$40 Zipcar credit
Jan 25, 2012, 5:41 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 486
$40 Zipcar credit
We decided to go to San Francisco for 5 nights and were planning on renting a car. Car was going to be cheap..$65 ai for 5 nights...but parking is RIDICULOUS! It was going to cost $40-$50 per day just to park at the hotels we were staying at.
Enter Zipcar.
Turns out there are Zipcar locations everywhere in San Fran including right next to our hotel. Zipcar's rent from $7 an hour. It's perfect. Rent the zip car for a few hours during the day to cruise around the city and then return it back to the garage by the hotel. And they include gas and insurance. There is a $50 fee to join and $25 app fee unless you work for a university or are a student.
Even sweeter...I found a $40 driving credit code. HVEZFEWX
I figure I'm saving well over $250 on the parking cost.
Enter Zipcar.
Turns out there are Zipcar locations everywhere in San Fran including right next to our hotel. Zipcar's rent from $7 an hour. It's perfect. Rent the zip car for a few hours during the day to cruise around the city and then return it back to the garage by the hotel. And they include gas and insurance. There is a $50 fee to join and $25 app fee unless you work for a university or are a student.
Even sweeter...I found a $40 driving credit code. HVEZFEWX
I figure I'm saving well over $250 on the parking cost.
Jan 25, 2012, 6:09 pm
#3
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 47
zipcar is great if one is lucky and it works - otherwise they do not care.. 
My first experience (by coincidence in SF) with them was that the car was not in the dedicated spot/ parking lot. It took customer service 30 minutes to get back to me telling me that the current/ overdue zipster cannot be reached and we have to work something out.
CS reserved an alternative car in another spot.. which was no longer available after we wanted to finalize the reservation process. Another try which forced me to go to another part of the city (zipcar paid taxi up to a certain amount; but it does not help if you're under a time constraint and there is no taxi) and offered a credit for 30 minutes.
I was finally be able to obtain a zipcar 1:15 hours after the booked time and the 15 minutes were on me (30 credit and 30 minutes re-scheduling of the reservation period). Obviously, I had to return the zipcar at the same location which is not close to where I was staying (speak about the convenience argument..) - zipcar only refunded the one way taxi fare.
So in total, I not only lost time, came late to a scheduled event but also made an additional investment.
I later complained but they did not bother to get back to me. As it was my first experience with them - I do not bother to use them ever again. Frankly, in your case when you factor in the parking fees it might make sense; otherwise most of their cars start at $10/11 per hour while you get a rental car for $21 per day. Certainly, gas and insurance (if not covered otherwise) have an impact on the business case but those will not convince me.
My first experience (by coincidence in SF) with them was that the car was not in the dedicated spot/ parking lot. It took customer service 30 minutes to get back to me telling me that the current/ overdue zipster cannot be reached and we have to work something out.
CS reserved an alternative car in another spot.. which was no longer available after we wanted to finalize the reservation process. Another try which forced me to go to another part of the city (zipcar paid taxi up to a certain amount; but it does not help if you're under a time constraint and there is no taxi) and offered a credit for 30 minutes.
I was finally be able to obtain a zipcar 1:15 hours after the booked time and the 15 minutes were on me (30 credit and 30 minutes re-scheduling of the reservation period). Obviously, I had to return the zipcar at the same location which is not close to where I was staying (speak about the convenience argument..) - zipcar only refunded the one way taxi fare.
So in total, I not only lost time, came late to a scheduled event but also made an additional investment.
I later complained but they did not bother to get back to me. As it was my first experience with them - I do not bother to use them ever again. Frankly, in your case when you factor in the parking fees it might make sense; otherwise most of their cars start at $10/11 per hour while you get a rental car for $21 per day. Certainly, gas and insurance (if not covered otherwise) have an impact on the business case but those will not convince me.
Jan 25, 2012, 6:18 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Programs: IC Royal Ambassador, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 486
I'd be upset in your situation as well. Our trip is a leisure one at that so I won't have any obligations per say. My whole reason in going this route and hopefully it works is that I won't have to deal with the parking costs. We would normally just take the Bart or other transportation but we are traveling with our 18 mo daughter. I'm hoping everything goes smooth. Thanks for the info and heads up!
Jan 25, 2012, 8:07 pm
#6
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 5,814
It's never there when I need it!
One Example: I once had to book a zipcar for a 7 AM half marathon race (we got to the spot at 4 AM thinking it would take us 30 minutes to drive and plenty of time to relax, prep, hydrate, etc). We arrived at the garage with the attendant telling us that there was a flat-tire. I immediately called and got the on hold music for about 20 minutes. I spoke to the lady and she said she couldn't give me the other car in the garage cause I would have to return it by 7 AM. She then said there was a car "close" -- 1 mile away (into a different borough of NYC)!!!! My friend took my phone and blew up on her. By this time, it was 5 AM and we were actually starting to freak out -- by the time we got to the new zipcar place (via public transportation) it probably would've been 6 AM. We eventually said screw it and found a cab that would take us in the middle of no-where queens. That was probably the most expensive NYC cab ride I've ever paid ($75 w/ marathon traffic) + I was so stressed out for my run.
*sigh* That was only one horror story. It works when you need to go shopping for heavy things and don't want to lug it on the subway (but there's always the cab). I rarely travel outside of Manhattan though. I've eventually switched to Avis. I might pay more but it's there when I need it w/ great service! YMMV
One Example: I once had to book a zipcar for a 7 AM half marathon race (we got to the spot at 4 AM thinking it would take us 30 minutes to drive and plenty of time to relax, prep, hydrate, etc). We arrived at the garage with the attendant telling us that there was a flat-tire. I immediately called and got the on hold music for about 20 minutes. I spoke to the lady and she said she couldn't give me the other car in the garage cause I would have to return it by 7 AM. She then said there was a car "close" -- 1 mile away (into a different borough of NYC)!!!! My friend took my phone and blew up on her. By this time, it was 5 AM and we were actually starting to freak out -- by the time we got to the new zipcar place (via public transportation) it probably would've been 6 AM. We eventually said screw it and found a cab that would take us in the middle of no-where queens. That was probably the most expensive NYC cab ride I've ever paid ($75 w/ marathon traffic) + I was so stressed out for my run.
*sigh* That was only one horror story. It works when you need to go shopping for heavy things and don't want to lug it on the subway (but there's always the cab). I rarely travel outside of Manhattan though. I've eventually switched to Avis. I might pay more but it's there when I need it w/ great service! YMMV
Jan 25, 2012, 8:49 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2007
Programs: PC Pl, UA 1K, CC Gl
Posts: 2,235
Zipcar is very reliable for me. I rented few dozen times and had issues only 2 times with it. Once, the battery died and zipcar paid $75 for taxi to get me home and gave me $60 credit for the future. Another time, there was no car - someone was late. They offered another car, 1/4 mile away and 1 hour free. It's not very good for business rentals since it's car sharing - people can be late (even they are severally punished), they often have only 1 or 2 cars at the location (when rental company might have dozens of cars to rent). But, it's great for personal rentals.
Jan 26, 2012, 6:50 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Airline nobody. Sad!
Posts: 26,062
I had good experiences when I rented from Zipcar. This might not be the best place for it, as a lot of people here have elite memberships with major rental places. It is ok if you live in a major city and don't want to own a car. It WAS great when they gave me 1 Amtrak Guest Rewards point for each $1 spent on a rental, but they ended that a couple of years ago. I only had one issue, when someone took the remote key fob home that needed to be in the car. They would have called a taxi for me to get to the closest available car, but I didn't want to deal with that, so I canceled that reservation for free and made a different one. It works in certain situations, not really for everyone.
Jan 26, 2012, 9:07 am
#11
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,634
I've generally had good experiences, although they seem to screw up at the worst possible times. My wife used to use it regularly for work with no problem.
The one time I had an issue was when the previous person was late. They gave me a credit on that rental for the time the guy was late. I had a $30 driving credit from when I signed up that I never used and had expired; they "re activated" that credit as a courtesy because I was late. I thought that was decent service. Haven't used them in a while, though.
The one time I had an issue was when the previous person was late. They gave me a credit on that rental for the time the guy was late. I had a $30 driving credit from when I signed up that I never used and had expired; they "re activated" that credit as a courtesy because I was late. I thought that was decent service. Haven't used them in a while, though.
Jan 26, 2012, 9:35 am
#13
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: LAX
Programs: AA ExPlat, HHonors Diamond
Posts: 1,130
Living in NYC, it's nearly impossible (read: prohibitively expensive) to own a car. The parking alone costs more than a monthly car payment, in some cases!
I've had a Zipcar membership for the last 3-4 years and it served me well (despite the prices almost doubling on their cheapest cars). The convenience of having the car available on demand is amazing, but to be fair, Zipcar's popularity sometimes undermines their supply and you might be out luck, especially during weekends.
Enter Hertz on Demand, which doesn't charge an annual fee and has a ton of locations also. I now have both Zip and Hertz, and between the two of them, I have quite a choice. Hertz has Fiats for $5/hour, which is an amazing deal. They also have a larger collection of SUVs, like Jeep Patriots and GMC Acadias, something that Zipcar lacks (they have Ford Escapes).
I think both are nice to have and the competition is a good thing.
I've had a Zipcar membership for the last 3-4 years and it served me well (despite the prices almost doubling on their cheapest cars). The convenience of having the car available on demand is amazing, but to be fair, Zipcar's popularity sometimes undermines their supply and you might be out luck, especially during weekends.
Enter Hertz on Demand, which doesn't charge an annual fee and has a ton of locations also. I now have both Zip and Hertz, and between the two of them, I have quite a choice. Hertz has Fiats for $5/hour, which is an amazing deal. They also have a larger collection of SUVs, like Jeep Patriots and GMC Acadias, something that Zipcar lacks (they have Ford Escapes).
I think both are nice to have and the competition is a good thing.