Slashdot Mirror
Self-Serve Car Rental
abb_road writes "Claiming 'Web2.0 values meet Brick and Mortar,' BusinessWeek is reporting on an entirely self service car rental company. Zipcar customers make all reservations online or using a cell phone, then use a card-key to pick up their car from the parking garage--no attendants needed. According to the article, one of the other important attractions of the system is transparency; the reservations system allows you to see exactly what cars in the area will be available at what times, and then reserve or adjust your plans accordingly. From the article: 'If the nearest Mini convertible is booked until 3 p.m., the customer might postpone plans by an hour to get it -- or decide the Mazda with a sunroof on another lot will do.'"
We have this in the Netherlands since 1995. I've used it for years. You make reservations through the Internet or phone, and enter the car with your swipe card.
This Evaluation of ZipCar 8.0 has expired. Please purchase the full version. Press your horn to continue.
...who's going to to try to press you to pay an extra $20/day for the rip-off supplemental insurance on this plan?
Momentarily, the need for the construction of new light will no longer exist.
Where've you been?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Though in the early days, you were given a key to open a box at the parking space, which in turn contained the car keys. Nowadays, you are handed out a near-range wireless SmartCard which you use to open the car and activate it (there's some in-car computer). This new system has been implemented at around 2001. And it's nation-wide. (For the curious, it's www.mobility.ch).
Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
Plus, what if someone hacked into the server and decided to "rent" a bunch of nice cars?
What if someone in a monster truck drives over all the cars in the parking lot?
For more info, see the Wikipedia page on Zipcar.
Unknown host pong.
Yeah. If you're more than 3 hours late, they bill the full value of the car to your credit card.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
I can't speak for ZipCar, but I've been using City Car Share for about three years now. It's really smooth - there's a garage a couple blocks from my place, it costs $10 a month to be a member, renting a car is about $4 per hour and $0.4 per mile. This includes everything - gas, insurance, all.
/. ) is real far behind.
If you return the car late you get charged a pretty hefty late fee. You ca extend a reservation over the phone, provided that no-one else has reserved that car after you already. If you're running late and notify the office, you get a smaller late fee than you would have if you were just "missing".
It's cost effective if you just need a car for a couple hours, or an evening. If you need it for a day or more, go to a car rental place.
That article (if the summary is correct, which is a dangerous assumption to make on
What if someone in a monster truck drives over all the cars in the parking lot?
LMAO.
Good reason not to park in a huge line of cars: big temptation for monster truck drivers.
Zipcar is great in concept until you have to deal with the actual company. They have a couple of limited formulas in play as to how to attain profitability, and fines definitely factor in there. Not report cat hair you didn't notice on the back seat? Surprise, you get a huge cleaning bill and if you dare to question, your account is yanked. Hopefully these types of services will be regulated somewhere down the road.
This service is great for NYC residents - its far to expensive to own a car in the city and rental cars start at $60 a day without gas or insurance. And yes, you need insurance since I have no car insurance (because I don't own a car). The really nice part about Zipcar is it allows you to pick a car for a few hours - if I want to run out to Jersey or need a SUV to pickup a large package, why pay for an entire day when I can get a zipcar for a few hours? All the cars are stored in 24hr parking garages, so there's no security issues and when you call ahead, the attendant will even tell you if the car isn't there (in the event someone's late) which gives me time to schedule a replacement.
Jeez, people write without knowing much around here. Oh sorry, i forgot where i am.
There is a whole flock of bicycle dudes who go out (in all weather, all year long) and take care of the cars. As well, Zipcar members are encouraged to inspect the car when they go to get it, and to immediately report any problems - dents, out of washer fluid, whatever.
If it's something dumb like washer fluid, you can even buy more and they'll reimburse if you can't charge it on the (provided in the car) fleet gasoline charge card.
Far as I know, the concept is flying and has been for like 6 years now. I am a very happy Zipcar customer. I've been able to get rid of my car altogether, saving many $thousands a year... and in exchange, I pay a few $hundreds per year for use of a practically new car, with insurance, maintenance and fuel provided, whenever I need one.
As far as "whenever I need one" they seem to add cars pretty aggressively to follow demand. I've never been totally closed out... maybe you have to walk an extra 2 or 3 blocks to get to one at a specific time, but that's not really a big deal. It does require some adjustments to how you think about getting around, but the only reason I had a car in the past was for those trips that totally don't work on a bike (and taxis - just forget it, they're miserable and expensive)... this provides it.
All you naysayers are such geniuses! If only your keen business insight was around 10 years ago, you could have prevented City Car Share and Auto Share from the horrible failure of their current businesses!
Oh, wait.
To address your moronic "points", please note that, although the key is in the car, the car's ignition system is tied to an electronic key-card access system. So busting into the car to grab the key nets you nothing at all.
And the "no human in the loop" ignores all those humans in the loop. If you show up to take a car and it's damaged, you just note it in the log book. The car service figures out who was responsible later. And, the cars are inspected, serviced, and cleaned weekly by - surprise! - a human.
Yes, they describe the cars as "living" (their marketers can be a little too cute at times) in specific locations... Parking is very hard to come by here, so this makes sense for a lot of reasons, including that you're never very far from a car. I usually rent one that's near "where I'm going to be" when I want it, which isn't usually my apartment. The cars are sprinkled all around town. By car faeries.
When finished driving your Zipcar, take it back to the place you found it, wave your ZipCard over the sensor in the windshield to lock it and end your rental period, and step away from the vehicle.
I can speak to this as a Flexcar member (and as someone who's interviewed the ZipCar folks as well, though I'm not in a city for which that service is available). Cleaning is done fairly regularly -- cars leave their designated parking spots for a few hours, then they come back. (You can also get a little usage credit if you take the car through the wash and remember to turn in your receipt.) As for dents and such, each user is expected to check over the vehicle before the trip starts and make note of any damage, just as one does a rental car. If you screw things up mid-reservation, there's a number to call and a procedure to follow.
Nice bonus BTW: I had a reservation a few months back on a car that got into an accident about 30 minutes before my reservation was to start. (The previous user was parking and things didn't quite work out with his technique.) Flexcar phoned me to let me know that there was a problem, reserved the closest available vehicle for me, and gave me a nice credit "for my inconvenience." A really great customer service experience.
That's funny, only because it's true.
I finally gave in to the pressure from the Ryder truck rental guy to pay an extra $100 for the insurance. Two days later I drove that 12 foot truck under an 11 foot overhang, doing about four thousand dollars worth of damage in the process. I was amazed at how fragile that big truck was, actually - but I was real happy I bought that insurance.
As I understand it with Zipcar, there is a deposit you pay ($25 or $50 maybe?) and when the next guy rents the car and doesn't complain about it being dirty inside those funds are released. Like a bond, sort of. I could be wrong, haven't had any coffee yet.
Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer