Zipcar – a different type of car rental
September 26th, 2009 by Tim Uden
This week I drove my first car rented from Zipcar, a car sharing agency that is an alternative to a traditional car rental company.
Basically Zipcar’s target market are people who live in big cities and only need a car occasionally. Rather than buy a car, they become a Zipster (a Zipcar member) and rent a car by the hour when they need it. It’s not really a service designed for the traveller, but in some instances it can work out a better option than a regular rental car.
Here are the main differences between car rental and car sharing (à la Zipcar):
- Traditional rental cars require that you rent the car from the rental car office, but they usually let you return the car to a different city; car sharing agencies like Zipcar let members reserve over the internet and pick the car up from reserved parking spaceslocated at strategic points all over the city. Cars from a car sharing agency must be returned to the same car parking space.
- Traditional rental car agencies let anyone walk in off the street and rent a car, but car sharing services like Zipcar only let members rent and it can take several days for a membership application to be processed. It costs USD $75 to sign up as a member in the US or £50 if you sign up in the UK.
- The process of picking up a regular rental car can take around 15 minutes. With a car sharing service like Zipcar you can be driving within a minute or two.
- You rent by the day with traditional car rental companies, but with car sharing services like Zipcar you can rent by the hour (although there is also a daily rate).
- Traditional rental car companies usually have no problem if you want a car for a month or longer, but it is difficult to get a car from a car sharing service like Zipcar for longer than four days (mainly because other members may have previously reserved that car).
- With car sharing agencies you get the exact same car you asked for, none of being ‘upgraded’ to some big ugly car that you didn’t ask for.
- Traditional rental car companies may charge you additional fees for insurance, but car sharing agencies like Zipcar include insurance.
- You are responsible for paying for petrol if you rent through a regular car rental company, but fuel is included with car sharing. In the United States Zipcar includes the first 180 miles (300km) per day free of charge and there is a fuel card provided with the car so you can top it up at Zipcar’s expense.
- Most rental car companies won’t rent to you if you’re aged under 25 and if they do, they will charge you extremely high fees for the privilege. Zipcar only require that you are aged over 21 and they don’t charge you any extra if you only just turned 21.
There are quite a few differences between Zipcar’s service and a regular rental car and it isn’t for everyone, particularly if you’re planning a longer trip. However it is worth considering if you are travelling between big cities by some other form of transport (such as plane or train) and need a car for a few days at a time to explore a specific region, and it may be your only option if you’re aged between 21 and 25.
Because fuel is included and there aren’t any additional charges for insurance, Zipcars and cars from other car sharing services can work out much better value than regular rental cars (as long as you average less than 300km per day).
In the United States most car rental agencies seem to specialise in big ugly boring cars (usually the Hyundai Ascent – which I previously blogged about as being too big an unweildy – is the smallest car on offer). However Zipcar has quite a nice range of small cars, such as the Mini, Honda Jazz and the Mazda 3. Unfortunately like most US-based rental agencies, all North American Zipcars have automatic transmissions, so you’ll feel like an old age pensioner driving without being in full control of your car (however most Zipcars in London are manuals).
My experience with Zipcar
I signed up for a Zipcar membership a few days before flying out to the USA. However my member application meant that I needed to provide a copy of my driving record, which I needed to order a week earlier from Vicroads in Australia (if you’re planning to rent a Zipcar you definitely need to plan in advance). The day I arrived I recieved an email saying I was approved and a couple of days later I picked up my new Zipcar membership card (my Zipcard) from Zipcar’s San Francisco office.
I reserved my Zipcar online on my iPhone (this was around a week before Zipcar was due to release their new iPhone app so I did it through the phone’s built in browser) and was given directions to where the car was parked.
After finding the car I held my Zipcard to the windscreen and the doors unlocked. Then I hopped inside and started the car using the keys attached to the driving column (well it would have been that easy if I was able to work out how to start the car but a combination of not haven driven an automatic in around 15 years and being unfamiliar with starting a Mini – press the start button – meant that it took me a while to work things out, but that is not any fault of Zipcar.
There were a few little quirks that will take a little getting used to (such as leaving the keys in your car when it is parked and refueling using the fuel car under the sun visor) but I think it is worth it for the freedom that Zipcar offers, not to mention the option of having a nice small car instead of the big ugly things that most US rental car companies offer.
My problems trying to start the car notwithstanding, I found Zipcar an easy alternative to a regular rental car and I look forward to using them again; which incidentally will be tomorrow when I pick up a car in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley.
4 Responses to “Zipcar – a different type of car rental”
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November 1st, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Quite clever idea this is to be able to rent a car by the hour. However don’t you think the whole membership thing is going to push customers away?
January 4th, 2010 at 6:57 am
Thanks for information!!!I know one site who will help you AND give this type of services.
I want review of this site.
Thanks
***REMOVED SPAM***
March 2nd, 2010 at 10:50 am
Renting a car by the hour? If your a tourist and need transportation for a long time it would be to expensive probably.
March 3rd, 2010 at 7:21 am
I don’t get it, Booker Bray