Here are 5 websites that can instantly hook you up with car shares and save you money (and the environment). Already driving to a festival? Great, here’s how you can slash your petrol costs even further…
It’s the festival season!
So you’ve sold a kidney to buy a ticket, packed up your tent and there’s just one thing left to do… get there.
The trouble is unless you’re already filling up a car with fellow revellers or somehow you’ve managed to get hold of a cheap train ticket (rare as unicorn teeth) it can be an expensive and time-consuming challenge.
Here are 5 simple, user friendly alternatives to ringing round friends of friends or paying over the odds for festival transportation
1. Gumtree – The chances are you’ve come across Gumtree before. You can find virtually everything on this listings site from free furniture and houseshares to internships and gig tickets. It’s also a popular place for festival goers to advertise car shares.
There’s no need to register or log in you can simply do a search for “[festival name] and car share” and see what comes up. e.g. “Bestival Car Share”. (UK only)
2. Go Car Share – Whether you’re looking for a ride or you have a spare seat in your own car this is a user friendly and well organized website that connects festival goers. Simply search for the festival you’re going to using the alphabetized glossary. Prices are listed clearly in the side bar. (UK only)
3. Liftshare – Liftshare is free to search and join. A nice feature of this site is that you can do a ‘from’ and ‘to’ search. This makes it useful if for anyone looking to find (or organize) a car share to anywhere – not just festival goers. They’ve currently got nearly 500,000 registered members on the site. (UK only)
4. Festival Ride Share – Another carpool website which lets you find and post rides. You either need to register (for free) or login via Facebook for this one. Not quite as comprehensive as some of the other options but still worth a look if you’re stuck. (UK only)
5. Freewheelers – Probably the most basic looking of the 5 but don’t let looks deceive you – there are plenty of listing on here and the site is completely free. You can search listings without logging in but in order to get more details you’ll need to register (again this is free). (UK only)
When using any of these websites there are a few golden rules to bear in mind
– Always be careful
That might sound obvious but creeps and weirdos haunt the Internet and once in a blue moon the odd unsavoury character will find his or her way onto one of these sites.
If you’re travelling on your own be particularly careful (especially if you’re female). Let people know who you’re travelling with, where you’re going and be sure to contact them before and afterwards.
– Be clear on the costs upfront
In most cases the deal will be a simple split in the petrol costs, other times your driver will have come up with a fixed cost for your space. Whatever the arrangement make sure you’re all clear beforehand so that there are no awkward discussions at the end of your journey.
– Have fun!
Car sharing can be a great way to meet fun, like-minded people and you’re bound to make a few friends along the way.
If you’ve used any of these sites or any similar ones please comment below. If you’re an international reader and you’ve found great car share resources in your neck of the woods, get in touch and I can add them on here.