3 ms·

What are people's thoughts on switching from car ownership to using Zipcar if you're living in a city like SF and need the car maybe once-twice a week for groce

What are people's thoughts on switching from car ownership to using Zipcar if you're living in a city like SF and need the car maybe once-twice a week for grocery shopping or occasional drive to South Bay? Does it pay for itself?

CookWithMe 14y ago
I don't know how good the service is in SF, but generally I can recommend it strongly for this use case. My parents did that around 2000 for 3 or 4 years (in Germany, in a bigger city). We rented a car once a week for grocery shopping and sometimes for a family trip (we even did a 2-week holiday trip with a rented car). With this usage we definitely saved money. And a lot of time, because you don't have to care about repairing the car, taxes, ... My father got a new job, moved to a small city without a car sharing service and bought a mercedes. He probably wouldn't "downgrade", but he is constantly annoyed because he has to care about all the small details (changing tires in the winter, refilling oil, then often small things like light bulbs break, ...).
GertG 14y ago
From personal (European) experience, I can also recommend it. If moderately used, it's dirt cheap compared to owning a car. I spend about as much on it as just renting a garage would cost me in Brussels. I was not a heavy car user even when I had a company car, but I do notice that I try to organize things even better so as to e.g. minimize shopping trips (do one trip for the big stuff every x weeks, use public transport or bike for the rest). And that's what the article completely misses: the system encourages behaviour that ultimately benefits the community, regardless of the individual user's noble or less noble intentions. (For the record, I certainly don't see car sharing as a temporary solution before getting my own car.)

3 ms·

What are people's thoughts on switching from car ownership to using Zipcar if you're living in a city like SF and need the car maybe once-twice a week for groce

by BadassFractal 14y ago

CookWithMe 14y ago
I don't know how good the service is in SF, but generally I can recommend it strongly for this use case. My parents did that around 2000 for 3 or 4 years (in Germany, in a bigger city). We rented a car once a week for grocery shopping and sometimes for a family trip (we even did a 2-week holiday trip with a rented car). With this usage we definitely saved money. And a lot of time, because you don't have to care about repairing the car, taxes, ... My father got a new job, moved to a small city without a car sharing service and bought a mercedes. He probably wouldn't "downgrade", but he is constantly annoyed because he has to care about all the small details (changing tires in the winter, refilling oil, then often small things like light bulbs break, ...).
GertG 14y ago
From personal (European) experience, I can also recommend it. If moderately used, it's dirt cheap compared to owning a car. I spend about as much on it as just renting a garage would cost me in Brussels. I was not a heavy car user even when I had a company car, but I do notice that I try to organize things even better so as to e.g. minimize shopping trips (do one trip for the big stuff every x weeks, use public transport or bike for the rest). And that's what the article completely misses: the system encourages behaviour that ultimately benefits the community, regardless of the individual user's noble or less noble intentions. (For the record, I certainly don't see car sharing as a temporary solution before getting my own car.)