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I've being a ZipCar member for a year and this is why I cancelled my account recently: 1) Availability There's no way you can reserve a ZipCar exactly WHEN you

I've being a ZipCar member for a year and this is why I cancelled my account recently: 1) Availability There's no way you can reserve a ZipCar exactly WHEN you need it. Most ZipCars are spread evenly between locations and in a popular ones you can only reserve something available a few days in advance. This makes the idea of using ZipCar useless because now you need to waste an hour of your time commuting to a remote ZipCar location. Weekends? Forget about it. Unless again you'd like to travel to an inconvenient remote location or book 3 days in advance. 2) Missing/broken car - ruined plans It happened to me twice but this was enough to make me reconsider ZipCar. Once I reserved a car for a day for a very important trip but when I showed up at a parking location my car was missing. ZipCar CSR on the phone refunded my order and offered drive credits but has no idea of what was going on. Needless to say how frustrating the whole experience was. The second time my reserved car was out of order, it just simply wouldn't drive normally. No way I would be happy to exchange this stress and ruined plans for 50$ in driving credits! 3) Dirty Car/low on fuel A couple of times the car I reserved was as dirty inside/outside as it can be after days of abuse on the country roads or in the mud races. And the only thing I could do is to report the issue to ZipCar. I still have to use this dirty car for my business trip. The other annoying issue has been a car low on fuel. Despite taking a car for a couple of hours the first thing I have to do was to locate a gas station and fuel the car. 4) Overpayment and stress First of all, advertised "starting as low as" prices are non existent or impossible to find. They say you save money using ZipCar. This might be true if you're using ZipCar a couple times a month for a few hours. If you need a car for more than that you're certainly better using a conventional rental company. Considering that a few rental companies offer "driver pickup and dropoff" service it makes ZipCar highly inconvenient and stressful if you think about all above mentioned issues. I personally found myself extending reservation hours a few times, hurring up like crazy when there was not an option to do it. 5 or more hours using ZipCar equals in price to a 24hrs. using almost any other car rental company. 5) Damage horror stories ZipCar damage waiver is a joke. You can buy an extended waiver which covers only 750$ in damage. Again unlike other conventional rental companies which would happily provide you with a full damage waiver. Fortunately it didn't happened to me but there's a bunch of horror stories around when ZipCar users were asked to pay fully for the damaged car or had to fight with ZipCar for a long time even if it wasn't their fault.

larrys 14y ago
All good points. There is a market of course for car sharing. But I think what people are forgetting is that the reason why someone might go with a name brand (McDonalds/Avis/Mariott etc.) is that you get the "system" and some quality controls and hopefully the same product anywhere. This will be much harder to scale with a zipcar type system (or airbnb) because you have much less control over the product or the interaction with the end user. You can't have a maid supervisor make sure the room was clean and all the linens are in place. You can't centralize the cleaning, maintenance and readiness of the vehicle inventory.
chaz 14y ago
Have you tried Hertz On Demand? I haven't yet, but it sounds very competitive to Zipcar. There are locations throughout cities, no membership fees, similar pricing, and time reservations. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about broken, damaged, or dirty cars other than to have managed stations where you pick them up. Which turns it back into a regular car rental outfit. But you're always getting a freshly washed car, a full tank of gas, and at least a cursory check by staff.
- tfe 14y ago
  I have used it in SF a couple times, and it's been a poor experience every time. They only have one location. The cars are not very well cared-for. I've never been able to get out of the parking garage without a hassle. The fuel card was missing once. I just have the strong impression that Hertz is not serious about this program. At least it's cheaper than ZipCar though, which is why I occasionally go back to try again.
  - chockablock 14y ago
    If you are in SFBay, check out City CarShare. Cheaper than Zipcar for short trips, and quite a lot of vehicles. I belong to both and find myself using CCS much more than Zipcar.
robbiet480 14y ago
Personally, I have never had a negative experience with a Zipcar. I had an Audi A3 breakdown in SF on the way to Startup School, I told them I had an appointment. They instantly called me a cab, booked me a new Audi A3 in the FiDi and refunded my entire reservation + $75 in driving credit. Also, since I was under 21 at the time, they had to change the reservation to my passengers account since I couldn't rent cars outside UC. He also was not charged for the reservation and got $25 in credit. The cars are always clean and I have never had a low fuel situation. Now, I rent cars in the Downtown Oakland area so I can't say the same for SF but thats just me. Oakland/Berkeley does have the weekend availability problem but if I know I am going somewhere on the weekend I can book as late as Friday night and still get a car I want. The cost. I pay as low as $7 an hour for a Mazda 3, $9 an hour for an Audi A3, Mini, VW Golf. I have a small discount via FoundersCard however. Still though, those prices are pretty great to rent a car, especially since Zipcar covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Insurance. If you do not have a waiver, you pay the first $750 of an accident, Zipcar pays the rest. If you have a waiver ($10 a month), you do not pay anything. Also, it counts as real car insurance so when you do buy a car and need auto insurance, you can say you have had continuing coverage. http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/what-damage-fee http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/what-damage-fee

larrys 14y ago

All good points. There is a market of course for car sharing. But I think what people are forgetting is that the reason why someone might go with a name brand (McDonalds/Avis/Mariott etc.) is that you get the "system" and some quality controls and hopefully the same product anywhere. This will be much harder to scale with a zipcar type system (or airbnb) because you have much less control over the product or the interaction with the end user. You can't have a maid supervisor make sure the room was clean and all the linens are in place. You can't centralize the cleaning, maintenance and readiness of the vehicle inventory.

chaz 14y ago

Have you tried Hertz On Demand? I haven't yet, but it sounds very competitive to Zipcar. There are locations throughout cities, no membership fees, similar pricing, and time reservations. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about broken, damaged, or dirty cars other than to have managed stations where you pick them up. Which turns it back into a regular car rental outfit. But you're always getting a freshly washed car, a full tank of gas, and at least a cursory check by staff.

tfe 14y ago
I have used it in SF a couple times, and it's been a poor experience every time. They only have one location. The cars are not very well cared-for. I've never been able to get out of the parking garage without a hassle. The fuel card was missing once. I just have the strong impression that Hertz is not serious about this program. At least it's cheaper than ZipCar though, which is why I occasionally go back to try again.
- chockablock 14y ago
  If you are in SFBay, check out City CarShare. Cheaper than Zipcar for short trips, and quite a lot of vehicles. I belong to both and find myself using CCS much more than Zipcar.

robbiet480 14y ago

Personally, I have never had a negative experience with a Zipcar. I had an Audi A3 breakdown in SF on the way to Startup School, I told them I had an appointment. They instantly called me a cab, booked me a new Audi A3 in the FiDi and refunded my entire reservation + $75 in driving credit. Also, since I was under 21 at the time, they had to change the reservation to my passengers account since I couldn't rent cars outside UC. He also was not charged for the reservation and got $25 in credit. The cars are always clean and I have never had a low fuel situation. Now, I rent cars in the Downtown Oakland area so I can't say the same for SF but thats just me. Oakland/Berkeley does have the weekend availability problem but if I know I am going somewhere on the weekend I can book as late as Friday night and still get a car I want. The cost. I pay as low as $7 an hour for a Mazda 3, $9 an hour for an Audi A3, Mini, VW Golf. I have a small discount via FoundersCard however. Still though, those prices are pretty great to rent a car, especially since Zipcar covers gas, maintenance and insurance. Insurance. If you do not have a waiver, you pay the first $750 of an accident, Zipcar pays the rest. If you have a waiver ($10 a month), you do not pay anything. Also, it counts as real car insurance so when you do buy a car and need auto insurance, you can say you have had continuing coverage. http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/what-damage-fee http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/what-damage-fee