That’s one drawback of living in the exurbs: insufficient density for something like Zipcar locally. Given that we have two cars, but really only need the second car a small fraction of the time, something like Zipcar would be really handy.
Admittedly, the second car really doesn’t cost us that much since it’s 10 years old, long since paid off, and only adds a few hundred bucks a year to our car insurance costs, but it still has to be maintained and all. I’d rather let someone else worry about that stuff.
In the UK, there’s also City Car Club, which seems to be £50 p.a., with a 1/2 price rate for a spouse. Edinburgh has one, and so do various English cities. Here it’s supported by the local Council, who have designated specific parking places all over the city that are for CCC use only.
I’m not the OP, but the one time my reserved car was not ready when it was supposed to be, Zipcar offered to pay for a cab to take me to another car.
Yes, they offered to pay for my cab as well.
It a bit of ironic justice, apparently someone sideswiped the car I was supposed to rent in the parking lot. They sent me a bunch of photos of the smashed-in passengers side door and busted tail light because technically I was the last reservation. Obviously I’m not responsible as I never drove the car.
Beats me. They can remotely unlock the car for you.
I use iGo in Chicago. Similar to Zipcar but non-profit and a smidge less expensive. Both apartments I’ve had in Chicago had at least two iGo cars parked within a block.
I haven’t seen any keys attached to the dash. The fob has to be replaced into the little electronic box inside the glove box, though, in order for you to log out at the end of the trip. IIRC, the card won’t lock the car after you get out unless the fob is in place in the box.
The TASA principle in action.
It’s why really simple smart solutions for cooperative use of resources, or management of problems never end up working.
There’s Always Some Asshole.
Tris
We’re in Chicago, and use both Zipcar and iGo. Usually, the key is attached to the dash by a cord of some sort in Zipcars, but is loose in iGo cars. We’ve never had a problem remembering to return the key to an iGo car, and both prefer it to the Zipcar key system where it’s attached to the car. I suspect some other person who is near-ish us has the same set up and issues, because we did once get a Zipcar where the key had been removed from the cord, and was set near the ashtray. That was irritating, but we figured it out and managed to put it back.
Tris is right, though. The reason we have memberships in both is because there is always some asshole who fucks something up. Especially with iGo cars, it feels like we’re the only people who report damage or put in oil. Both programs tend to have assholes who don’t feel the need to gas the thing up.