Comments on: Zipcar Takes the Anti-Urban Route

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:51:42 +0000

Yeah everybody, lighten up. Who cares about double talk from a greenwashing company that encourages people to drive more often – and faster – through your pedestrian-dense city. It’s only advertising, which everyone knows has no effect on human behavior. Move on. Get a life. Get over it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, it looks like a beautiful day to burn some rubber.

By: bc

bc — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:13:38 +0000

I agree we’re all being way too serious, and maybe I’m just blabbing a bit too much because I’ve been a Zipcar member for a long time and have recently realized that they aren’t actually cheaper, but Dave, 2 things. First of all, I was only responding to the assertion that they were cheaper. Even if you are right, they are at best competitive. You are correct, they are far more convenient, which is why I still use them. However, you’re pricing is still off, in that rental car insurance is generally covered by credit card companies, not the case with Zipcar as they are not a rental agency, and their insurance that comes standard is a 500 dollar deductible, and not all companies have late fees. Perhaps in the contract and they could charge you, but I’ve yet to encounter one that doesn’t give a grace period. Zipcar has absolutely zero wiggle room, as well they shouldn’t since someone is most likely waiting for the car.

By: Dave Brook

Dave Brook — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 04:56:25 +0000

To even out the cost comparison given before, to rental car be sure to add a tank or 2 of gas at $40 per fill up and, if you didn’t own a car and had to buy supplemental insurance, another $15-20 per day = $70 for a total of $210 min. And to Zipcar add $7 for the monthly portion of the $75/year membership fee. Both companies have late charges, although Zipcar’s is much more substantial. If you’re lucky the Zipcar is just down the block from where you live where as the rental car place is probably a 5-10 blocks or a subway ride away + an hour or so to filling out the paperwork and declining all the add-ons they try to sell! By the time you factor this in they’re really remarkably close.

I agree with other comments, this was a cheeky premise for a promotional and I think misses the mark from Zipcar’s best efforts, but it’s not like they’re suddenly the Devil incarnate. In Manhattan, if you don’t like Zipcar, you can choose from Connect by Hertz or the little guy, Mint Carsharing. (In case you’re wondering, no I don’t work for any carsharing company!)

By: Eric McClure

Eric McClure — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:54:54 +0000

You people are all barking up the wrong tree. You should know that Personal Rapid Transit is the answer, not car sharing.

Only kidding.

By: AlexB

AlexB — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:39:51 +0000

You are all so serious. It’s an ad-ver-tise-ment. I am a zipcar member. I use it twice a year to move furniture or take trips to places where there is no cheaper option. I was not swayed by a sign saying I was only going 4 mph. It’s a gim-mick for at-ten-tion. Get over it.

By: bc

bc — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:29:37 +0000

as well as not including a membership fee and sizable late fee (most places have grace periods, I understand why Zip doesn’t, however…) I am fairly certain I can find much cheaper, and that most will be cheaper. Look, I am not arguing that they aren’t useful and convenient in certain situations and fill a niche, as I said, I am still a member, but people repeat the mantra that they are cheaper and it simply isn’t the case.

By: Mike Epstein

Mike Epstein — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 21:21:03 +0000

This is not exactly a fair comparison: the Zipcar rate includes gas and some form of insurance.

By: bc

bc — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:34:53 +0000

Here is a very, very quick search, spending no time. exact sime 2 day period, the higher rate is Zipcar

Rental Rate $ 119.98
1 day @ $ 59.99 $ 59.99
1 day @ $ 59.99 $ 59.99
Sub Total $ 119.98
Taxes and Fees
STATE TAX $ 23.84
COST RECOVERY FEE $ 3.70
Free Mileage unlimited
Total Charges $ 147.52

Your Reservation:
Thursday, Aug 6th, 4:30pm to Saturday, Aug 8th, 4:30pm
(two days)

Location:
580 Flatbush Av
(Car Park Systems)

Estimated Cost: $229.20
Rate: $11 – 13/hr $77 – 115/day

By: Steven O'Neill

Steven O'Neill — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:10:41 +0000

That’s not been my experience — maybe because I usually rent on weekends? I also read an article about how car rental places are reducing their inventories, thus reducing the supply and jacking up the prices.

By: bc

bc — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:10:15 +0000

Steven, they are simply not cheaper. I have been a member for a long time, and on 2 occasions (in the 2 day range you are speaking of) recently was unable to get a car and had to go to the usual rent a car suspects and was shocked that they were not only cheaper, they were much much cheaper.

I think people are taking this ad campaign a bit too seriously as “mocking pedestrians” I agree it’s stupid, but I think people taking this personally as an admonishment they are moving too slowly have kinda lost it.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:38:07 +0000

Of course Zipcar is out to make money. And part of how you make money is to market yourself a certain way. A significant part of the Zipcar pitch is that using their service is more eco-friendly than owning a car. To ridicule people for eco-friendly activities like walking is to contradict another plank of Zipcar’s marketing plan, and to risk insulting the people they are hoping to attract.

No one is disputing that businesses are free to market themselves as they please. Bloggers are also free to call them out for hypocrisy, and potential customers are free to take their business elsewhere.

By: Steven O'Neill

Steven O'Neill — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:37:52 +0000

I’m a satisfied Zipcar customer. Yeah, it’s a car rental company. But it’s cheaper and more convenient than a traditional car rental company, and it enables my family to live in Brooklyn without a car (despite the best efforts of my elected officials to convince me to do otherwise). We use it almost exclusively to travel outside of New York City (though I have used it to haul stuff or to visit friends at night in areas not served well by transit — trips I would have used a car service for otherwise).

Do I drive more since I’ve become a Zipcar member? Yes. Is traveling easier for me and my family? Also yes. I live in Brooklyn. Would my family have bought a car by now if it were not for Zipcar? Almost certainly yes.

Obviously, the ad campaign we’re talking about here is nonsense. But the job of marketing is not to make sense; it’s to get attention. Woo hoo, it worked.

I feel like a bit of a boob defending my car usage on Streetsblog. But, ultimately, we’ve decided that Zipcar is a useful tool for us. Sometimes we walk, sometimes we bike, sometimes we take a train or a bus, and sometimes, when it’s the best option for a particular trip, we drive a Zipcar.

–
Man on Foot: Yeah, the “sharing” thing is just semantics. Regular rental car users “share” in the same way. The point is that you need fewer cars to serve the same number of people, as compared to car ownership.

Harris: Zipcar doesn’t make money yet. They are planning to post a profit for the first time in the third quarter and to go public in 2010 (http://www.autoobserver.com/2009/06/zipcar-expects-profit-to-go-public.html). Also, I find that for a 1-4 day trip, Zipcar is cheaper than a regular rental car.

Brian K: Non-profit car-sharing for NYC would be great. It’s got a lot of catching up to do, however. Zipcar has 2000 cars in the NYC area.

Peter M: Right — if I had a car I would drive a lot more often because so many of the costs are up front and the incremental cost of driving is minimal. That’s the opposite of Zipcar where it pays to minimize my driving.

By: bc

bc — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:59:27 +0000

Man on Foot and Cochon are exactly right. I think feeling wronged by a business that makes money by putting people in cars is a bit naive. It’s difficult to fault them for being disingenuous, people frequently don’t research the companies they back carefully enough, if if was just a few well worded ads that made people think they were “green”, that’s not much to go on…

By: Peter Meitzler

Peter Meitzler — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:58:40 +0000

I think Man on Foot has it the best. Not to stray off topic either and launch on the economics of it (which must be huge if General Electric Capital Corp is on board). The green sales pitch is, it takes cars off the road. Maybe, then it replaces them with sexier, fuel thrifty rides like Coopers and Scions that log many more miles…and which entice certain of us out of public transit and into zip rides with a guilt-free spin because it’s cool. But they don’t surcharge you if you live in Brooklyn and their hourly pricing gets consumers to think of car usage in hourly increments of using and not using the service. But were GECC to get behind a huge bikeshare project possibly with user ID cards that could work with either system….then they could green spin for real.

By: brian k

brian k — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:49:38 +0000

Many North American cities have local non-profit carsharing organizations with more sustainable mission statements than Zipcar.

A good list of them is here:
http://www.carsharing.net/where.html

By: john k

john k — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:32:17 +0000

i think you guys are taking this a little too seriously. it’s a marketing gimmick. it’s admittedly quirky and get’s people thinking about zipcar.

what’s to hate? at the end of the day they do take cars off the streets.

By: cochon

cochon — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:24:21 +0000

why do you feel that zipcar would give two cents out of what you want out of them? they are a company in the business of staying in business and their target market are people who ride subways and they will market themselves any way they want to.

i hate cars as much as any non-car owning and driving bicyclist, but this post is pathetic. this is a car(hello!) rental agency, not some kind of socially and/or politically conscious collective.

By: Harris

Harris — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:11:43 +0000

I can’t understand how this company makes money. I was a member for three years before I actually used the service. For short trips, mass transit or a car service is either cheaper or more convenient. For longer trips it’s cheaper to rent a car. I thought Zipcar might be a good weekend day trip option because in Brooklyn the rental places are closed on Sunday, so a one-day turns into a two-day rental. However, I ended up spending $135 for the day, even though i used a car with a special low rate. And it was very stressful to try to have the car returned at the time I guessed i would be back when I reserved it. Zipcar seems like a great thing to have around, but the reality is something else.

By: Man on Foot

Man on Foot — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:57:30 +0000

Zipcar has played the “green” card since “day one” and ingratiated itself with the green community. It plays out as good word of mouth, plus free parking for some of their assets.

Not the first time a company played the green card out of one hand, while playing a different game out of the other. Segway promoted itself as an alternative to cars (the more to get political support and bike lane access), while their web site promoted the device as an alternative to walking.

In fact (if not by law) they are a car rental company. Zipcar members do not “share” anything. They pay $75 up front, plus (in NYC) at least $15 an hour to “share” the cars. If the car’s not there or defective, there’s not likely to be a substitute on site. Go over your original reservation and you’re charged a $50 penalty (they encourage you to book an extra hour, LOL). Plus if you have an accident, you’re “only” liable for $500. Did you know that at a NYS car rental (not Zipcar, because, of course, they’re not a car rental), you’re covered, by law, for 100%? So, unless you have an errand with a very short and predictable duration (like 3 hours), you’re probably better off renting.

Zipcar (IMHO) is the automotive equivalent of the corner store that sells individual cigarettes, of the motel that charges by the hour, of the “payday” loan.

The green community ought to be more careful who they make friends with.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:09:21 +0000

Between these guys telling me I walk too slow and “cash for clunkers”, you’d think there was a major economic downturn affecting automobile usage or something.