Zipcar: Car Rental For Few. Why Is It So Expensive?
Written: Jul 12 '07 (Updated Jul 12 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cool progressive idea that allows you to be part of the movement
Cons: It is not yeat mature enough to make all people happy
The Bottom Line: This is a good idea, but you mush make sure it works for you. Too many cars are overbooked and you can't get them when you need.
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| rabodzey's Full Review: Zipcar |
When I was a student, we received a free subscription to Zipcar and it seemed to be a very cool idea, so I tried it. Quite honestly I see only few circumstances under which you may need Zip car… Let me tell you what’s wrong here.
Zipcar Business Model
This is a uber-cool idea: you simply pay for the time you actually use the car and you take it and leave in a designated area and do not have to worry about insurance, gas and car wash. This idea is in fact borrowed from Europe, in particular, Zipcar founders took it from Germany. Initially people were skeptical about this idea, but as gas prices mount and parking space becomes a luxury, car sharing becomes more and more reasonable idea in the eyes of environmentally conscious individuals and money-starving students. Now few companies operate under the similar scheme: ZipCar, FlexCar, Car Co-ops and many other local companies. It was found that one such car replaces four cars used by single drivers. Seems to be a no-lose game! Is it?
What’s The Problem Here, Dude?
Too few vehicles
The major problem for me was that if I live in Cambridge, Mass close to Kendall Square (center of the city), there are TWO CARS within a 7-min walking distance from me! And, guess what? They are always booked when you need them! The thing is that most of the times people (students or new-yorkers) use cars to buy food and this generally happens after they come from work at about 6pm. But everybody comes home at 6! Man, both of these cars are booked a week ahead!
You not gonna get the fancy BMW here
Here comes another caveat – you saw nice fancy BMW in their Ad, right? Think you can drive it for just $8.50? NO WAY! Out of 40 vehicles around Cambridge (and this is already way beyond 7 min walking, even beyond 30 min), there are 0 BMW. Yes, you can get a BMW in Downtown, but you have to take a cab there or spend 30 min in the subway…this defeats the whole point of renting! Okay, Cambridge is a very student-populated town and I guess it gets better in, say, Phoenix… but there are no ZipCars there! All of them are in dense areas.
The fun you getting
Zipcar wants us to feel that we buy some cool way of living, not just a car, but a car with a name, say “Vikky”. You have to be a member of a club and you have to feel attached to this environmental hysteria... otherwise why lose money on expensive Prius? Thanks God you don’t have these big Zip signs on upscale BMWs :-) But the truth is that you can get better off renting from Enterprise of buying your own car in most cases.
The Cost Of The Game
So what’s the price you pay? Well it is $25 application fee, $50 annual fee and at least $9 an hour of driving. In fact all cars close to me start at $10 and go to $12 an hour. Say I want to go to a local Target to buy food. That’s at least 2 hr since if I am late one minute – I will be charged more, so it’s better to be safe. So if, and only IF, I am lucky to book a car for the time I need, I will pay about $20 per ride. You have to buy a lot or pack few more buddies there to cover this cost. Or you can call a cab. For same $20. By the way, you can get a car for a DAY in Enterprise for $25.
So what’s the point of that? Being uber-cool? Save gas? I have no clue.
People Who Will Benefit From It
I can see few categories of people who actually will benefit from this service. First of all – roommates and students who can pack the whole car and cost per person will be lower. Passionate environmentalists who care about saving trees or live is an area where parking is a bless. If you fall under these categories, you can consider joining ZipCar, but first, check if you can locate a car close to you and if you can actually book it at the times you need it.
Conclusions
This is an uber-cool progressive idea with fetish pet-like feeling that you are supposed to develop towards a car… Apparently this is all done just to increase your willingness to give up time and money. There are few cases when you will actually benefit from this service, but if you plan to go for a trip longer than 3 hr, forget about it. There are better options. You should be careful at assessing trade offs of this idea and make sure you can actually use the car when you need it and not when it is available.
Have a safe ride!
Alex
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Epinions.com ID:
rabodzey
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Member: Alex
Location: Cambridge, MA, USA
Reviews written: 68
Trusted by: 18 members
About Me:
I enjoy writing essays on various topics, especially if it helps people.
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