zipcar? Anyone? | Imamother

lamplighter

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 10:14 am

Anyone do zipcar?
What are the pros and cons?

I live in NYC, we use public transportation for most things but a car is areal convenience. The tickets and insurance and upkeep takes the cost of a car to a whole new level. I wonder if this is a practical solution for us.

How does it work? Does it work out cheaper than renting a car?

amother

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 11:20 am

way Cheaper than owning a car, cheaper than renting if you only do short trips like a few hours. It always comes out more expensive than you think it'll be because you always rent for ths shortest period you think you'll need and things always take longer than you think. But the convenience can't be beat. They have garages all over as opposed to the car rental places that only have a few locations, none of which are ever in your own neighborhood. If your trip takes longer you can extend over the phone so you won't incur a late fee, assuming no one else has already reserved the car. if someone has reserved it for right after you were supposed to have it back you're in deep doo-doo if you bring it back late.

Mrs Bissli

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 2:11 pm

We used to use streetcar, which works pretty much in a similar way. Basically you pay a fixed membership fee upfront, then book a specific car in your neighbourhood online and pay hourly.
They keep the car key in the glove compartment, and you're issued an electric card which
unlocks the car (a bit Q in 007 as DH says). Everyone is supposed to keep the petrol to some level
(I think at least 1/3). If you used up the petrol and need to refuel, you use their card.
If you have any violation, they can track you (by when you were using) and you get to pay the ticket/fine.

Pros:
- no need to worry about the insurance, taxes, MOT etc.
- we're lucky there were enough cars in our neighbourhood, so we could access the car
pretty much anytime we needed (usually weekends).
- overall costs were definitely cheaper for us.
- IF there's noone using the car after you, you can extend the hours over mobile phone.

Cons:
- if you need the car for the whole day or for the whole weekend, it comes out more expensive
- you really need to check how many cars in your neighbourhood, and if you can really
book the car when you need it.
- Choice of cars are fairly basic, less range than rental cars (though not been a problem for us)
- You do need to return the car on time, otherwise penalty fees
(though we like it better that way, we had only one incident where someone who booked the
car before us failed to return it on time)

morah

Mon, Sep 12 2011, 2:37 pm

We were carless until very recently (we got one b/c DH got a job that requires him to meet with clients all over the tri-state area on any given day). Until we got our car, we used zipcar, and we kept the membership b/c when I get my license (hopefully next month!), I will be able to use it for errands as needed. Insurance and gas are included in the price of your membership. However, it really only works if you're using it for a few hours at a time. It's not worth it if, say, you're going away for Shabbos. But the thing is, sometimes you just need a car. Zip is great for those times.