gfunkdave

I'm surprised there isn't a Zipcar forum or thread, so here goes.

I just joined Zipcar - our new apartment building has a special deal for residents that is slightly better than the standard Zipcar rates. I haven't used it yet, but I'm dying to.

I think I'll get a car tomorrow to go to Petsmart and get cat food/litter.

What have been peoples' experiences with Zipcar?

jamesbrownontheroad

I can't speak for Zipcar, but I can speak for it's recently acquired subsidiary Streetcar, which is the biggest car sharing club here in the UK. Streetcar's brand and back office systems will be rolled into those of Zipcar over the next year or so. Otherwise they're very very similar, and as a Zipcar member you'll soon be able to use the Streetcar fleet when you're on vacation in the UK.

I suppose a bit of a geeky perk for me over regular car rental is that unlike rental companies, the make and model of the car is always guaranteed Here in the UK Streetcar has a fairly 'premium' selection of cars: VW Polo, VW Golf, BMW 1 Series, BMW 3 Series and the VW Touran (small minivan). However the premium pricing of the BMW models confuses me. Car clubs are basically for people who don't care about owning a car, so why would we be interested in paying more for a 1 Series that is less practical and less spacious than the cheaper Golf? I suppose they're good for impressing your date / neighbours / parents, but I've also found them to be useless during our really harsh winter last year, being rear wheel drive.

The system is huge and very popular in London, less so in regional cities. We only have a handful of cars (and no Streetvans) here in Glasgow but I have used most of them now. The Polo is the perfect car for running across town to do shopping (yep, cat food and cat litter are often the loads) and evening or overnight discounts are handy for those trips. Beyond that it's hard to justify the cost for longer rentals, because mileage is limited to 500 miles and if I'm borrowing a car for a long weekend it's usually because I need more than 500 miles.

gfunkdave

Cool, thanks.

I did reserve a Zipcar the other day to get cat food and litter. It was very easy. There are three Zipcars in my current apartment building: a VW Golf, a Prius, and a Mazda 3. I chose the Prius.

There were some scratches on the driver door handle, so I called the phone number to report them just to be sure I wouldn't be charged. The automated system recognized my phone number and gave me a menu asking what I'd like to do. You basically leave a message with the details of what you want to report.

After that, I was off. The car smelled new and was very clean inside (just 2600 miles on it!). Traffic was a little worse than I'd thought, so as my reservation was getting closer to ending I texted Zipcar to extend the reservation and got a confirmation return text right away. Having a little more time (traffic lightened up just as I texted), I got gas for the Zipcar.

All in all, a great car sharing experience. It was my first time driving in a couple months. It's amazing how quickly driving becomes a little scary when you haven't done it in a while!

I'm also going to join Hertz On Demand, their answer to Zipcar. There's no joining fee and the cars are more upscale. You can get better models from the same manufacturers (Volvo, Mazda) as well as all-electric cars, an Escalade hybrid (!), and a Mercedes.

jamesbrownontheroad

Dang Just days after my glowing endorsement of Streetcar, they've announced to members in Glasgow that they are pulling out of the city.

£25 credit has been negotiated to new members of their competitors, CityCarClub, however since I'm already a member I'm not entitled to it. Streetcar have courteously offered to refund my annual membership fee.

xienon

Been a member of Hertz on Demand for a few months now and just joined zipcar last month.

In NYC, hertz on demand has much fewer cars than zipcar but a much larger variety of models. Often, I would rent for a couple of hours just to test out cars like the Volvo C30, C70, Mercedes C300, GLK, Dodge Challenger R/T, and Escalade hybrid.

I have noticed that zipcars are generally much newer than the HoD cars. Most zipcars has has the new style NY plates that were introduced just this year. I'm pretty sure most HoD cars were formerly from the daily rental fleet as almost every one I've driven had 30,000+ miles. Rented a BMW 328xi last week from zipcar that only had 3500 miles.

dc2005b

I can't believe there isn't a Zipcar thread already. I live in DC and have had Zipcar for about 4 years, use it about once a month. Aside from it being popular and not having cars available at the last minute, I have never had a problem with them. Anytime there was an issue with damage, missing car, etc a call to them resolved the situation quickly. Also, not sure if they do it in NYC but here in DC they have the overnight special (weeknights only) where you can keep the car from 6pm to 8:30am the next day for under $40 ~a great deal!

jamesbrownontheroad

Just FYI, Streetcar (aka Zipcar) offer something similar in the UK: £25 6pm - 9am Monday - Thursday for any vehicle. Hopefully it will transition with the Zipcar takeover.

xienon

Unfortunately nothing like that in NYC. Weekend hourly rates in NYC are about 30% higher than other cities... understandable given the cost of parking here.

Zipcar had 10+ Lexus CT200h hybrids a few weeks ago in NYC and they all just suddenly disappeared. Really wanted to try it out but looks like I missed my chance.

Auto Enthusiast

Well, theoretically, sending away more cars at night, by offering lower prices, would reduce the need for Zipcar to pay to park as many of them. The overnight parking problem would be shifted to the customer instead.

phillystudent

Hey guys, from the website:

Overnight offer is good for members in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC.

Hope this helps!

http://www.zipcar.com/overnight/

xienon

I stand corrected. Looks like there's a $39 rate for 6pm to 8:30am Monday through Thursday available in NYC, Toronto, and Vancouver.

http://www.zipcar.com/overnight39/

The reason I originally thought the deal doesn't exist for NYC was that the overnight rate doesn't show up on the search results page. It just displays the normal hourly and daily rates when searching for a overnight rental. It's only after the 'Reserve' button is clicked that the price of the rental shows around $46 incl taxes.

Overnight rate not available on 328, A3, or Mini Convertible

Nugget_Oz

I saw a few of the CT200hs a couple of weeks ago but really I don't know why anyone would use the hybrid as you don't pay for gas and its hourly rate is no cheaper than the standard vehicles.