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"Significant revenue growth opportunities exist, including by leveraging Avis Budget’s fleet to meet more of Zipsters’ weekend demand, which is currently constr

"Significant revenue growth opportunities exist, including by leveraging Avis Budget’s fleet to meet more of Zipsters’ weekend demand, which is currently constrained by fleet availability." Yes! Make this work - yesterday, preferably!

philwelch 14y ago
Hopefully this doesn't mean a deluge of crappy domestic cars. The thing I like about Zipcar the most is the availability of some really nice cars, especially the German makes.
- krschultz 14y ago
  I hope they tier the pricing. I like having a nice car when I am driving somewhere for fun (or the distance is long). If I just need a car for a couple of hours, budget crappy domestic car is fine.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    They do, but on the lower tiers you can still get a late-model VW Golf, which is actually pretty nice. On the higher tiers you can get Audi, Mini, BMW, Mercedes-Benz C-class. Avis's idea of a nice car is a fucking Chrysler.
    - joeguilmette 14y ago
      My idea of a nice car is one that starts and still has some of the brake pads remaining
- smackfu 14y ago
  I guess that varies. Around here in New Haven, CT, Zipcar just has typical rental car makes and models. Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Mazda 3, and a couple of hybrids.
- corresation 14y ago
  If you had just said "crappy cars", then sure. The "crappy domestic cars" bit was worn out a decade or so ago.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    I've heard good things about the Ford Focus. GM and Chrysler are suspicious just because they had to nationalize them to keep them from going bankrupt, and the Ford Explorer went to shit by 2008 or so, so for me, it's not a bias I'm especially interested in revisiting, especially with the quality of the VW's and Audis I've driven.
    - corresation 14y ago
      There are a large number of very high quality domestic models, easily rivaling any from anywhere. Again, saying domestic was completely unnecessary bigotry that added zero value to the comment. Especially odd that you then use VW and Audi as the comparator, given that both of those are historically, and recently, lower quality brands -- the incident rate for defects is much higher than average (though note that one survey put them on top by noting that sure the defect rate is high, but the owners are happy anyways so that equals quality anyways).
      - philwelch 14y ago
        If I'm renting a car, the defect rate isn't really my problem anyway. What is my problem is the driving experience, which is where VW and Audi shine. Anyway, I'm curious why you're getting all worked up and accusing me of "bigotry" because I don't like domestic cars. What are you, some kind of GM publicist?
        corresation 14y ago
        Why do you think that I'm "getting worked up"? Slandering the entirety of "domestic" vehicles -- and doing so because you think you have an audience that will cheer along -- is a perfect demonstration of bigotry...at least vehicle maker bigotry. I know it is wrong and misinformed so I point that out, which is hardly getting worked up.
- ditojim 14y ago
  agree. i go for the audi every time.
- oh_sigh 14y ago
  You'll still have the option to rent the nicer cars. In fact, it will become easier to rent nicer cars, because a large percentage of their customers will go for lower grade vehicles, which leaves more nicer vehicles in the lot. Currently, customers don't have a choice and need to get the nice car, so they can be hard to rent on, for example, weekends.
  - philwelch 14y ago
    At least until they turn over the fleet and stop bothering to buy Audis.

philwelch 14y ago

Hopefully this doesn't mean a deluge of crappy domestic cars. The thing I like about Zipcar the most is the availability of some really nice cars, especially the German makes.

krschultz 14y ago
I hope they tier the pricing. I like having a nice car when I am driving somewhere for fun (or the distance is long). If I just need a car for a couple of hours, budget crappy domestic car is fine.
- philwelch 14y ago
  They do, but on the lower tiers you can still get a late-model VW Golf, which is actually pretty nice. On the higher tiers you can get Audi, Mini, BMW, Mercedes-Benz C-class. Avis's idea of a nice car is a fucking Chrysler.
  - joeguilmette 14y ago
    My idea of a nice car is one that starts and still has some of the brake pads remaining
smackfu 14y ago
I guess that varies. Around here in New Haven, CT, Zipcar just has typical rental car makes and models. Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra, Mazda 3, and a couple of hybrids.
corresation 14y ago
If you had just said "crappy cars", then sure. The "crappy domestic cars" bit was worn out a decade or so ago.
- philwelch 14y ago
  I've heard good things about the Ford Focus. GM and Chrysler are suspicious just because they had to nationalize them to keep them from going bankrupt, and the Ford Explorer went to shit by 2008 or so, so for me, it's not a bias I'm especially interested in revisiting, especially with the quality of the VW's and Audis I've driven.
  - corresation 14y ago
    There are a large number of very high quality domestic models, easily rivaling any from anywhere. Again, saying domestic was completely unnecessary bigotry that added zero value to the comment. Especially odd that you then use VW and Audi as the comparator, given that both of those are historically, and recently, lower quality brands -- the incident rate for defects is much higher than average (though note that one survey put them on top by noting that sure the defect rate is high, but the owners are happy anyways so that equals quality anyways).
    - philwelch 14y ago
      If I'm renting a car, the defect rate isn't really my problem anyway. What is my problem is the driving experience, which is where VW and Audi shine. Anyway, I'm curious why you're getting all worked up and accusing me of "bigotry" because I don't like domestic cars. What are you, some kind of GM publicist?
      - corresation 14y ago
        Why do you think that I'm "getting worked up"? Slandering the entirety of "domestic" vehicles -- and doing so because you think you have an audience that will cheer along -- is a perfect demonstration of bigotry...at least vehicle maker bigotry. I know it is wrong and misinformed so I point that out, which is hardly getting worked up.
ditojim 14y ago
agree. i go for the audi every time.
oh_sigh 14y ago
You'll still have the option to rent the nicer cars. In fact, it will become easier to rent nicer cars, because a large percentage of their customers will go for lower grade vehicles, which leaves more nicer vehicles in the lot. Currently, customers don't have a choice and need to get the nice car, so they can be hard to rent on, for example, weekends.
- philwelch 14y ago
  At least until they turn over the fleet and stop bothering to buy Audis.