This factsheet is designed to inform and assist individuals who wish to set up a new car or motorbike sharing or fractional ownership scheme so that it operates legally, fairly and smoothly.

Cars
The term 'car-sharing' has different connotations to different people. It can refer to the sharing of a single car by several people for a particular journey (or more accurately 'shared car travel', sometimes known as 'car-pooling'), It can also be used to describe an arrangement of shared car use or ownership where the sharers do not always travel together. Both types of schemes are useful from an environmental and community point of view as they reduce problems of traffic congestion and parking, as well as the reduction in emissions (both in use and manufacture) which results from having fewer vehicles on the road.

This factsheet describes the second variety of car sharing, where several people group together to share the ownership or use of the car, but not necessarily travelling together for the same journey. These arrangements are essentially informal car clubs.

According to Carplus.org.uk, there are currently 82,151 car club members in the UK, sharing 1,990 vehicles in over 40 locations. This is estimated to have removed over 40, 000 cars from UK roads.

Motorbikes
The idea of sharing a motorbike is not as common as car sharing, and perhaps many people will have never thought about it as an option. However, sharing a motorbike can have many of the same benefits of sharing a car.

Many people may own a motorbike but simply do not have the need or time to ride it very often. To prevent the bike spending most of its time in a garage it could be a great solution to share the bike with one or more people who you know or who live close to you.

Alternatively if you and some friends have always dreamed of owning a motorbike, but perhaps cannot justify the expense, buying a shared bike together might be the best answer.

This factsheet describes a motorbike sharing arrangement which involves two or more people sharing the use of the motorbike, but not necessarily travelling together on the motorbike at the same time.