ZipCar anyone???

[RickinNYC]

Hey folks, the other half has been doing the "I wanna car and I don't care if we live in NYC and it's not practical" boogie. Friends told us about ZipCar, a car rental program which charges a membership fee and an annual fee, both pretty reasonable ($25 and $50 respectively). They include all gas and insurance in the cost. Rentals are either by the hour or by the day, again those fees are reasonable, at $10 per hour or $69 per day.

He has me sold on it but I wanted to get some other opinions if any. I thought I'd post this here and on a couple of other boards to see if anyone has any thoughts or opinions. It definitely beats leasing a new car or buying a used one, with insurance, gas and the lovely parking space (yes, those go for $200 and way, way, way up from there, per month).

So any thoughts would be great, whether from personal experience or if you've heard anything in your neck of the woods. Apparently this is the way to go for lots of folks in large metropolitan areas. I'd never heard about it until now though.

 

[FroggyinArk]

no such animal in our area,,


how you doin?

 

[RickinNYC]

Doing well and looking forward to the mini meet next month.

 

[SandraVB79]

The Brussels' public transportation company started something like that some time ago. It's called Cambio. Before that, there were some "private" initiatives like it.

For me, it would be good. I always use public transportation, except when I go golfing, so in that case, I could rent a car.
Right now, I still use my dad's car, since I still live at home.

 

[rhanditresmom]

I think my brother uses this service...or a similar service in the DC area. He really likes it. He says it is very convenient. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me, especially if you live in the city....a little more practical than buying a car! Good luck!

 

[RickinNYC]

I think my brother uses this service...or a similar service in the DC area. He really likes it. He says it is very convenient. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me, especially if you live in the city....a little more practical than buying a car! Good luck!

Yup, actually one of our friends that got Joe hooked on the idea uses this service in the DC metro area. He swears it's a great deal/idea for city dwellers. Thanks for the input.

 

[caitycaity]

we used zipcar when it first came to dc (which was quite awhile ago and before we moved out to the burbs and bought cars). we liked it and it worked well. they have them parked all over the place around here and they have all different kinds of cars (from MINIs to trucks).

 

[Christine]

I see people using this a lot (DC area) and it seems to be well rated. I've never read a bad thing about them.

 

[molly2004]

I'm curious too. I wonder, the site isn't too clear, what happens if you booked a car and it's not there when you get there at your assigned time?

 

[Honu]

We have it in San Francisco and I see them here in Silicon Valley every once in a while. They are really popular. Every time I see one though my immediate reaction is stay away from the guy who doesn't drive often enough to have his own car.