RISING PETROL bills, UK government hiking road tax for the majority of car owners and local councils announcing that residential parking permits will now cost more for bigger and second cars: there is not a lot for the average motorist to be happy about these days. Except, that is, those who have decided to get rid of a vehicle and join the growing band of those signing up for a car club.

City Car Club, which operates a car club in Edinburgh has seen a 57% increase in new members since the chancellor announced changes to UK car tax, which will leave more than nine million motorists up to £245 worse off a year, in his 2008 Budget.

The phone was also set ringing again last week after Edinburgh Council said it was altering its policy for issuing parking permits. The change will double the annual cost for those with the most powerful engines (Band 5 - 3001cc) living in central Edinburgh, from £160 to £320 a year. Households with two permits will also be expected to pay more - up to an extra £80 for the largest vehicles. Together the planned changes would push the annual parking bill for a family with two Band 5 vehicles to £720, instead of the £320 they pay at present.

Add to this predictions that the price of a barrel of oil could top $200 by the end of the year and it is easy to understand why so many two car families are saying "enough is enough" and ditching their second vehicle, according to James Finlayson, chief executive of City Car Club.

He said: "We have seen the biggest increase in members in our company's history since March. Clearly the huge rise in the cost of motoring has made many motorists in Edinburgh realise they need to change the way they own and use a car."

Whizgo, another car club, told the Sunday Herald it has seen a 29% increase in membership in the last few months, its spokesperson adding that "the financial case for owning a car is unravelling".

Zipcar, another UK car club which has also had enquiries from Scottish residents about setting up in their cities, says that it surveys every fifth new member about their reasons for joining. Rising fuel prices are cited by 40% of new members - up from just 13% in 2007.

For drivers who drive 9000 miles a year or less the financial savings of ditching a car can be considerable. Based on figures provided by the AA, Street Car, another car club, calculates that someone driving a VW Golf for 3000 miles a year (calculated as one three-hour evening trip a week, plus a half-day every weekend and four weekends away each year), would face annual costs depreciation, maintenance, tax, insurance, parking and petrol of £3855. However, if they instead drove the same and made the same number of journeys in the same model of Golf owned by Street Car, their annual bill would be £2550 - a saving of £1305 a year.

Separate research by City Car Club and based on figures for a Ford Mondeo provided by the RAC, put the savings for a motorists driving 4000 miles at £1200 a year.

To cope with the demand in Edinburgh City Car Club now has six new estate cars on order, which will bring its total fleet in the capital to 87 by the end of the summer. On the environmental side Zipcar's research shows that for every car it puts on the road 20 are taken off.

Cost-wise Edinburgh members pay a £75 joining fee and a £50 annual fee thereafter. It then costs £4.95 an hour to hire one of its cars, located around the city from Portobello to Stockbridge, with the first 50 miles of petrol each trip thrown in free. It is possible to hire cars for longer trips at a discount and discounts are also available for those who regularly hire a car for more than 15 hours a month.

All the car clubs contacted by the Sunday Herald reported strong interest from residents in Glasgow for their own scheme. Keith Stark, who runs the Edinburgh scheme for City Car Club, said: "We have more membership enquiries from Glasgow than for any other city in the UK."

However, Stark has now been struggling with bureaucracy in his efforts to launch a trial in Glasgow for the last two years. The club needs between 12 and 14 parking bays to set up a trial, which it identified following a public meeting for interested city residents. The proposed bays are stretched from the identified bays along the Great Western Road corridor, and Yorkhill, through to Strathmungo and Pollockshaws.

Stark explained: "I did a map of all the bays I needed for the trial and also plotted where all the membership enquiries had come from but we are having problems getting bays allocated for the trial.

"Glasgow's transport department says each bay costs £2000. I would really love to get something set up in Glasgow, as I have so many people who are so keen to be members but I just don't know how to go about getting round this situation where they want £2000 a bay, which we can't afford."

Edinburgh City Council transport department provides the bays free to the car club and recoups the money for them via its planning department. Mr Stark said that Edinburgh uses its planning powers to insist that property developers fund spaces as part of the approval process for new developments across the city.

He continued: "I have written to explain this to Glasgow but things have never really moved forward from there."

Glasgow City Council told the Sunday Herald that is supports car clubs but lacks the funding required to provide on-street bays.