Zipcar

I would give zip car zero stars if possible. I originally signed up in Seattle, WA and then used Zip Car in CA quite a few times. I spent a lot of money on this service. When I arrived back to Seattle and wanted to continue using zip car I found out that my account had been suspended. There is no way to find out anything about this through customer service. I had to go to the office in person which I did and when they looked my acct up they said that everything would be fine in a fee days after I gave them proof of my address. A few days later I was charged two membership fees and my acct was «permanently closed due to general membership concerns.» I just went to the office in downtown today and the receptionist who wears her hair in a pony tail both times she’s tried to help me said it was closed due to security concerns they had no idea why and they could contact the home office to find out more but that there was no way to open another acct or do anything like that. Worst service I’ve EVER used by far. Worst customer service experience ever. Stay far away.

i was a Zipcar subscriber since 2012. sure, i had a few late returns because LIFE happens; as do unforeseen traffic anomalies, unpredictable bureaucratic delays, and plain old bad luck.
i’ve rented several Zipcars in those few years for all types of errands: grocery runs, moving, odd-​jobs, etc.
until ONE day, i hit a curb on accident (a curb that i’m sure has been hit by many other drivers over the years due to the visible deteriorated condition of the curb) that was on a sloped /​angled driveway while i was backing in to a parking spot in Seattle.
the car that i had rented was ‘lowered’ more than the average car — (driving different Zipcars can be tricky because one has to adjust to a different ‘form factor’ /​‘feel’ that each vehicle uniquely has). it was my first time driving a ‘lowered’ vehicle, and i wasn’t informed by Zipcar about the challenges that such a vehicle would present while driving up or down hills, slopes, speed bumps, or any other raised terrain-​related obstacles that could curtail driving a vehicle such as that one without incident.
after i hit the curb, i IMMEDIATELY took pictures of the sustained damage and IMMEDIATELY called both Zipcar AND
telephone operators to inform them of the incident.
all of this before i even left the scene.
i also had the best insurance that money could buy through Zipcar — just in case something like this happened — so i was under the impression that everything would be okay and life (and business) would proceed as usual.
i thought that i would have to pay a deductible (and i was totally fine with that); but i was in for a surprise instead!
processed the incident and all requisite paperwork within a timely manner; Zipcar did not.
Zipcar suspended my account while the incident was under ‘investigation’.
while my account was suspended, i was attempting to get updates from Zipcar about the status of my account for a several weeks.
had already given me the proverbial ‘green-​light’ and didn’t know what was taking Zipcar so long to give me an update about the situation.
once Zipcar finally DID get back to me, they notified me that my account was PERMANENTLY suspended… REGARDLESS of the fact that it was a ‘one vehicle accident’ — regardless of the fact that the terrain obstruction had CLEARLY been hit /​contacted by several other vehicles over the years — REGARDLESS of the fact that i took about 20 high-​definition pictures at different angles and distances — and REGARDLESS of the fact that i wanted to appeal the decision or move it further up the chain.
in my opinion, Zipcar is just like any other company with shady business practices — AS LONG AS ‘LIFE’ doesn’t happen, everything will be fine… but once a situation arises that costs them a negligible amount of money in the grand scheme of things, then you have to go (and NEVER come back) — without question.
it’s just really a shame to have a false sense of security; thinking that you will be covered by the insurance that you purchase from Zipcar, and to find out that not only are you NOT covered, but you are also PERMANENTLY SUSPENDED.
in closing… if you are out there and are thinking about renting a Zipcar, just be forewarned that ONCE YOU GET INTO AN ACCIDENT — EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE THE BEST ZIPCAR INSURANCE THAT MONEY CAN BUY — they will suspend your account permanently and impartially and not communicate with you in a transparent and /​or timely manner.
they will also give you the ‘runaround’ and ‘Joe’ will tell you to call ‘Bob’ and ‘Bob’ will tell you to call ‘Joe’
thank you for reading — and PLEASE never get into any kind of accident with Zipcar, because they will ban you permanently and with impunity.
take care, people — and drive safely.
(p.s.)
please share this review on social media if you feel like it could help others.

Zipcar is terrific, especially for someone like me who doesn’t own a car. So convenient! And Sarah in the Zipcar office is my favorite!

Zipcar is absolutely awful. My credit card expired and their ONLY communication to me was via a collections notice. I will never use your company for any reason, and will never recommend it to anyone. You should be embarrassed about your communication practices. The customer support representative I spoke with had zero empathy, your shoddy system was unable to discern whether I owed a balance or not, and although I have never used a car from your company, I can extrapolate from your lack of detail that it would be a wretched experience. Fix your communication Zipcar. Or don’t. I certainly don’t care whether you succeed.

EDIT: I finally got a response and my account has been restored. It really feels like someone dropped the ball on this one but I am glad that it’s been dealt with.
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I’ve been waiting for about a month for Zipcar to contact me about a claim because of damage that occurred during my reservation. I even have the damage waiver.
I’ve emailed 3 times and never heard back. I’ve emailed the
people and heard back and they don’t know why my account is still suspended as there is apparently a note on my account saying it should be unsuspended.
I also called and was told I’d have to wait 5 to 7 DAYS for the local Zipcar team to get back to me.
I also noticed that my monthly fee was still charged even though my account is suspended. WHO DOES THAT?
This is ridiculous and I’m about ready to just cancel my membership.
TLDR: Pray that nothing happens during your reservation because someone doesn’t have their act together.

I checked out my first zip car yesterday and everything went smooth a clockwork until I brought the car back after a few hours and realized I’d accidentally made the return reservation for the following day and due to a pretty standard 24 hour cancelation policy, I was stuck with a huge bill for a three hour ride. I mentioned my self-​inflicted problem on the post ride questionnaire and, to my surprise, they were back to me almost immediately with a courtesy refund. I was in the wrong but they still made it right. That’s good customer service. I’m a loyal supporter, and I’ll be more careful checking my dates.

Bureaucratic bullshit abounds. Inane rules compounded by irritating and unhelpful customer service interactions.

I was visiting Seattle for Christmas week and decided to rent a zip car and drive down to Portland for a couple of days. I came into the store, made a reservation on their computers. The staff was friendly and helpful except I did come across a problem when I changed my card on file from my debit card to my credit card. I didn’t know that you MUST change your payment method before you actually reserve the rental, so when I got back home I come to find my debit account was overdraft. I spoke to a few representatives on the phone to get the issue solved and get the bill switched to my credit card – After a lot of «noes» a manager at the store went out of her way to make a rare exception, talk to accounting and switch it for me. Part of the reason she was able to work it out was because of my student account which I have owned for almost three years now. Thank you! to the dedicated the Zipcar manager that turned this negative situation which almost lead me to leave Zipcar into a positive one. I’m sure I will continue to advocate for Zipcar, like I always have and continue my longterm relationship with this company every time I need an affordable rental!

I joined zip car as it seemed to be the best solution. First time I used it, fine. Thanksgiving day, supposed to have it for 5 hours. 40 people waiting for food at my daughters, pick up vehicle and get back to my house to load car and go. Little red light comes on saying it needs anti-​freeze, Great, I’m told to buy the anti-​freeze, I’m supposed to buy this when the shops are closed, that’s fine which one? And then I’m told by zipcar that I’m not allowed to drive the car. Catch 22. Not I’m so sorry let’s find another car for you. Couldn’t even tell me which anti freeze to buy, if it’s the red one I have it on hand. Not happy with them at all.

I am an urban dweller without a car and I have a strong need to get out of the city often. I’ve been using Zipcar for 5 years now. I’ve taken Zipcars up to the mountains overnight and I’ve taken them over to the peninsula for the weekend to visit my parents and I’ve even taken them to eastern, WA for a long weekend. Granted it seems pricey at first compared to say, Enterprise. But I’ve put a pencil to it every time I’ve needed a car for a day or more and I’ve found that Zipcar wins every time.
First of all the convenience of Zipcar is in of itself worth the money you spend – time is money sometimes. I can go grab a car (my choice) when I need it and not have to talk to anyone and go through the same rig amoral car rental places make you go through (unless you’re a regular or frequent flier). That’s just the perky part.
Price-​wise when you factor in gas, and insurance on typical rental car rates it always adds up to about the same daily rate. If you work for a company that might have a partnership with Zipcar it’s worth looking into because there are some savings there.
The only downside is Zipcar does have the daily mileage restriction of 180 miles per 24 hour rental. So if you want to go over to the peninsula you have to get a car for two days so you don’t go over on miles. I wish they would allow more miles per day on the weekends but it usually ends up working out :)
Also, I’ve learned you need to be a very responsible person to not get hit with Zipcar fees etc. Don’t be late, don’t lose the keys or it can cost you.
Lastly, the Zipcar people are so responsive and courteous when you need to call them (which is rare). I almost rented a car this summer, I called to confirm my reservation and ask about the insurance at the downtown Enterprise and the guy was so rude to me, I cancelled my reservation and immediately got on my Zipcar app and reserved a Ford Escape with all the bells and whistles for my trip and it was actually way less cost compared to the small suv rental at Enterprise.
Zipcar is a great value!

Had a terrible experience today with poorly communicated Zipcar policies and customer service. Buying a car this week.

Ok, if you’re the kind of person looking for instant gratification be warned, there’s a small process to sign up. Granted, they’re letting you drive their cars around, so a check on your driving record and a few other steps shouldn’t be asking too much. If you can’t be bothered to follow instructions and send in some simple information, I wouldn’t trust you with MY vehicle either.
Now on to the awesome. I have been an urban dweller for years, and have not owned a car for the last 5 of them. I own a motorcycle which I use for daily commuting. I only ever used my car a few times when I needed to do something I couldn’t on my bike, and it was just an expensive hunk of metal sitting in my garage that cost me close to $ 400 a month in payments, insurance, etc.
Enter ZipCar. I am on a monthly membership, and for the amount of driving I do, I end up spending less than $ 100 a month on driving. Some months I don’t even pay more than the monthly membership fee which is so nominal I don’t even notice it.
I use it whenever I need to pick something up, need to be somewhere quickly, need to save my hair from my motorcycle helmet because it looks too darn good today, or just feel like being fun and taking a Mini Cooper for a spin. I also love being able to pick up guests at the airport rather than spending Über or cab money. It’s MUCH cheaper by comparison to both of those.
It is NOT however cheaper than a rental car. If I know I will need a car for several days, ZipCar is not my solution. That works out just fine for me.
The website and user interface are incredibly easy to use. The customer service is impeccable. The convenience is hands down worth every penny. I wish more urban dwellers would get into car sharing programs — our world (and roads) would be a much better place!
Long story short, try them, love them, and then sell your car.

Didn’t even use the car yet but I have a bad experience with them already.
Was charged my monthly fees and received card 15 days after that, because of delay from their side, and on asking if they could push the date ahead for next month as I received the card late, I was denied !!
Paying for nothing is really a great feeling on customers side.
Edit: After talking to them again I was helped on the Issue, I got my first month money back so that makes up for the 2 week delays plus I got additional 2 weeks from their side. That’s great customer service.

Where to begin. Very few times in my life have I wanted to jump into a fermented tank of beer and drown immediately but today was one of those days.
After attempting to register to get a zipcar through the app and having multiple tech issues pop up. My friend and I stopped by the zip store location on union ave. because we were advised that coming in they could help us out and get on on our way.
This was a lie. No help was given, two women proceeded to offer up blank stares and lethargic shrugs rather than be of any use or offer up any kind of assistance.
An error screen popped up on both me and my friends phone when we tried to register and when I asked what the issue was, drone number #1 quite literally said, «ooh, I have no idea.» Didn’t call any supervisor to see what the issue was, offered up no suggestion of what they COULD do to help us. And even though we were clearly upset and distressed leaving the store, no apology or offer of compensation was given.
We will not be using this service again. Would appreciate someone HQ reaching out with some sort of explanation.

Very useful for people like me who don’t own a car and live in downtown.

I’m an old timer now, having started ZipCar six years ago. Overall I’m still very happy with them, although some things have changed. When I have had a problem, the staff in the Seattle office have been very helpful and still feel like the original «ZipCar» when I first started. Mostly on the general phone line they have been helpful, though there have been a couple of poor customer support people. To be honest, though, that’s only been a few times in six years (and by comparison most of the Staff have resolved my issue faster than with Car2Go or other rental car companies).
What I really like about ZipCar is that they are anchored to spots in my neighborhood. Car2Go tends to migrate all over the city too much, so they are not a reliable way to run errands – in fact, most of them end up at Amazon and south Lake Union during the day and then disappear into random parts of the city in the afternoon. In fact, this is one of the main reasons I use ZipCar more than Car2Go.
One legimate concern I’ve had happen to me a few times over the last year has been the availability of the car… either being moved to a car further away or not being available. However, I still think most people in my neighborhood have been good about keeping the car clean and filling up the gas. I’ve used ZipCar in Canada and it was also a positive experience, but San Francisco was noticeably a poorer experience. So I guess you’re mileage will vary. All in all I still recommend ZipCar to my friends.

I used it for almost two years. Initially it was good, but later I realized it’s only as good as the other clients that utilize the service. And it seems that Seattle is now filled with zipcar users that don’t care if they get fined extra for turning vehicles in late, or not turning them in at all! It’s a service that doesn’t reward the people that follow the rules and use their service appropriately and with respect to other users.
Last month I needed to move, so I reserved a van several days in advance. When moving day came, I arrived to the designated parking spot where the van should have been, but it wasn’t there! So I called zipcar and was put on hold for over 20 minutes. I needed to use the van to move things, but also to pick up the U-​haul rental, and so now I was late for picking the U-​haul truck and in danger of losing my reservation for the U-​haul truck!
The rep finally got back to me, after 20 minutes, to tell me that the van was parked 3 miles away! The rep didn’t offer to find a way to take me there (offering to send a cab would’ve been nice), but instead offered to reserve a nearby car I could walk to. He said he found a car ½ a mile away, and gave me directions.
I walked half a mile to the car, in the rain, and when I got there, I had to call zipcar back because they forgot to tell me that the car was in a secure garage, with a code to get in. They gave me the code. It didn’t work, but they didn’t have any other suggestions for me, other than to repeat the code to me a few times as if I was just not putting the code in correctly!
Finally a tenant in the building offered to let me in, so I was able to get to the car, and use it for moving, but it was not an ideal vehicle for moving, and I was late in getting my U-​haul and so had to pay extra to extend the reservation for it.
When I called back to see if there was anything they could offer to compensate for the loss of time, and not getting the vehicle that I wanted (the zipvan) at the time that I needed it, all they could offer me was a time adjustment to reflect the real time that I had actually spent using one of their cars. Which wasn’t a compensation, in my opinion. I was renting a van for a 24-​hour period, and they said they could adjust the time frame for the car I had to walk to, for 9am-​9am, instead of the initial time of 8am-​8am. Wow.
So today, I cancelled the service because the service automatically renews a year to the day you sign up, without warning. You have to call in to cancel it. I cancelled mostly for the above incident, but also because I now live in a neighborhood with just one zipcar site, and I have to take a bus to get to it, which is not convenient at all.

Yes yes yes yes. They have 100% coverage unlike the other guys, they have awesome cars (BMW and Cadi, just to name two) they have ²⁴⁄₇ people standing by for calls, and all and all meet the consumers needs.

You know, honestly, we used to have a car but cars are such a pain in the arse and are so high maintenance, we got rid of it. It was the best decision we ever made. We now zipcar, über, bus or walk places and it’s been so freeing (not to mention, cheaper)! I love how convenient zipcar has been over the years — and their customer service desk in the heart of downtown is no exception. I guess I’m lucky since I live in the downtown area, so zipcars are never scarce for me. Can’t complain about the number or availability of cars! (It might be a different story if I lived in a different part of Seattle, though!)
Also, can’t complain about the speed in which they handle urgent matters. For instance, I lost my card and just realized it this morning (just in time for a reservation, too!). I looked on the website for how to get a card replaced and they wanted me to call some 800 number which would have definitely taken some time because I’m sure they would have told me that they’d mail me a replacement card or something. Rather than do that, I went straight to the source and showed up in person to the downtown zipcar office. The office is clean and bright and there wasn’t a line at all. The girl at the desk was very helpful, fast and friendly. All they required of me was a credit card and drivers license and voila! I had my new zipcard instantaneously. I could activate the card on one of their computer kiosks and now it should just work. I noticed all my existing reservations got transferred over as well. I give credit where credit is due and zipcar really handled the situation in a streamlined way which could have been a crazy amount of paperwork. Sometimes living in this brave new world really works out! ;)

I had used Zipcar for almost 2 years before Car2Go came around. I switched to that service almost exclusively as it was much easier to get a car and there were no restrictions on where/​when you had to return the car. Zipcar didn’t seem to be so bad when they were the only show in town… but with Über and Car2Go available, ZipCar seemed to lack.
I’ve spent thousands of dollars with Zipcar ($ 200-​$ 300 a month for almost 2 years) and have always felt like the company was more concerned with getting new customers than servicing existing ones. They are always promoting discounts and freebies to new members with small print excluding existing customers.
Since I have not used Zipcar in over 4 months, but they have been charging me a monthly fee, I decided to cancel. They don’t make it easy. I assume they don’t want you to be able to cancel online as they try to talk you out of it when you call. Cancelling my membership was a 30 minute job. Frustrating and annoying.