Zip Car/Hidden Fees?

Parent Cafe
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<p>D wants to sign up to use a Zip car. She said it was $15/year then $7/hour. I asked her whose car insurance she is under while driving; she didn’t know. I asked what they charge if you return the car with no gas – she didn’t know.</p>

<p>I googled “Zip car hidden fees” and found mention of a lawsuit from 2009.</p>

<p>Anyone have direct recent experience with their son or daughter using a Zip car and what it really cost? Seems to me if they’re renting to kids they must factor in the additional risk with fees, but I’m naturally skeptical.</p>

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<p>I don’t but I’m interested in finding out as DS signed up.</p>

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<p>It is all spelled out on the Zipcar dot com. For instance, here is the insurance explained:</p>

<p>[Zipcar</a> insurance](<a href=“http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/one-faq?faq_number=28]Zipcar”>http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/one-faq?faq_number=28)

</p>

<p>and other questions answered:</p>

<p>[Zipcar</a> FAQ](<a href=“http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/]Zipcar”>How Does Car Sharing Work? | Zipcar)</p>

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<p>Gas is included in the fee. Each zip car has a gas card inside and the driver is supposed to fill the tank when it falls below 1/4 tank. 180 miles per day are included.</p>

<p>Insurance is also included. There is a deductible if you are involved in an accident, and there are some differences in coverage for drivers under 21. </p>

<p>Check out the FAQs on the Zipcar website. It really is a good deal.</p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/]Zipcar[/url”&gt;How Does Car Sharing Work? | Zipcar]Zipcar[/url</a>]</p>

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<p>$15/year is a bargain…most schools are charging between $25-35/year and $8.50/hour…</p>

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<p>I did go on their website but if a company charges excessive or hidden fees, it’s not going to be featured on their website.</p>

<p>From reading reviews from 2011, users mentioned a fee to call a Zipcar representative; a $50 late charge fee if car was returned one minute late; any repair work had to be done by a Zipcar mechanic where the cost to cure was magically the same as the deductible. What I’m trying to avoid is being surprised by these kind of fees.</p>

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<p>The late fee is real. Zipcar urges you to reserve the car for 15 - 30 minutes longer than you think you’ll actually need it, to be sure you have it back on time for the next person and to avoid the late fee. (I think the only way they know if you actually bring the car back late, though, is if the next person goes to pick it up and its not there - but I could be wrong).</p>

<p>D had one last year on campus and it worked well for her. The only drawback was needing to reserve it fairly significantly in advance, as the 3 cars her campus had were heavily reserved/used. It was easier to reserve the car during the week than on the weekend. She never had a mechanical problem, never had a car that wasn’t there when she had reserved it, and never got a late fee. I don’t know if she ever had use the gas card to buy gas.</p>

<p>Her campus’s Zip Car was $35/year (but that included the first $30 worth of reserved hours for free, within the first 30 days), $8/hour during the week and $9/hour on weekends. A heck of a lot cheaper than buying a car, insuring it, maintaining it, buying gas… even if you spent $100/month on it (which D didn’t), it would be cheaper than owning a car.</p>

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<p>I use a Zipcar for work from time to time, and LOVE the system. It works as advertised and I’ve only ever had one issue - a previous user not leaving enough gas in the tank (1/4, as above).</p>

<p>It’s a great system.</p>

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<p>D used Zipcar her first year at Vanderbilt. It was great. You definitely cannot bring it back late, though!</p>

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<p>Here’s the deal on the Late Fees…</p>

<p>*What happens if I return a car late?</p>

<p>Please don’t. It’s likely that someone will be waiting to pick up the car at the end of your reservation. Believe us when we say it’s a real drag when your car isn’t there on time. Although most members observe that simple rule, sometimes a stronger motivation is needed. Hence, Zipcar has late fees: $50 per hour with a minimum charge of $50 plus regular hourly charges.</p>

<p>So, when you’re making your reservation, book the car for an extra half-hour or hour if you have any doubt about being able to make it back on time. You can also extend your reservation with our automated telephone system (1-866-4ZIPCAR), but keep in mind that it’s not always possible to extend your reservation once you have the car — another member may well have already reserved it!*</p>

<p>Did I overlook what happens if you return early? Are you still charged for the longer time?</p>

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<p>mom2collegekids, I think you’re charged for the full rental time, because no one else can reserve the car while you have it reserved. That said, the full rental fee is about $7 - $9/hour. So an extra half-hour is only costing about $4.</p>

<p>Zipcars on campus don’t get returned to a rental agency. They get returned to a dedicated space in a parking lot on campus. It’s not like someone is “checking you in.”</p>

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<p>// college student here… somehow stumbled onto this thread from google clicking</p>

<p>my college has an agreement with zipcar, so $35 (plus tax) annual fee, no application fee, you get the $35 in driving credits for 30 days. If not, you pay whatever rate is on the zipcar site (like application fees, annual fees with no driving credits etc). If you refer a friend, you get $35 in referral credits as well for 30 days.</p>

<p>**good: **
obviously everything’s covered in the rental (gas, insurance, car…). To get the car, you get an RFID card to unlock the car(car is hooked up to some electronic system, reader is on windshield where you swipe to unlock. the car-key is inside the car, but no one can break into a zipcar and start the car with the key since the RFID-system controls when the car can start). There is a gas card in the car to fill up inside(usable in most major gas stations). You pick it up and drop it off the same place/parking lot unassisted<– this means you can rent anytime of day … // taco bell runs at 1am for me :D</p>

<p>if you’re below 21, Hertz/Enterprise won’t rent to you. Zipcar will (as long as you pass their license check and have no accidents on record)</p>

<p>depending on your area… my area has a variety of cars for me to “test drive” :D… small cars like toyota matrix, honda civic, mazda, prius, smartcars, to mid-size like Scion xB, CR-V, or even Trucks<-(ikea…) or BMW or Audis.</p>

<p>currently, rate is ~ $9-$11/hr after tax, $80-$90/day… weekends more expensive, weekdays cheaper. there is an “overnight weekday” rate for $40-6pm till 8am next day. if you return early, you still pay for whatever you reserved for any reservation</p>

<p>**bad: **
180 miles. If you rent it for one day for road trip, you can only go places within 90 mile radius. Add’l per mile is 40cents i believe</p>

<p>accidents: if you have an accident, they basically take away your membership(friend had accident, her fault, no more zipcar for her. not sure what happens if it’s the other person’s fault). you can lower the deductible ($750 to $500 or $0) if you pay a little extra</p>

<p>hard to get the right booking if there is a lot of demand, especilaly during the weekends when everyone wants it. Also, hard to book for the entire day if you want a spontaneous day trip somewhere. I’ve found that 1 week advance booking is usually enough to get whatever I want.</p>

<p>late fees: haven’t gotten any late fees yet, but $50 I’ve heard is the minimum, since you are inconveniencing someone else</p>

<p>quality: people don’t really care about the car. it can sometimes be dirty inside (or scratched up /dented outside. you can call zipcar to leave the voicemail about existing damages so you won’t be on hook)</p>

<p>OVERALL: i’m happy with this system of hourly rentals or spontaneous trips without needing to go thru enterprise. Always reserve enough buffer to return on time, dont speed or you’ll lose this privilege.</p>

<p>Taco bell runs late at night, sending friends off to the airport w/o paying like $50 for a cab/supershuttle…</p>

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<p>pwastage – exactly what I was looking for – info from a student who’s used the service.
Thanks to bunsenburner, rodney, lafalum84 and mom2collegekids – very helpful info. I’ve sent D this thread for her to read through. As long as she’s aware of the pros and cons, it should be a good way for her to get around.</p>

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<p>We have a friends who use the Zipcar service as their second family car … and they love the service. There only frustration is Zipcar is getting more popular so they have to plan earlier to get cars at the spaces closest to their home.</p>

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<p>If you (or your child) is under 21, please make sure you check the minimum required coverages in your state so you are making an informed decision. $300,000 CSL is only for 21 and above. Otherwise, (according to the info posted above), they are only covering you to the state minimum. I’m familiar with 2 - NYS is 25/50/10 and PA is 15/30/5. The first two numbers are for bodily injury, the 3rd is property damage. Several states have a $5000 minimum and with cars now, it doesn’t take much before you have $5000 in damage if it’s more than a minor accident. Also, they mention that you can use your own health insurance if you are injured. In NYS, as soon as you mention the injury is due to a car accident, your health insurance will reject the claim and tell you to file through the insurance co of the vehicle you were in (that’s what no fault is - personal injury protection, or pip coverage). </p>

<p>Not saying the zip cars are a bad thing… just make sure you know what you could be on the hook for if something unfortunate were to happen.</p>

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<p>^ Here is a list of State-by-State Minimum Requirements:</p>

<p>[State-by-State</a> Minimum Car Insurance Requirements](<a href=“http://personalinsure.about.com/cs/vehicleratings/a/blautominimum.htm]State-by-State”>State-by-State Car Insurance Minimums)</p>

<p>It definitely varies a lot from one state to another.</p>

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<p>Hertz is rolling out [Hertz</a> on Demand](<a href=“http://www.hertzondemand.com/SanFrancisco/About/AboutUs]Hertz”>http://www.hertzondemand.com/SanFrancisco/About/AboutUs) membership/hourly car rental service, which I assume is intended to compete with ZipCar. I don’t know much about either service, except I see ZipCars on many college campuses and, so far, I’ve only seen billboards for Hertz on Demand.</p>

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<p>My BIL works for Hertz, I believe colleges are one of their target markets for Hertz on Demand. ZipCar may have competition soon!</p>

<p>I forgot - D did have one big problem with Zipcar. Her campus has 2 Civic hybrids and a Prius. She rented the Prius, but either it didn’t come with instructions or she didn’t read them. She and her roommate took 15 minutes to figure out how to put it in gear (apparently the gear shift is more like a joystick, it doesn’t <em>stay</em> in the position for drive the way a normal gearshift does), and then they couldn’t manage to get it to stay in one place when they parked it. I believe by the time they were done they had rolled from one side of the Target parking lot to the other. :stuck_out_tongue: (not sure what the trick is there). So if you’re getting a Prius, go online and read instructions for how to drive it first!</p>

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<p>I drive a Prius…they probably didn’t set the parking brake. It’s old school: there’s a pedal on the left side. You have to push it down to set the brake, then step on it to release. My DH frequently forgets, since every other car we’ve had in a while has a lever. Don’t know why they did it like that.</p>

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<p>Lafalum: they should have filmed it and posted it on YouTube; could you just picture it?</p>