Important Question and Feedback from first user

greenspun.com : LUSENET : zipcar : One Thread

Hello Zipcar Team, I activated my new membership today and I just booked my first car for this Monday. Here is the situation: I have checked the rates on Expedia for a similar car and I was able to find a car for $89 / day for unlimited milage. So on the face of it, your car was marginally more competitive in term of price at $75 (although if I factor in the membership and processing fees and the fact that I rent approximately 15 times per year I have to add about $6 per rental to the price). So you are at $81 versus $89 at that point. But then, I go ahead and process the reservation and, to my horror, I realize that it is not unlimited mileage and I have to add 150 miles at $0.20 per miles to the cost. Therefore I end up with a rate of $106 versus $89 at National Rent a Car. I am going through all this to tell you that even though I love your concept, I really cannot pay that kind of premium just because I think you guys are cool. I will wait to hear from you before cancelling and getting a refund in case I have missed something here. I look forward to hearing from you.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2005

Answers

Keep in mind that Zipcar pays for gas, and you'd have to buy your own gas with the rental. With gas probably about $20 a tank, for one tank you'd be even already, and if you had to buy more, Zipcar would save you money.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2005

Don't forget that you get 125 free miles per day. But if the economics don't work out for you, then they don't work out. It's obviously not for everyone. It seems to me that Zipcar wasn't initially designed to be a replacement for "real" rental cars, but for "zipping" around town for a few hours.

-- Anonymous, January 13, 2005

It's really an apples to oranges comparison. There are six Zipcars within a quarter mile of my front door (which is about as far away as any parking space I could rent for my own car. If I need to run an errand, I can hit the website and, 10 minutes later, I can be be driving away, including the time it takes to put on my shoes and get out the door. Say the whole thing takes 2 hours -- my total outlay is under $20, and the customer experience is completely hassle-free. Even the "billing memo" I entered on the reservation form carries through to my American Express bill, which makes sorting out my finances at the end of the month easier.

For a major car rental company, they don't take last minute reservations on the web, so I'd need to call and wait on hold. I'd need to walk 20 minutes to a location. Intown locations don't offer "gold service", so I'd need to stop at the counter and fill out a contract. There's a minimum 4 hour rental, which costs the same as a whole day, so I'd pay $50 even at my deeply discounted corporate rate. Plus, I'd have to stop and buy gas before returning the car, or face the $5 per gallon refueling charge. To pay for our new convention center, Boston tacks on a $10 tax surcharge for each rental transaction. So my total expenditure for that two hour errand would be more like $75, plus a lot of hassle.

In my situation, even if a rental car from the big national chains were free, it would be only mrginally competitive with what Zipcar offers. Your situation may be different, of course.

-- Anonymous, January 14, 2005


Plus, Chris didn't count the $17-$21 per day for insurance

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2005

I tried get car from Budget they told that they don't give cars to miners from 21 to 25, with zipcar I found that I can get any car in their fleet any time and pay eather $8.50 or $11.50 car.

-- Anonymous, January 29, 2005


It seems strange that they wouldnt give cars to miners. Do they descriminate based on what type of ore you're mining? I would think coal miners are dirty its true, but what about gold miners?

-- Anonymous, February 08, 2005

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