added that the situation was still very inconsistent across London’s 32 boroughs, making it onerous to set up across the capital. Other forms of shared transport, now including dockless electric bicycles from Lime and Forest, are managed centrally by Transport for London.“If there’s viability, then there should be a queue of people knocking on the door,” Dilks said. “But there’s not, and there’s not one door.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA decade ago, TfL said it wanted a million car club users by 2025, but the number of vehicles is now less than a fifth of what it was then.Zipcar was founded in 2000 in the US before it merged with the UK equivalent Streetcar in 2010. However, its current owner, the US car rental company Avis Budget, decided to pull the plug on the loss-making operation in London, leaving only its American operations.