Almost half of our members who own cars when they join I-GO sell them after six months of participation in the program. A similar number of participants either postpone buying a car or sell one before they join. Getting rid of all those burdensome fixed costs—monthly payments, gas, insurance, maintenance, parking—generates substantial savings: as much as $5,000 a year in reduced transportation costs for individuals, families, and businesses.

Automobile ownership is expensive. Americans spend an annual average of $7,319 to own, operate, and maintain their cars, according to the AAA. Conversely, a typical I-GO member spends only about $2,520 per year on transportation. Cumulatively, we estimate that car sharing saves our members nearly $25 million annually.

A study by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (the organization that created I-GO) found that 18% of every dollar spent by the average American family is devoted to transportation. The bulk of this expenditure, almost 98%, is for the purchase, operation, and maintenance of automobiles. In some cities, the monthly expense for car ownership exceeds that for housing. For the poorest families, this cost can exceed one-third of after-tax income. A number of studies in urban settings have shown that auto owners can achieve considerable savings by replacing a vehicle driven less than 8,000 miles per year with a car-sharing membership.