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Fair, sort of. I shouldn't blame the victim too much. That said, engineers have to make assumptions somewhere. I suspect remote camping trips are just too far o
by andrewflnr 4y ago
Fair, sort of. I shouldn't blame the victim too much. That said, engineers have to make assumptions somewhere. I suspect remote camping trips are just too far out of the envelope that ZipCar was designing for, that envelope being cities.
But really I'm just irritated by the bait and switch title, that to me promised a much more interesting topic than "here's a thing that can go wrong with one car rental company in situations it clearly wasn't designed for".
- kube-system 4y agoIsn’t the stereotypical use case for zip car to take it on a weekend trip out of town where public transit doesn’t go? National parks are very popular recreational attractions. Not to mention, there are plenty of places in cities without cell service, like parking garages.
- maximus-decimus 4y agoOr recently Telus, one of the big 3 Canadian COM companies, went down for a whole day. Imagine cars stopping to work because of that.
- johnny-lee 4y agoDon't you mean Rogers? see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32026637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32026637
- maximus-decimus 4y agoYes. Thank you.
- VBprogrammer 4y agoMaybe it's pivoted since I used it but I always thought they where for people who needed cars for a couple of hours. Not weekend trips. Real car rental companies were far cheaper for that use case.
- brewdad 4y agoMany traditional rental car companies won't rent to college aged customers, or will add large daily markups. For a significant market segment Zipcar-esque companies are the best, or only, option.
- alistairSH 4y agoNot sure about pricing, but I had friends who lived in downtown DC and they'd use Zip for overnight trips to visit in the suburbs. I imagine it was easier to stick with a service they already used (and had cars locally) than schedule a rental with pick-up/drop-off. But for longer trips, they used normal rentals.
- moonka 4y agoOr the ferries (where a number of cars have gotten stuck I think).
- maxerickson 4y agoIf they aren't going to design for taking the car out of range of cellular, then they should geofence the thing. Of course it can't just turn off when it hits the fence, but a notification would be a pretty good idea.
- diggernet 4y agoIf the car was designed to stay in the city, they need to stop saying things like: "Select your Zipcar, pack your tent and pick your spot, from national parks with campsites to choice spots listed on USACampgrounds.info." [1] Besides, even driving on the freeway between two cities, you can often find dead spots. Imagine pulling into a rest area in the middle of nowhere for a bio-break, only to find yourself stranded. [1] https://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/best-vacations-for-solo-travelers https://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/best-vacations-for-solo-trav...
- andrewflnr 4y agoAlright, you got me. :D I still think I'm probably right about the implicit assumptions in the product design, but that does mean their advertising is misleading at best.
- alistairSH 4y agoThe Blue Ridge Parkway in the mid-Atantic has massive stretches of cellular dead zones. The entire road is a popular destination, and many at the most popular destinations for views and hikes are dead zones. Peaks of Otter comes to mind as a fantastic day-trip or weekend destination from DC. Despite being a very popular spot for day hikes, and having a lodge, it does not have cellular service. Nobody would think their rental car would be inaccessible at a popular resort area.
- balderdash 4y agoThe default state for the consumer is: “it’s a car, it doesn’t require cell service” If zipcar put a huge banner prior to checkout saying that you will not be able to access the car if you don’t have cell service, I bet a lot of people would think twice, which is why they don’t, which is what makes it shitty