Car2Go

I am updating my review for car2go because, in all fairness, things have improved enormously since this time last year. No more phantom cars downtown and no more issues starting/​ending trips. I haven’t had to call customer service in forever so no idea if that has improved but as of this moment I am a happy customer. Knocking one star off because it can be a bit hard to find a car at busy times. Otherwise, love this convenient way to zip around the city!

Terrible! So many problems with trying to end a trip. Connections errors end up wasting your time. Bad one today, called in to customer support, 10 minute wait just to be told basically «Tough crap, that doesn’t happen ALL the time, so nothing to do about it.» Why bother when Seattle has so many other options. Done with C2G.

Expect problems!
Cars indicated as available might be in an impound lot.
Monitoring equipment doesn’t work well. You may find the battery dead like we did. The monitoring equipment is supposed to reveal problems but has problems itself. Just expect problems and you won’t be disappointed and/​or frustrated.

I have used car2go sporadically for a couple of years and I find it extremely useful. It took me a bit to get use to but once I got the hang of it I love it! Also, support has been very helpful and friendly whenever there is an issue.

Times are a changing with Car2Go, in a good way. C2G has replaced its aging fleet with brand new cars that come with heated seats to boot! That alone has taken care of most of the previous issues I’ve mentioned in my first review. I’ve been ghosted only once, but other then that I cannot complain. I wish the car was equipped with an ice scrapper and the floor mats were rubber though.

Great when it works. Lately, the app tells me my car is opening while I stand there in the wind, cold and rain for 15 more minutes. Then it doesn’t open and the customer service number has that long a wait, too — and I grab a cab or Über. A tad pricier, but far more dependable.

While a strong offering to the share-​economy, Car2Go falters when trying to achieve most of its modest goals. Other than being marginally cheaper than competing ride services, it is almost always a better option to use Lyft or Über to get you where you need to be.
Their smart cars’ availability are unpredictable at best and unobtainable at worst. Given that a car is in-​fact near enough at the time it is actually needed, it’s not uncommon to experience connection issues, leaving you standing on the road waiting for some magic to occur; swiping and waiting, and swiping, and swiping, and pressing, and swiping, ad infinitum.
If able to best the aforementioned unreliability, the pricing isn’t terrible (cheaper than a bus for a very-​short trip; cheaper than an über for a reasonably short drive (~2.5−3.5 miles)). That being said, parking can be a nightmare in-​city, with restricted zones and an ever-​present risk of a parking ticket or tow (either that will be yours to pay). Further, while full accident liability may lie with the corporation, a hefty $ 1000 deductible is the operator’s to pay.
Assuming one has managed to rent a car2go, pilot it safely to their destination in a reasonable amount of time, and secure parking, the system will quiet often have disconnect issues leaving you stuck waiting and waiting for your ride to end, or to be asked to move the vehicle and try for another trip disconnect. TO MAKE THINGS EVEN MORE EXCITING occasionally the in-​dash screen and voice will inform the operator that their trip has been successfully ended, when it is fact has not! Fun! In the event that occurs, one can look forward to hours and hours (16+ for myself) of charged time ($ 95, again, for the author) that will take weeks (over 6) to have «resolved» by customer service. «Resolved», because months later (FOUR MONTHS LATER) that charge may accidentally be processed through another system error, gifting many socially-​inept hours of customer-​service-​lacking conversations leading to a potential refund with no regards to your own needs (a week so far with no refund; today being told a «system bug» has all refunds on hold, so that they cannot give me any expectation of when it will arrive).
Their cars are unreliable, their customer service is lacking, they do not care about their clients, and you take on much risk for the little reward of dollars to cents saved over other ride services. Again, take any other option such as Über, Lyft, Flywheel, hailing a taxi, riding a bike, hopping a bus, ferry, or train, or even walking uphill in the snow over exposing yourself to a tiny gokart with full-​size headaches.

Just got another parking ticket for parking downtown in a poorly signed, construction-​ridden location near my work. Seriously?! Where TF am I supposed to park? I realize this is a city issue, but Car2go has to get it right for its customers. Rent a lot downtown so people can park in a «Car2go area.» I’ll take the hit on the parking citation this time, but I encourage you to be careful if you park anywhere downtown using this service. Even if you think you’re parking in a legitimate spot, you’re likely offending a rule. On the other hand, not a bad option if you’re parking north or south of Seattle (provided you are parking in bounds). Alternatives include Über, the bus, a buddy, (your own car?) and your feet.

I lived in seattle for a few months (had lived there prior) and decided to reactivate my account.
In the couple months of using it. I spent more time on the roadside on hold than I did actually driving the cars. My constant troubles with not being able to access cars and then canceling the reservation with then dealing with the app saying I still had a reservation. The person on the phone each time seemed to always be friendly enough (hence my 2 stars) but ten minutes here and ten minutes there of free drive time does not excuse the fact there is an issue and it wasn’t being resolved. People use this service for CONVENIENCE. I ended up buying a car because that is just more reliable. Thanks for nothing car2go

I CANNOT believe what they did!
I used car2go right before traveling. I used the app to look for «home area» and parked my car, successfully ended the trip without any error or warning message. 10 days later, car2go charged me $ 440 tow fee!!! And to make it worse, a big part of it is car2go service fee.
Really?! Instead of helping out, they took advantage of you in any possible situations!
I highly recommended car2go to all my friends and peers. Now I am going to cancel my account, and share this horrible story with anyone I meet!!!

Disclaimer: this service doesn’t work… At least not for me.
I have used (attempted) this app three times. All three times I couldn’t get into the car. The first two, I had some spare time so I called customer service who spent 15 minutes on the phone with me and finally got me in. The last time I was in a hurry and couldn’t do that, ended up getting an über, and was ultimately late because of the failure of Car2Go to actually work.
3 attempts 3 fails. Moving to Zipcar. See ya

First day using the service and it worked pretty well. Cars were in fine condition and app worked as expected. No complaints given the convenience.

Great idea.
Horrible execution.
I don’t know what is wrong with this company lately. A year and a half ago they had great customer service, the ap worked and the cars were still in good condition.
Unfortunately, they have no enforcement of their rules and little maintenance. Cars are not in working order, something is broken or a indicator light is on in most cars. Other users trash the cars leaving drinks, food, cigaret butts. This should give you some indication of how the cars smell.
The ap often gives inaccurate locations leaving you to hunt over a several block radius and if you try to call you are now treated with an automatic response and a recording saying they are experiencing «higher than normal call volume» everytime.
I really want to support this big frankly it’s easier, safer, cleaner and actually similar cost to take a Lyft or an Über.

I have used Car2Go since it was first offered in Seattle. I will continue to use them, although they have some major issues that need to be resolved when it comes to billing.
First, to respond to some of the mis-​informed 1-​star reviews below: If you’re smart, the app works fine 95% of the time. Those who are complaining about cars disappearing don’t have much of a case; that’s NOT a bug, it’s a matter of dozens of people staring at the app waiting for a car to appear, and once it does, it gets snatched up immediately. This happens downtown and in Queen Anne a lot and you just have to deal with it or have faster fingers when trying to reserve it.
Secondly, I have always gotten free credit if my car does not connect properly. This has happened maybe 10 times in the years that I’ve been using the service, in all parts of the city, and the customer service reps always respond helpfully and patiently.
OK, now my beef: In this day and age it is baffling that they don’t have a better billing system. When using Über and Lyft and countless other transportation options, the invoice is charged immediately, right then and there, or at least very shortly thereafter. And, if a charge declines, they do not let you use the service until it has been paid for. This prevents customers from wracking up huge outstanding balances they have to spend weeks paying off. Why doesn’t Car2Go have this? Why do they collect trips and then charge them at seemingly random days and times?
Here is what happens almost on a monthly basis with my account:
I commute using Car2Go, so we’re talking a minimum of 10 trips per week. They call me a «heavy user». :) Every few weeks I will get an email that says a charge has not gone through on my account. This could be for trip that happened yesterday or perhaps a week ago (it’s always very unclear). This usually happens right before my direct deposit goes through, so I think, «OK cool, no worries, the deposit will go through in a day or so and all will be well». Meanwhile, I have two or three trips outstanding. Often, one or two of those trips will clear my account once I get paid, and then, randomly, they will lock my account AFTER successfully charging me for outstanding invoices. I have no idea why they do this and it always takes days (sometimes a week) to get them to re-​try the transactions. This is incredibly bad business and really frustrating. The customer service staff should be empowered to run payments through immediately on the phone to clear up past debts instead of having to wait for the broken billing system to try it again «in a few days».
If it wasn’t for this horrific way of charging people, Car2Go would get a shining 5 stars from me, but I just can’t endorse the way they screw around with their customers’ finances. This should be priority #1 in their corporate meetings. It NEEDS to be corrected, and quickly.

It’s unreliable. I’ve had to give up on them. It started out so well but now there are too many issues with the tracker. The cars are often not there or if they are, you can’t scan in. It’s a huge inconvenience.

Great idea, absolutely shitty service. How hard is it to make reliable network connection these days? It’s about 50% luck for me to get into the car, a lot of times I was standing in front of it trying to book but nothing happened. It’s about 75% to get out, all it says is ‘please move your car’, where? Absolutely not reliable, never count on it.
I just wish another company come and do it right.

I was with Zipcar for a couple of years but cancelled because wasn’t using enough and having to park in same spot as pickup was a hassle. Car2Go seemed like a better fit for me for occasional use. There was some confusion during the signup process but overall I’ve been pleased with the few times I’ve used the service. Reservation via the app and checking out the vehicles have worked fine for me. Haven’t really had to speak with customer service so can’t comment on that.
The drive itself is a bit unnerving on the highway because these cars are very small and light… they also are a bit jumpy with the acceleration. Wish there were a few more in West Seattle and expanding into some of the nearby areas like Burien would be nice too.
Overall, I’m pleased with Car2Go.

I’ve deleted my old one-​star review that I wrote in a fit of frustration when I had a billing issue. They were eventually able to help me resolve said issue, and since then, it’s been smooth sailing.
The very idea of owning a car in Seattle makes me break out in a cold sweat: the traffic; the parking costs; insurance & (until very recently) insane gas prices — I just can’t deal with it. Not in a city where I can easily hop on the bus to work.
There are times, though, when I really just need to get somewhere, and that’s where Car2Go comes in. The updated app is easy to use, no technical issues with the cars connecting to my account, and plenty of cars in my area. I use the service daily and really love it, despite my few billing bumps at the beginning.
I’d also add that their social media people do a really good job (do these guys ever sleep??) and are quick to answer questions and keep users up to date. I also really appreciate that C2G has, in the one time I’ve seen an outage with the app, taken responsibility by crediting free driving time. Similarly, I’ve had inordinately long hold times when I’ve called (this should absolutely be improved, by the way) but they credited me my wait time in free driving time.
In short, great company, great service, and the improvements I’ve seen in the last several months are great. Onward and upward, Car2Go. Nice work.

I have a membership from car2go Portland in my past life. However, since moving to Seattle, my membership does not work. I’ve tried scanning my card on multiple available cars and it just doesn’t recognize my card. I’ve called customer service several times and of course I’m on hold for two hours and don’t even get to a real person before «connection» is lost. I love the concept and cuteness of car2go, just wish they had better customer service.

Been using car2go for about a month now a and absolutely love it!
***disclaimer** I own a car and live in Madison park, I joined mainly out of curiosity and to determine if there was a benefit to me. I spend probably 150 – 200 bucks with über a month. I also get reimbursed on mileage for my job in outside sales. I’ve never had to «rely» per se on car2go. It’s a supplementary transpiration option for me****
Cost: $ 35 to join-​about two week turnaround to get your membership car in the mail. $.41/​minute of use or $ 14.95/hr. A 20 minute user experience (15 min of driving) costs about 8 bucks!
Pros: 3,000 go-​karts in Seattle at your disposal
Parking: drop off almost anywhere in normal street parking– no extra cost or paying meters. Super easy to park because it’s a go-​kart
Fun to drive: go karts. handle remarkably well and pretty comfortable. Okay radio and solid ac system
Cons: lack of transparency in price per trip – you only know how much you spend a week of two after u use it and the company doesn’t make this process easy to understand. When you use über you get an email immediately with an itemized receipt.
Hidden time liability and extra cost: your clock on car2go starts immediately when you scan card. It takes 3 – 4 minutes to complete verification/​ignition. That translates to about $ 2 just to start a go-​kart. Same thing on back end – about 1 – 2 minutes go turn off/​check out car2go after parked with car off. Hence – hidden $ 4/​trip fee on top of every trip. They should say $ 4 plus $.41/​minute. Still a max hour rate of 14.95 tho!
The mobile app: sometimes it sucks and can be difficult to actually find a car once you’ve booked it
Availability: some times very scarce in parts of city. Where the masses flock, the car2gokarts follow!
More to come in a month or so!