In March, we covered a five star hotel for cars: The Engine Room in Belgium.

Besides offering secure and swanky warehouse storage for members automotive treasures, the Engine Room is also a private club. Recently, the engine people added a third offering: The Engine Room Challenge. For annual fees ranging from EUR 15.000 to EUR 22.000, members have up to 10 weeks access to a range of exclusive cars. Automobiles to choose from include the Spyker C8, Aston Martin DB9, Rolls Royce Silver Seraph and Ferrari 456 MGTA. Membership fees cover storage, maintenance, taxes and insurance, as well as full use of the clubs facilities. In short, members get all the fun of using an exclusive car, without the hassle and unexpected costs of ownership. Which will appeal to wealthy transumers, described by trendwatching.com as those consumers that are driven by experiences instead of the fixed, who increasingly live a transient lifestyle, freeing themselves from the bothersome aspects of permanent ownership. Although its great to see them combining it with their other services, The Engine Room isnt the first to enter this space. An exclusive car sharing club we featured earlier is British ecurie 25, and trendwatching.com spotted a number of similar initiatives across the world: Classic Car Club, P1 Club, LuxShare Auto Club, Club Sportiva, Van Horrsen Group, Oversteer Spain and Ascari. Should give you plenty of inspiration for coming up with a fractional ownership scheme of your own

Carsharing Service Business Idea

I am currently working in the automotive industry. I have come across this business called car sharing service and a company called Zipcar has been successful in the US. There has been a growth of car sharing services in the US, Europe, Japan, and Singapore. The underlying concept behind car sharing service is the fact that there are people who want to drive their dream cars without actually owning them. When someone owns a car, he or she has to bear the costs of ownership in the form of road tax, insurance, maintenance, petrol, parking fees etc. I believe that car sharing service business would also be successful in Malaysia based on the following reasons:(a) Executive cars are too expensive in Malaysia due to excise tax. (b) Some car models have very bad resale value. (c) A lot of people are eager to drive these executive cars. What I can think now is gathering at least 50 people who would be the exclusive members of this business entity. They would be members for at least 5 years and will pay a fixed annual membership fees (I reckon RM 10k per year). For the first year, this entity will buy 5 cars for the members and each of the members will have the opportunity to drive these 5 cars for 5 weeks (35 days). The cars are to be reserved on a daily basis or even on an hourly basis. I have done some rough costing and it is obvious that sharing cars is considerably cheaper than renting cars. Besides the cost, these exclusive members will get much more-a privilege card, discounts on goods, etc. I also think that if the members can work together in organizing events for fun as well as for generating revenues some of which to be distributed among the members. All in all, these members will get a lot of things without the hassle of all forms of the cost of ownership. The interesting part of it is that after 5 years, a member will get to drive 13 cars for 13 weeks in a year. How awesome is that? However, events have to be organized to cover for the insurance costs which are quite huge year after year (or should the annual membership fee be slightly increased?). Examples of executive cars - Mazda 6, Toyota Camry, Kia K5, Hyundai Sonata, Peugeot 508, Honda Accord, Nissan Teana, Ford Mondeo, Volkswagen Passat, Volswagen Jetta.

At about RM 500/ month, you are able to own an ordinary car after 9 years. Have you ever imagined that from as low as RM 599/ month, you are able to half-own 23 premium executive cars after 9 years? Half-own refers to the fact that you can use one of those cars for almost 2 weeks in a month (you can choose any car you like). Also, you dont even have to think about the costs of ownership namely the road tax, insurance, maintenance, petrol, parking fee, and resale value. You will also get an exclusive membership card and enjoy discounts at several premium business outlets. Consider it as a club or a co-operative or a non-profit entity. The main objective of Engine Executive is to provide excellent car sharing services to its members. This service is meant for people who need to use those premium cars for special occasions only or people who love to drive those cars every once in a while. Members can also organize events together to get some revenues to cover the cost of this car sharing services. Interesting events will gather crowds and not only that the members will receive some money but also they will have the chance to have fun. If there is demand for it, private facilities like an inhouse restaurant, gym, meeting room, etc will be provided for the members. For a start, only 50 membership spots are available. Will you become one of the exclusive members of Engine Executive? E-mail us at Engine Executive or call us at 019-2409278 to know more about car sharing services. Examples of executive cars - Mazda 6, Toyota Camry, Kia K5, Hyundai Sonata, Peugeot 508, Honda Accord, Nissan Teana, Ford Mondeo, Volkswagen Passat, Volswagen Jetta. P.S: This car sharing idea is still in conception. When there is enough demand for it, it will become a reality. Contact us for more info.

Membership Table One-Off Registration Fee for 10-year membership - RM10000 Monthly membership fee - RM599 for 9 years Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Membership Benefits Able to use 5 cars for 24 days Able to use 7 cars for 36 days Able to use 9 cars for 48 days Able to use 11 cars for 60 days Able to use 13 cars for 72 days Able to use 15 cars for 84 days Able to use 17 cars for 96 days Able to use 19 cars for 108 days Able to use 21 cars for 120 days Able to use 23 cars for 132 days All cars will be sold and the revenues will be distributed equally among the members. Each members is estimated to get at least RM20000.

*For any "unspent" day, RM200 will be refunded to the member. Terms & Conditions applied. *This 10-year scheme is drafted to satisfy all the members to the fullest. Overall, after a span of 10 years, a member will have spent up to RM74692 for the services as an exclusive member. Minus the RM20000 rebate, the actual cost of using these services is RM54692 which translates to RM5469 per year - about RM400 per month. These actual costs hopefully will be covered by the revenues generated by organizing events for the community.

Zipcar Testimonials I sold my knackered old Ford Focus last year and joined Zipcar, and now I'm driving about in a brand new BMW! Never thought I'd be doing that. I used to drive to work every day (in fact I used to drive just about everywhere), but now I only drive when I need to. I'm down to about 5 hours a week, and the rest of the time I take the train or cycle. The fact I'm more active and green is a bonus, but to be honest the main reason I love Zipcar is how much healthier my wallet is looking! The accountant says I've saved 4,100 in the last 10 months. As a small business every penny counts for us, so we're really careful when it comes to anything that affects the bottom line. Since we ditched our car last year and switched to Zipcar, we reckon we've saved 22% on cost per mile driven (once you tot up all the insurance, fuel, MOT, general repairs, Congestion Charge, admin time etc.). It's been an absolute revelation. As a business we now drive less, spend less, but actually travel more. And it's great knowing that we've got cars and vans on call whenever we need them. We took the plunge a few months ago and sold our car after friends kept raving about Zipcar. We've never looked back. It's only a few pounds an hour for the new car on our street, so we get out and drive most weekends, and we're saving around 350 a month. So now we can spend our money on fun stuff like drum lessons (for him) and dancing lessons (for her) rather than dull stuff like MOTs, tax and insurance. Oh yeah, and these days we're the ones asking our nonZipcar friends, "Why would you own a car when you can have Zipcar???"

Car Sharing Target Market in Malaysia (a) Students who need vehicles occasionally to go out with friends or to transport their belongings to certain places. (b) Urban dwellers who take public transport to work and need a car only occasionally to go shopping or visit friends. (c) Urban professionals who need vehicles for meeting or short-distance site visits.