A combination of high energy costs, urban congestion and changes in the way people feel about cars is increasing interest in the idea that a car can be something you borrow and give back, not a cherished possession.

The concept of car sharing -- buying the right to use a car instead of the car itself -- has been kicking around for decades. It's an idea that many Americans can relate to at this time of year, when summer vacations can land you in a city where you need a car or a van for just a few hours and renting seems like a hassle.

Thanks to digital technology, car-sharing services can operate in a more frictionless way, as subscribers locate cars sprinkled around a city online, then access them with smart fobs or cards. Europe has a number of car-sharing services in operation, some linked to rail systems. In the U.S., the concept is still in its infancy. But the recent bout of $4-a-gallon gas has given car sharing a boost.

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Zipcar, the leading U.S. car-sharing service, offers consumers who pay a subscription fee -- around $50 a year -- access to fleets of cars and trucks parked around some 26 North American cities and a growing number of college campuses. Zipcar has 225,000 subscribers and last month signed up 11,000 new members, three times as many as the same period a year ago, says spokeswoman Kristina Kennedy. "We have 13 million people within 10 minutes walk of a Zipcar," she says.

Of course, 225,000 car-sharing subscribers is a tiny sliver of the total U.S. car market, even in this sour sales environment. Still, U-Haul and some traditional rental-car companies recently have announced experiments with car-sharing services. Big car makers are keeping tabs on the trend.

"They are definitely monitoring this," says Susan Shaheen, research director at UC Berkeley's Transportation Sustainability Research Center.

Ms. Shaheen has studied car sharing for a dozen years, and worked with several car makers to evaluate how such services affect the way people use vehicles. Some of her findings: As people embrace car sharing, they drive less, use mass transit more and put off buying new cars.

Sanjay Rishi, leader of IBM Corp.'s global auto industry consulting practice, says interest in car sharing reflects a dwindling passion for automobiles in some parts of the world, such as Europe. That, plus rising fuel prices, means fewer consumers will want to spend money on big vehicles that serve what he calls "the maximum need."

Selling consumers more vehicle than they need has been the mainstream auto industry's business model for most of the past century. The wreckage created in Detroit by the bust of the bubble market in large sport-utility vehicles is just the latest example of how dependent auto makers are on the strategy. Mr. Rishi predicts that going forward, more consumers will be content with a car that serves their "median need," and will look to get occasional use of larger or more luxurious cars through car sharing.

"Look at the people who buy luxury cars. They believe they have to make a statement. But they don't need to make that statement going back and forth to work every day. They can have access to a luxury vehicle on the weekends," he says. Mr. Rishi says if traditional car makers and dealers won't offer consumers flexible access to a "garage" of vehicles, somebody else will.

Automotive futurists have been predicting for some time the dawn of an era when people would want to buy "mobility" rather than a car. It hasn't happened in the U.S., in part because the old-fashioned approach to cars is so simple.

A car company assembles a car, and sells it to a dealer, who in turn sells it to you. The car maker and the dealer pocket their respective shares of the cash and walk away. You keep the car as long as you want, and then resell it as you would any other "asset" you own. In the meantime, the car is yours. You can pamper it, trash it, customize it with spinning wheels or let the kids plaster it with McNuggets.

Still, the appeal of having quick access to just the vehicle you need only when you need it is clear, especially as congestion and fuel costs degrade the romance of operating your own fleet. For example, I could need a minivan for several Saturdays this fall to help ferry members of my daughter's cross country team to events. But I don't want the minivan all the time.

During a recent vacation trip, I would cheerfully have shared at least three different vehicles: a minivan to haul six family members to a party, a compact station wagon for a trip to the beach, and a Mini Cooper for a quick drive across town in search of a bookstore. (Well, really, I just would have had more fun driving the Mini.)

Zipcar and other car-sharing outfits have tended to market their services to green conscious consumers. But someone could easily make a business out of offering quick rides in big rigs. There are times when only a Suburban will do -- as I found out a couple of years ago transporting my then-college freshman and her stuff across four states. Call it HogShare.

What's stopping car sharing from claiming a bigger chunk of the consumer auto market?

"The deeper you get into it, the more complex and messy it is," says UC Berkeley's Ms. Shaheen.

Parking is one issue, she says. If you can't find parking space in many city neighborhoods for the cars that people own now, how will car-sharing services find space to sprinkle more cars around so they are more readily available than vehicles stored at a rental lot?

Taxes are another, she says. Slapping rental-car excise taxes on car-sharing rides boosts the cost of the services to the point where consumers would be turned off. In fact, Zipcar is re-evaluating its operations in Pittsburgh, because rental car taxes can add more than 50% to the cost of a quick Zipcar trip, Ms. Kennedy says.

As with many trends, the key to whether car sharing becomes a significant feature of the auto market will be the behavior of baby boomers and their kids. Zipcar's targeting of college campuses -- and its decision to offer its service to drivers as young as 18 -- means a cohort of educated consumers will be familiar with the concept as they head off to their first jobs. At the same time, aging boomers who live in metro areas with good mass transit may decide that as their kids leave home they can downsize their personal fleets and use a car-sharing subscription to substitute for a car -- or truck -- in the garage.

Ms. Shaheen suggests car-sharing services might cater to graying boomers by equipping vehicles with devices to make them easier to park. A fine idea, as long as the devices are in a Mini Cooper S.

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