Car Share Best of What Is Left. Enterprise or Zipcar?
 

Now that Hertz has killed off their hourly car share scheme need a replacement for something in NYC for less than full day vehicle needs. Running short errands, that sort of thing.

Have been reading online reviews of Enterprise and Zipcar with both seemingly not very thrilling. Large numbers of customer complaints about poor customer service, filthy vehicles, excessive and often hidden charges that pleading on bended knee will not reverse. Am aware some of these issues are the fault of user, but there is still enough to give one pause.

Since both Zipcar and Enterprise have application and annual membership fees though it wise to ask about before plunking down my hard earned money.

TIA
Bugsy

With Uber and Lyft on the scene I seriously question the sustainability of these services. I've personally replaced some trips I would have previously made in a Zipcar with Uber or Lyft. For trips longer than a few hours I just use a regular rental car. Because you have to pay for the time you reserved you wind up overpaying most of the time with car sharing and the rates are not especially cheap.

The problem with these companies fundamentally is that their customers don't respect each other. I've cleaned some previous renter's disgusting fast food garbage out of a car. I've gotten in a car that reeked of cigarette. I've driven a car covered in dog fur. These things are all explicitly banned but people don't care and the car sharing companies are probably terrified of going after people and alienating even more customers.

To answer your question, I don't think either is inherently better than the other, but in some places Zipcar has much better coverage than Enterprise so the convenience factor may win.

Uber and Lyft can be cost effective for short trips where businesses don't have parking. Longer trips to places with free or cheap parking can probably sustain the remaining players, for both daily and hourly rentals.

Cannot speak from experience by going by reviews and comments at least Enterprise car share *does* give major concern to condition of vehicle when returned. They have an exhaustive and extensive list of fees/surcharges (everything from smoking to pet hair) and apparently if the next renter complains you *will* be charged. Good luck afterwards trying to get a reversal or fee refunded.

That was Hertz on Demand's huge weakness. They didn't give a flying *** it seemed and did little to hold feet to the fire. For instance technically there was a fee for returning a vehicle without proper amount of fuel. But Hertz would often waive the fee if someone yelled loud enough.

Vehicles would be returned reeking of smoke (tobacco and or pot), filthy (everything from used diapers to fast food) and smelling like a cheap motel room after a hot encounter, but Hertz would seemingly not want to ding the previous renter. Then there was the damage...

Actually had one of the last reservations for HOD in Manhattan last weekend (UES). It was cancelled as vehicle had to go out on maintenance. Know the garage well so stopped by earlier to "say goodbye" and get the inside story.

Ironically it turned out HOD ended the way it pretty much began; the last two renters abused the only remaining working Mazda so Hertz took it out of service and that that. One customer (described as an "old man" by the garage attendant) brought the vehicle back with a crack along the lower windshield. The other (a younger guy) allowed his dog to ride uncrated and it shat all over the back seat.

Only ever used HOD for quick trips within Manhattan or perhaps just across the water into Brooklyn. Anything more than say three hours would rent from National or Enterprise for the day. Never understood why persons would do a car share for daily rentals even when you factor in the "free" gas. It just didn't make sense.

However when you consider how many car share customers abuse the vehicles and that they *never* would get away with such stunts if they rented from a *counter*, that could explain why. If you brought back a National, Hertz, or Enterprise regular rental car damaged, filthy or whatever chances are high there would be charges. Certainly if you returned it without the required fuel.

The car share model at least here in NYC appeals to me because if done properly you aren't paying for time you don't need. If I want to run down to Battery Park City at say 11PM from the UES could do so in one hour with HOD and only pay less than ten dollars which is cheaper than taking a taxi there and back. A normal car rental rate would be around $40 and I would have to get to the counter before 630PM (weekdays) to pick up the vehicle.

Beauty also of car sharing for me is not having to bother finding overnight parking in order to return the next day during business hours.

Haven't looked at either Uber or Lyft. You can get a small to mid-size car from Enterprise for around $33-$35 per day (plus taxes) which comes to about three hours on Hertz on Demand's cheapest weekday rates.

The free fuel offered by car share schemes is a good deal, but gas prices have fallen to <$2/gallon in parts of the NYC/NJ area. Depending upon what one drove and miles driven you might not even need to top off the tank before returning.

$33-35/day from Enterprise in NYC? Maybe in Hoboken during the off-season. Usually in the more distant suburbs. But in Manhattan, or even in the outer boros, on a regular basis? I saw such a rate once, 2 years ago, with Dollar/Thrifty. The lowest I've seen with Enterprise in Manhattan was about $45 + tax.

Just booked a compact car for next Monday in Manhattan; $33 and change coming to around $39 or so with taxes/fees. Intermediate and Standard were only a few cents or dollars higher. Same rates one has been seeing the past week when researching options after receiving the "news" from HOD.

Booked through Drive Alliance and my National Emerald Club membership so maybe that accounts for the rate?

You're right, but this seems unusual. From the new website, a roundtrip in Manhattan automatically redirects to Enterprise. From the classic website, I see $70/day - EC discount = $63/day, the usual rates for Manhattan during the week. For one-way out of NYC neighborhood stores, the classic site works as usual, but the new site tries and fails to redirect to Enterprise.

Of course I was! *LOL*

Hey I'm not fighting it, just going with the flow until I can find a new hourly car share service. Though am considering doing a few two day rentals to earn some 1-2-Free points.

Keep in mind weekend rates (Thursday through Sunday) are considerably higher. Also that Enterprise does not seem to participate in the nine dollar per day weekend rate either. Have to look at my Amex later and see the size of hold Enterprise placed to cover this rental.

I never used HOD and don't doubt this is true. Maybe Zipcar isn't quite as extreme, but the problems still persist to some degree.

Can't remember where I read it, but someone was arguing that Zipcar went from being seen a community (we're all in this together) to simply being seen a service (I paid my money so I can do whatever I want).

To me the point when they added optional CDW at $2 / hour was the moment that it stopped being any kind of community and just became another variation on the regular rental companies, albeit with worse cars but in better locations.

That sums things up nicely; "I paid my money so I can do whatever I want".

Found over and over again with HOD and reading reviews from Zipcar and Enterprise CS vehicles are filthy, smell like smoke (tobacco or whatever), have no fuel and so forth. These are all things addressed in the TOS when people sign up for these car share services. Yet obviously some persons ever got the memo in kindergarten about "sharing".

The guy from the above post who let his dog take a dump on the back seat of a HOD vehicle pretty much showed the problems with that service. After kicking out all the fraudsters and or those who either couldn't or wouldn't play nice, Hertz found the pool of "good" car share customers wasn't enough for the scheme to make a profit obviously.

It was strange that before HOD tightened things up you often couldn't get a reservation. After that major housecleaning demand dropped off a cliff it seems.

I use Zipcar occasionally in Manhattan, and I generally find the cars to be in good shape.

Rented from Enterprise in NYC yesterday. Kia Sonata with high mileage, barely one-half tank of gas, unwashed outside but decent (just) inside, scratched, dinged, marked exterior.... All and all not much different than HOD. *LOL*

That does not surprise me, unfortunately.

A few years ago, I rented with Hertz's airport shuttle rate. When I got to the Manhattan neighborhood store, I couldn't help but be curious about something. In the suburbs, the rates are usually in the $35/day range, lest customers get scared away into using their own cars. The rentals tend to be high mileage and beat up. In Manhattan, special one-way plans not withstanding, the rates can be upwards of $150/day. It would be logical to assume that if you pay so much more, you would get a lot more, right?

Wrong. Most of the cars I saw in the Manhattan Hertz garage looked identical to, and just as worn as, the cars filling the strip mall and gas station locations near me.

Correction:

*Hyundai Sonata* not Kia