Monday, April 27, 2015

ZipCar: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly


We had a car, once: it was a bright yellow Skoda that earned the nickname, "The Yellow Peril" from our downstairs neighbors in Maida Vale. Despite its luminescent glow, I have fond memories of taking it to the Asda in Park Royal, where I'd stock up on American foodstuffs and fill the trunk with PopTarts, and trips to Westfield White City for Forever 21 shopping sprees - after all, its color certainly helped us remember where we'd parked.

But we didn't drive it very much; the amount of money we spent on parking and insurance probably outweighed the benefits of having a car in London (we only used it to get out of the city, really) and one fateful day, it broke down on the side of the road at the entrance to a freeway. You've never racked up more cool credentials until you've stood by a bright yellow Skoda on an on-ramp with the hood up, while people stop to stare and gawk.

So we returned the car to its generous owner (who had allowed us to use it, free of charge) and got on just fine by bus, train, plane, and of course - on foot.

Until this weekend, when we needed to go to Winchester for a family reunion, and National Rail showed a train and a rail replacement bus service from Basingstoke. Not cool. John had been going on and on about getting a ZipCar subscription for a while now, and I knew that our friends Ruth and Peter has used it a lot when they lived in London, so he suggested that we try it out on Saturday.

I let John deal with all the administrative details (which was a little lazy of me, especially since he would be driving), but I think the way it works is that you pay an annual fee, and then you can rent the car for a few hours per day (or for the whole day).

One thing I love about ZipCar is that the cars are located practically everywhere. In our case, it was parked on a quiet little street about 30 seconds from our front door (great for me, since I was wearing heels - ha!). It takes the frustration out of waiting in long lines at a rental car shop (with the surliest customer service assistants you've ever met, believe me), showing them a bazillion forms of ID, signing forms, and rushing back to return the keys before having to find your own way back home again. Bleurgh. No thanks.

Also: you can unlock the car from your phone. Spooky, but utterly amazing. Fuel is paid for up to a certain capped limit, and a fuel card's provided in the glove compartment, so it was quick and easy when we needed to fill up before returning the car.

All was well, until we parked our car in Winchester and needed to grab something from the backseat after lunch ... suddenly, the alarm went off.

AND WOULDN'T STOP.

No matter what we did, we couldn't turn it off - which was hugely embarrassing in a parking lot full of people and passerbys (the parking ticket inspector was super nice, though, and showed actual concern and sympathy for us!). We called the helpline and they were able to disable the alarm remotely, but when we returned to our car a few hours later ... the same thing happened. And again, after that - this time, in a residential neighborhood. If you've used a ZipCar, has this happened to you before??? We couldn't figure it out - it left us flummoxed and annoyed.

But! When we weren't flummoxed and annoyed, we were totally impressed with the flexibility of the ZipCar system. We were having a great time at The River Cottage Canteen in Winchester with John's family - so much so, that when John's aunt asked if we'd like to go back to her house for a while, John was able to extend the length of our car rental with a simple swipe on his phone so we could stay for longer.

And when we got back at night after dropping John's mom off at St. Pancras so she could catch her train back to Leicester, we were back home watching Game of Thrones with cold drinks in hand in no time, since the car just needed to be parked one street away.

So slick. (Except for the faulty alarm system, which thankfully didn't cause us any problems when we dropped the car off.)

I think we'll definitely use ZipCar again, provided that we don't have another alarm-related fiasco. We'll probably think about buying a car when we move to a more permanent residence than our current flat situation, but for now, ZipCar would be totally convenient for short trips both in and out of London.

Have you used ZipCar before? What did you think?

p.s. this isn't a sponsored post - I honestly just thought it would be helpful to share our experience, in case you're thinking of buying/using/renting a car in London!

UPDATE: So, last night, John came home and told me that he'd received a call from ZipCar saying that they'd charged him £400 for 1,600 miles (keep in mind that we drove to Winchester!) and a £125 late fee (we returned the car nearly an hour early)! They obviously realized that this was their mistake and rectified it quickly over the phone, but - ouch! Can you imagine if you were charged (as in, the money came out of your account) £525 by mistake? Despite this gaffe, we still thought it was a good service overall, since I think our experience was completely out of the norm (friends of ours have used the service without any issues, ever), but ... just a little crazy.
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17 comments

  1. We've never used Zipcar properly (we do own a car of our own), but last year we were given a free hour's trial, so The Brainy One drove one around our neighbourhood for that allotted hour. Because he could. And on the subject of owning cars in London, I can't remember the last time I drove our car and a friend who has never seen me drive refuses to believe that I can and do (sometimes)!

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    1. Haha! I love the idea of driving around London for free, simply because you can! I think driving in London would be my worst nightmare ... I used to drive myself to school every day (when I was 16-18), so it's weird to think that I haven't driven in such a long time! I will eventually have to get a UK driver's licence, though, so I'd better start soon ...

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  2. I was considering ZipCar for a while but read a few horror stories online that put me off (people returning the car to its parking spot then being blamed for damage that happened to the car AFTER they returned it, etc.). The other problem being that most of the cars are probably manual transmission which I am still not able to drive! I do miss the convenience of having a car, though. Mostly I want one just so I can take some weekend trips out of London and explore the countryside.

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    1. John and I had a long conversation about manual vs. automatic on our way to Winchester, because I was thinking exactly the same thing, Stacey! I was thinking I should/could learn manual, but I think learning to drive manual in the middle of Central London is probably the worst idea I've ever heard of. The narrow lanes in London would make me nervous even if I were to drive an automatic!

      The whole thing about damage/leaving the car parked on a street makes me nervous ... I haven't read many reviews online, but am curious about other peoples' experiences! I'm hoping this blog post will bring out some comments from other ZipCar users ...

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  3. First off, your writing is spectacular. I kept thinking, wow, I wish I could write this well! Secondly, ZipCars sound like such a cool concept! I had never heard of them before. Living in the 'burbs here in the states again, those kind of things are non-existent. When I lived in England though, my friends in the city would often complain about how insanely expensive it was to just own a car.

    Really interesting post. :o)

    V

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    1. Wow. Thank you so much, V - I read your comment again and again in disbelief! It means so much to me, especially as I think your blog is so well written!

      I've definitely become more interested in the notion of "car clubs" like ZipCar - it just seems like a more cost effective and flexible way to rent a car if you don't need it all the time, but it also gives you the freedom to get out every once in a while, instead of depending on buses and the tube here.

      It's so weird, because I used to drive myself to school every day when I was in high school - I relished the sense of freedom it gave me. But I haven't driven since I've moved to England and that was 8 years ago. That's got to change soon!

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  4. I think it's a really good idea, it's one of those 'Why didn't I think of that' obvious ideas that no one came up with before!
    Lots of love,
    Angie
    SilverSpoon London

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    1. I know, Angie! Isn't it just? But apparently, my friend in the US had been using ZipCars years and years ago when she lived in Boston and New Haven ... London is just slowly catching up, or else the trend of using ZipCars is finally catching on!

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  5. omg i loved using zipcars when i lived in new haven and boston- the were the perfect option when i didn't have a car but needed to get to a store or drive out of town, like you said. and i love the new car smell they have! that is great that zipcars have made it to london and cool that you got to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly with them, lol! i am curious and sortof want to try my hand at driving around central london... not sure who would be bold enough to get in the passenger side with me, though!!

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    1. bahaha, driving in London would be like the equivalent of driving on the freeway for the first time - my worst nightmare and not something I think I could handle! I didn't know you used to use ZipCars in NH and Boston, though! I ALSO LOVE THE NEW CAR SMELL.

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  6. I love this concept. We are frustrated because there's nothing like this in our town but we would love to get rid of our car. We need to move to a bigger city. :)

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    1. It's tough when you're in a small-medium-sized city and need a car to get around, but also feel like it can be a burden sometimes! I'm hoping that we will have good experiences with ZipCar in the future, so am curious to see how often we will use it! Thanks for taking the time to read and to leave a comment, Charlotte!

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  7. I don't actually have a driver's license because I've never taken lessons. But, I think, if I ever bite the bullet and learn, then this is how I would handle driving in London. It's just so expensive to have a car and most of the time I really don't need one. It would be handy for big food shops and the occasional trip to IKEA though!

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    1. OH, IKEA. Seriously.

      I think the one issue I have with ZipCars (at least the one we used this weekend) is that they're manual ... and I drive automatic. I really should learn how to drive stick!

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  8. Loved the post! I too have experienced the good, the bad and the ugly of Zipcar. We rarely drive so renting by the hour - mostly to escape the city - is perfect. The cars are super close...if you drive manual. However the driver in our family (aka my husband) never learned to drive manual so we always have to hunt down an automatic - possible, but not always super close. Now the ugly, on one of my rare attempts at driving in London I picked up a manual Zipcar. I sat in the space for an hour and couldn't get the car to start. I would've called Zipcar for help (they have great customer service), but I wasn't even named on the account - just my husband. Oh, one more negative is, just like with your experience this past weekend, we're always needing to extend the time. 9/10 times it works, but on those rare occasions that it doesn't it is annoying. Oh well, I do dream of my own car (convertible) and driveway when we eventually move back to the States.

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    1. Hi Katie! So nice to hear from you and SO SORRY I haven't been in touch lately! But thank you for sharing your ZipCar experiences with me ... I thought that the extension was a little too good to be true, so I can imagine how frustrating it would be when it didn't work, though I suppose not too different than renting a normal car.

      I have the same issue with automatic ... if I ever wanted to drive one, I'd either need to learn manual (and get a manual licence) or else hunt down an automatic. But I think we'll get a car when we move out of our flat and into a house at some point.

      Oh, how I miss the freedom (and the WIDE roads) of driving in the US!

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  9. We offer Meet and greet manchester service i-e to collect car from airport terminal and drop the car back again at air port terminal.

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