Has Anyone Tried Zipcar?

Parents Forum
1

<p>The post on car expenses made me reminded me of something, but I didn’t want to divert that discussion.</p>

<p>My S is going to an urban school so it never made sense to send a car with him. It’s simply too much trouble and too expensive. Instead, he relies on public transportation which is fine for most things.</p>

<p>This year his school became a partner with Zipcar. Students, even those under 25, pay a nominal membership fee and can rent cars by the hour or day. Good for that occasional heavy purchase or even, heaven forbid, a date. The fees look pretty reasonable.</p>

<p>Has anyone tried this? Was it a good experience?</p>

2

<p>A friend of mine’s D is using FlexCar at her college which sounds very much like this. She paid $40 for an annual membership and then makes a reservation in some way and pays the hourly rate. The D has found it to be really convenient and since she has started using FlexCar, she has quit bugging her parents about having a car on campus.</p>

3

<p>Sounds a lot like Philly Car Share, which is so successful it is expanding to the suburbs. There’s no membership fee.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.phillycarshare.org/[/url]”>http://www.phillycarshare.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Zipcar started in the Boston/Cambridge area and has expanded to a few other cities. My former assistant had her car totalled a few years ago and used zipcar. At the time, the membership fee was $20 and the hourly fee was $8.00 </p>

<p>A few months ago, I read an article on Slate.com about zipcars. You can rent different types of cars for different occasions. Want to impress a date or a potential client? Rent a BMW or a Lexus. The more expensive the car, the more discreet the logo. Sounds like a good deal.</p>

5

<p>Wonder what happens if the car is damaged, stolen, or wrecked while in your custody. I bet these things happen quite a bit (we are talking college students now, aren’t we?).</p>

6

<p>A family that is good friends of ours … family of 4 that lives near Boston … and owns one car … are very frequent and very happy users of Zipcars (basically using the Zipcar as their second car). They have been using Zipcars for years … saving a bundle over owning a second car … and had only good thing to say about their experience (which includes zipcars have mechanical problems and flat tires and getting replacement cars). I do not think they have dealt with a accident though so I have no info on that situation.</p>