Zip car
This weekend I got my first taste of the zipcar service offered here in NY. I had been sitting on the fence as to whether I would subscribe to the service. In theory, it's a really convenient option for those of us without a car. The company charges an annual fee of $50, a one time application fee of $25, and hourly/daily rates on the rentals. The hourly charge starts from $10/hr and the daily around $69/day, I believe. The cars are parked in garages all around the city, so you reserve online for the hours necessary and at a location convenient for you to pickup. Zipcar membership fees cover gas, insurance, certain designated parking, and 125 miles per day.
Sounds like a good deal if you only need a car for a short period of time, right? Well, in reality, it's not so convenient.
My friend and I reserved a 2 hr time slot (that's all they had left) on a Saturday afternoon to go to a store in Brooklyn. We estimated that it would take about 30-45 minutes to get there, assuming no heavy traffic, accidents, detours, etc. My friend received a call from Zipcar a half hour before our pickup time notifying him that the people that had the car prior to us were running about a half hour late. (This is where Zipcar starts to make the real money.) Zipcar charges $25 for each hour that you're late in returning the car. However, the people that get the car next do not get any additional time credit due to the previous renters being late. That means that, assuming the people returned the car only 30 minutes late, my friend and I only had 1.5 hours to get to the store and back. That's fairly unrealistic for the part of Brooklyn that we were headed to. We knew that we would be late in returning the car as well, which means that we would get charged an extra $25 also.
To summarize, the people before us (who were late returning the car because they got the car late as well) were charged an extra $25, and we were charged an extra $25 even though we only had the car for 2 hours - we just didn't have it for exactly the 2 hour time period that it was reserved for. If one person is late and throws off the day's schedule, everyone else is thrown off (and charged for it) as well.
Are you starting to see the chain of events and how the customer gets screwed and Zipcar makes a tidy little profit? Also, if I know I'm going to be late in returning the car and I get charged $25, what prevents me from just keeping the car for the full extra hour I'm getting charged for rather than returning it as quickly as I can? (Other than morals and a feeling of guilt for the next renter in the queue.)
Seems like the Zipcar model isn't very customer friendly and could use some tweaking...
Sounds like a good deal if you only need a car for a short period of time, right? Well, in reality, it's not so convenient.
My friend and I reserved a 2 hr time slot (that's all they had left) on a Saturday afternoon to go to a store in Brooklyn. We estimated that it would take about 30-45 minutes to get there, assuming no heavy traffic, accidents, detours, etc. My friend received a call from Zipcar a half hour before our pickup time notifying him that the people that had the car prior to us were running about a half hour late. (This is where Zipcar starts to make the real money.) Zipcar charges $25 for each hour that you're late in returning the car. However, the people that get the car next do not get any additional time credit due to the previous renters being late. That means that, assuming the people returned the car only 30 minutes late, my friend and I only had 1.5 hours to get to the store and back. That's fairly unrealistic for the part of Brooklyn that we were headed to. We knew that we would be late in returning the car as well, which means that we would get charged an extra $25 also.
To summarize, the people before us (who were late returning the car because they got the car late as well) were charged an extra $25, and we were charged an extra $25 even though we only had the car for 2 hours - we just didn't have it for exactly the 2 hour time period that it was reserved for. If one person is late and throws off the day's schedule, everyone else is thrown off (and charged for it) as well.
Are you starting to see the chain of events and how the customer gets screwed and Zipcar makes a tidy little profit? Also, if I know I'm going to be late in returning the car and I get charged $25, what prevents me from just keeping the car for the full extra hour I'm getting charged for rather than returning it as quickly as I can? (Other than morals and a feeling of guilt for the next renter in the queue.)
Seems like the Zipcar model isn't very customer friendly and could use some tweaking...
posted by KC at
11:56 PM
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