Penalty Charges for Being Late

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Having been on the other end of people returning cars late I think that the late charge needs to be higher! $25 isn't really enough (even a parking ticket is $65) and as the penalty charge stands now there is no incentive for the late user to return the car as quickly as they can as soon as they are late, since they get charged only $25 an hour if they are 5min late or 55min late. As anyone who has waited for a late returned car can tell you, there is a big difference between waiting for 5 min and waiting for an hour! Perhaps a much higher late fee ($50 an hour?) charged every 15 min to encourage a quick return would work much better?

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2004

Answers

Increasing the late fee will accomplish one thing: more profit for Zipcar. A radical approach would be to take those late fees and apply them to the rental of the person that is left stranded. Anyone agree?

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004

If I don't see the Zipcar I reserved, five minutes after my reservation time I call Zipcar to have them track the driver down. That way I'm less inconvenienced - if I'm desperate, Zipcar can help me switch my reservation to another vehicle.

One idea might be to have Zipcar keep track of the "perpetually late" and escalate their late fees. I understand somebody might be late returning a car once in a great while, but for the habitually late, I think they should realize there are more serious consequences.

-- Anonymous, November 18, 2004


Yeah, I agree that it would be a more efficient penalty if the late fee was graduated. Why not just make it simple -- $1 per minute. No need for fifteen minute thresholds since they just distort the incentive effect.

Also, does the fee discriminate between when there is another reservation conflicting versus when there is really no harm done? It should.

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2004


Seems that the person returning a car late is injuring two parties: the customer holding the next reservation, who is inconvenienced by the delay, and Zipcar, whose brand value (partly tied up in its reputation for always providing a car when you book one) is diminished.

So, under a rational, transparent penalty scheme, the infringer ought to make good to all injured parties.

How about: If you're not inconveniencing another customer holding a reservation, $10 right off the bat, plus $0.50 per minute. That works out to a manageable $6 if you're one minute late, and $40 for the first hour.

If, on the other hand, you're inconveniencing another customer, $25 right off the bat, $1 per minute, and the inconvenienced customer gets half as a credit.

You'd have to cap it somewhere.

If the rationale had been explained to me, and if I were late, due to poor planning on my part or due to mishap, I wouldn't feel as though I were being raked over the coals for pure Zipcar profit.

If, on the other hand, I had to stand around waiting 15 minutes for a car I had booked because someone was late, the $20 I'd get under this scheme, while not enough to make me feel totally OK about the experience, would go a long way towards making me less abused.

I suspect the automation is already in place to implement this without a major hassle.

-- Anonymous, December 09, 2004


another solution might be to have a 15-30 minute buffer between rental reservations. Traffic.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2004


I waited 90 minutes today for Sandy Sienna and then I gave up. I had eight people to transport for my wife's birthday, so I could not switch to another car. I can understand a few minutes late but ninety? In cases like this the current penalty is not enough. I say if you're late three times you're out, go back to Hertz. Rude or stupid Zipcar users I have no patience for. My whole day was screwed by this unfair and stupid user.

-- Anonymous, February 13, 2005

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