Zipcars

[sol]

This other thread reminded me I've been meaning to mention this.

When I was considering whether or not to totally ditch my car*, the availability of zipcars in my neighborhood was just the push I needed to finally take the plunge.

Zipcars are basically hourly car rentals.  You don't pay for gas, insurance, or maintenance.  You reserve online or with your smartphone, and then you use an RFID credit card type thing held up to the windshield to unlock the car, which sits unattended.  The keys are inside.  You park it back where you found it when you're done.

When I ran the numbers on car costs for my old 97 wagon vs renting zipcars, the zipcars came out cheaper as long as I didn't drive more than about four hours per week, and that was only operating costs, not acquisition costs.  For anyone who still commutes by car regularly (why are you doing that!) this isn't a good option.  For people like me who basically only used their own car infrequently, paying to own a vehicle instead of rent one didn't pencil out.

As an added bonus, zipcars allow you to take a station wagon one day and a Prius the next, depending on your needs.  Depending on what you normally drive and how far you have to go on a particular trip, it is sometimes even cost effective to rent a Prius for $7/hour rather than pay to run your normal gas guzzler.

If you're thinking of giving up your car but are reluctant to lose the flexibility for infrequent trips, consider signing up.  I've found it totally worthwhile.

* note: since I got married, our family of four does have our own vehicle again.  I still use zipcar whenever we really need to have two cars in use at the same time, which isn't very often.

[velocistar237]

Zipcar offers sign-up and annual membership discounts through organizations as a way to advertise. When signing up, be sure to check with your company benefits office, school, alma mater, etc. to see whether they have a sign-up offer.

There are other car sharing programs, too.
http://www.carsharing.net/where.html (don't know if that's up-to-date)

[chrissyo]

The added benefit of a Zipcar is that it makes you re-think if you *really* need/want to use a car for a particular task, whereas when you own a car, you're more likely to just use it. I considered buying a car a couple of years back for the small convenience it would offer for weekend errands (I live in a major metropolitan city where commuting by car is the single least time or cost efficient method). When I discovered Zipcar, DH and I decided we'd sign up for a year, and if the usage patterns warranted a car purchase, we'd go ahead and buy one. We used the car for a few grocery shopping adventures, revelling in the novelty of buying several bottles of wine and/or beer. After the first couple of months, we went back to grocery shopping on foot and/or public transport when it became mildly inconvenient due to a reduction in local Zipcars and scheduling unavailability. It was a great lesson in how little we needed a car, and we cancelled the  membership after the first year was over. If we need lots of bottles or cans (like if we are hosting a party), we can pay £3-5 to have it delivered right to our front door, which still beats the Zipcar cost.

[Mike Key]

If ZipCar was a franchise I'd be buying one right now. Bloody brillant!

[velocistar237]

If ZipCar was a franchise I'd be buying one right now. Bloody brillant!

relayrides.com

[Matt K]

Around here we have VRTUCAR http://www.vrtucar.com/. A couple of my friends who live down town use it. It is pretty brilliant. The fact that gas is baked into the costs really helps. It sounds expensive ("you paid $50 to drive a car for today's mountain bike ride?!") until you do the math ("I paid $5 in gas, and how much in insurance, monthly payments... ? I paid how much for my car to sit in the garage all day yesterday?!").

I look forward to seeing more of these "shared" transit options in the future.

Sol, thanks for sharing!

[TLV]

I've looked into zipcar, but for where we live and how we'd use it, it would be both hugely inconvenient and financially a wash. The biggest problem is that when we take a car to go somewhere, it's often not just for a quick errand - we're staying there for several hours, possibly all day. The extra cost to keep a zipcar that long makes it not worth it. (Not to mention having to put a carseat in every single time...)

[velocistar237]

(Not to mention having to put a carseat in every single time...)

That's our problem, too.

Ride to Zipcar.
Lock up bike.
Drive Zipcar home.
Put in carseats.
Get in car.

Do the thing that you got the Zipcar for.

Get out of car.
Unload car seats.
Drive Zipcar to parking spot.
Unlock bike.
Ride home.

When you're racing the clock, this is no fun.
And if no one's around to watch the kids while you get the car, it's basically impossible.

[slugsworth]

Zipcars don't work for everyone. . .but when my car got totaled (it was parked on the street) I was ale to not replace the car and instead buy a house. Which was a pretty good trade. . .

Even if you live way out in the burbs zipcars might be helpful for reducing your car use by:
 
- ability to give up a second car
- ability to take transit to work and still run an errand at lunch, or after work
- and most important to me, access to a pickup truck when I need one.

Matt K. is very right about it being a good tool to re-assess your car usage.

[R62]

Zip Car has been a real advantage for my household.   

DH and I had always done pretty well sharing one vehicle (despite two jobs), but my aging parents are requiring a little more support these days -- usually a twice-monthly trip out of town for me. 

There are several cars "living" within a 5 minute walk from our home (one right around the corner!). 

Zip Car is far more economical for us than owning a second vehicle.  Since I only use it for out-of-town trips, I feel I'm getting pretty good bang for the buck (price includes up to 180 miles).

[tddoog]

(Not to mention having to put a carseat in every single time...)

That's our problem, too.

Ride to Zipcar.
Lock up bike.
Drive Zipcar home.
Put in carseats.
Get in car.

Do the thing that you got the Zipcar for.

Get out of car.
Unload car seats.
Drive Zipcar to parking spot.
Unlock bike.
Ride home.

When you're racing the clock, this is no fun.
And if no one's around to watch the kids while you get the car, it's basically impossible.

I do this all the time.  The only added steps from a regular zipcar user is the carseat installation and removal which averages about a minute. 

If my wife isn't home to watch the kids, then I just walk with the kids and carry the carseats.  You can just sling a carseat on your back with the straps. It takes a little more time, but it is good time.

[QuietContrary]

I looked into the Zipcar system too. My car needs are pretty light: I use it to drive to work once every two weeks, I like taking the car with me when I grocery shop, and my parents live a 2.5 hour drive from me.
I ran the numbers and couldn't get it to work for me. Then again, I was using the Ikea index: if driving to Ikea costs me more than I'm likely to spend there, maybe I should bite the bullet and take the 2 buses instead...

[menorman]

I read an article yesterday about ZipCar that looked rather promising. Their biggest growth market right now is college towns, where they aim to show college students that they don't need to own a car in the hope that when they graduate, they'll move somewhere and either continue using ZipCar or ask for/start a similar service in that area. Brilliant, unless you're a CEO at a major automaker.

[tooqk4u22]

If you live and work in a city this is a no brainer.  I have been tempted by this - I live in burbs and work in city but take train in.  Economically I think it would work out - or at least breakeven because when needed I would have to pay for train to get there. Sure there would be some inconvenience.  My biggest problem (here comes the complainypants) is that while I am close enough to ride a bike to the train I where a suit every day and tend to sweat even when it is cold to most so not a good combination.  Wish I could wear less formal attire or had a place to shower before hand.