Does anyone know anyone who just uses Flexcar, and has no car of their own?
I’d like to talk to such a person (or people) if I can find some.
-Kris
I use Zipcar which will be merging with your Flexcar shortly.
The thing is, you need to make sure there are plenty of cars near where you live. Most of the Zipcars are parked about a half mile from me. Considering the town I live in (Hoboken, NJ) is only one mile square, it’s not practical for in-town trips. But I can walk or take a $5 cab anyway. And considering it will cost me at least $200 a month just to park a car and the rental cars have weird hours, it’s ideal for the occassional day trip outside Hoboken / NYC.
We used Greenwheels, the Dutch equivalent of Flexcar, for about nine months two years ago.
It was great, no complaints, on the contrary. I biked to work, my fiance combined traintravel with a folding bike. We used the Flexcar for daytrips, bulky groceries and familyvisiting where we would return home late. With those familyvisits, Flexcar turned out to be a great conversationpiece. 
In my neighborhood, it can be difficult to get a Zipcar on the weekend. We actually have a car, but my husband takes it with him to the next state over every day during the work week, so I have the Zipcar access for weekdays. The weekend thing doesn’t really affect me, but it might be an issue if it were to be your only vehicle.
What is it with you Dutch and your compoundwords? Are you afraid of a little spacebaruse? 
My friend uses City Carshare which is the same thing. she lives in the city center anyway and walks pretty much anywhere. She uses CC for big grocery and laundry trips, and the rare day trip to Santa Rosa or Santa Cruz.
BF and I don’t have a car and use both zipcar and citycarshare. This thread isn’t really going anywhere are there specific questions about my vast knowledge of car sharing?
Well, I came in to say the same thing Troy McClure said (same friend.) She definitely seems very happy with City Carshare. I think it would be something I’d consider if I lived in a larger city.
Flexcar is ideal for college students, so there are a lot of them on and around my campus (USC in Los Angeles). (A lot of flexcars, not a lot of students. Well, there are a lot of students too. Obviously.) I don’t use it, but I know a lot of students do, and it seems to me that it would be much easier and cheaper than owning a car, especially given what USC charges for parking.
waves
Yep, I’m living in Downtown Seattle with just Flexcar to get groceries and such. What questions do you have?
My neighbors in Washington DC got rid of their car and use Flexcar. There are Flexcar and Zipcar spots about 10 minute walk from our block. They like it and save a ton of money.
The big question was “is it feasible,” which you have already answered in the affirmative, at least w.r.t. your own circumstances.
Other questions I’m wondering about are:
Is there always a car available, reliably?
Is Flexcar likely to pull up stakes and leave the area or go out of business, leaving me stranded? (Don’t know how anyone could answer this question though.)
You said you use it to buy groceries. How far do you have to walk? If it’s much of a walk, how do you lug the groceries back home? In my case I would have two kids’ car seats to deal with. I’m afraid that’s the one thing, the one stupid thing, that may make this venture impossible. 
(I was thinking about making this move because it would save me approximately 350 dollars a month (!) in vehicle expenses. And that’s even if my wife uses the car to get to work and just parks the thing for most of the day.)
-FrL-
to put this in perspective, 350 dollars is about a seventh of our monthly income
Is there always a car available, reliably?
Not if you need it on impulse. Your chances of having a car double/triple if you live mid-way between two or more park points, so if you have more to choose from. With Greenwheels, I could check the internet 24/7 to see which car was available, and “rent” it starting then and there. Then I went to the parking place, and opened the lock with my card, entered my code and drive off.
Your chances of having a car also multiply if you make a reservation long enough in advance. For some peak hours/days, (holidays and such) a reservation two or three weeks beforehand is necessary; but usually, a reservation some hours in advance would be enough.
Is Flexcar likely to pull up stakes and leave the area or go out of business, leaving me stranded? Judging by the succes of the formula and how long it has been around, I doubt it. Anyway, with Greenwheels I paid a very moderate deposit and about 10 USD flat rate a month. Even if they did go out of business, what would you lose?
*In my case I would have two kids’ car seats to deal with.*That could be a real problem. You’d need someone to watch your kids while you go shopping, or at least someone to watch your kids and groceries between you dropping them off at home, and whne you come back from returning the car to its parking spot.
I used the Greenwheels to get a months’ supply of bulky or heavy groceries. Pet chow, cat litter, bottles of juice, soda and wine, cans and such. Lighter, fresh groceries I got during the week on my bike, with my typically Dutch heavy-duty bike bags..
No. If, at 5:00pm on the Friday before Labor Day weekend, you try to sign up for a car, you probably won’t find one available.
But on a regular weekend I usually don’t have a problem. You can also reserve a car as far ahead as you like and as long as you cancel an hour or more before (24 hours if the reservations are for the entire day) you don’t get charged.
There are two similar services available in Toronto - Zipcar and Autoshare.
The Boy and I briefly considered going with one since we don’t own a car, but when we did a side-by-side comparison it turned out to be cheaper to get a rental every month or two, with the occasional cab ride to tide us over. Between deposits, registration fees, monthly/annual fees, and the exorbitant daily rates, it’s just not worth it.
Best of all, we’ve developed a good relationship with our local rental place. It’s made all the difference on the peak demand weekends like Thanksgiving and Easter, where sometimes you’re not guaranteed to get a car even if you’ve reserved.
>> Is there always a car available, reliably?
If you reserve it a few days in advance yes, but not if you need it right now
>> Is Flexcar likely to pull up stakes and leave the area or go out of business, leaving me stranded?
I doubt it. They’ve been in business for at least five years and are merging with other companies to expand.
>> You said you use it to buy groceries. How far do you have to walk?
I walk two blocks and there’s another garage with cars one block further away and another another block away…but I live right dab smack in the middle of downtown. For me its not that bad and if there’s a five-minute parking slot open in front of my place, I can stop, take the stuff in, and then take the car back.
>> In my case I would have two kids’ car seats to deal with.
That sounds a bit large to lug even two blocks. But, if there is somewhere you could park the car temporarily outside of your place while you go in to fetch the seats, that’s another issue.
The problem is, what to do with the kids (9 months old and 2 years old) after the car seats are out of the car but while I still need to go park the car. :smack:
-FrL-
In Montreal we have Communauto. That was a real boon during the last campaign, as it was enough of a stretch to find a city-dwelling New Democrat who even had a driver’s licence, let alone a car.
There do exist stroller frames that will hold car seats. I don’t know if there are double ones, or if it would fit your needs, but you could carry the stroller frame in the trunk, park the car, then put the children in seats into the stroller frame for the walk back home.
That might require buying new car seats to fit the frame (if you can find one that will fit both your children… most of the double ones I found were for 2 infants only).