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I love ZipCar, but the author doesn't mention the difference in price between the two services. Zipcar costs $8-10 per hour and $66-101 per day depending on the

I love ZipCar, but the author doesn't mention the difference in price between the two services. Zipcar costs $8-10 per hour and $66-101 per day depending on the car and your plan. You can often rent cars from normal car rental agencies for $20 a day (though with fees it ends up being 40). One thing he didn't mention is that ZipCar is great for allowing multiple drivers. Any ZipCar member can drive any car, no matter who rented it.

pyre 17y ago
> You can often rent cars from normal car rental agencies for $20 a day (though with fees it ends up being 40) That doesn't take into account whether or not you have your own insurance (e.g. if you already have a car). It also doesn't take into account taxes. IIRC, Multinomah County (the county where Portland, Oregon is) has a 15% tax on rental vehicles. This is on top of the Enterprise quoted price. I don't know if ZipCar works this into their costs, but I don't remember ever seeing this tax on an invoice from ZipCar. I've had good experience from a customer service perspective with Enterprise, but from a cost perspective, not so much. I once rented a car for a day from them which was supposed to be ~$60. The final cost with insurance, taxes, etc was over $100. On the other hand -- as a ZipCar member -- I can rent a ZipCar for ~$69/day and that includes gas. I was able to sign up for $25 (+ $10 for my wife) by signing up at the Portland Gay Pride 'celebration' (I would say 'Gay Pride Parade,' but it was at the tents after the parade). We've also been able to get free credits when we see their booths at other events (e.g. VegFest '09). I've also gotten free credits for calling them to tell them that I saw the lights were left on on one of their cars (I was at a bus stop that was near a ZipCar spot). While I have no complaints about Enterprise customer service, I would say that ZipCar is the Zappos of car rental (though I may be wrong since I've never interacted with Zappos; I'm only guessing based on all the stories I hear).
- jluxenberg 17y ago
  Re: rental car tax, interesting article about the rental tax on Zipcars; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383390638486797.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383390638486797.html Bottom line, the rental car tax was intended to tax tourists and Zipcar has been fighting against it because most Zipcar members are locals without a car. In some states the tax laws are such that Zipcar is forced to collect a fee every time you reserve a car.

pyre 17y ago

> You can often rent cars from normal car rental agencies for $20 a day (though with fees it ends up being 40) That doesn't take into account whether or not you have your own insurance (e.g. if you already have a car). It also doesn't take into account taxes. IIRC, Multinomah County (the county where Portland, Oregon is) has a 15% tax on rental vehicles. This is on top of the Enterprise quoted price. I don't know if ZipCar works this into their costs, but I don't remember ever seeing this tax on an invoice from ZipCar. I've had good experience from a customer service perspective with Enterprise, but from a cost perspective, not so much. I once rented a car for a day from them which was supposed to be ~$60. The final cost with insurance, taxes, etc was over $100. On the other hand -- as a ZipCar member -- I can rent a ZipCar for ~$69/day and that includes gas. I was able to sign up for $25 (+ $10 for my wife) by signing up at the Portland Gay Pride 'celebration' (I would say 'Gay Pride Parade,' but it was at the tents after the parade). We've also been able to get free credits when we see their booths at other events (e.g. VegFest '09). I've also gotten free credits for calling them to tell them that I saw the lights were left on on one of their cars (I was at a bus stop that was near a ZipCar spot). While I have no complaints about Enterprise customer service, I would say that ZipCar is the Zappos of car rental (though I may be wrong since I've never interacted with Zappos; I'm only guessing based on all the stories I hear).

jluxenberg 17y ago
Re: rental car tax, interesting article about the rental tax on Zipcars; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383390638486797.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121383390638486797.html Bottom line, the rental car tax was intended to tax tourists and Zipcar has been fighting against it because most Zipcar members are locals without a car. In some states the tax laws are such that Zipcar is forced to collect a fee every time you reserve a car.