I Wonder If Avis Is Bummed They Bought Zipcar

Comments

$500M, not $500,000.

MacBastard on April 18, 2013 at 12:13 PM

Because you can schedule a Zip car to be waiting for you at a specific time and place, and you know it will be there? Because they have choices other than those absurd little clown cars? Because you have kids? Or more than one friend? Because you need to carry stuff?

Don't feel bad. I bet none of the other hipsters thought of these reasons either.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn on April 18, 2013 at 12:14 PM

I love both, and use them for different things. Hauling, long trips, if I want to plug in my own music using an AUX jack - Zipcar. Car2Go for the quick, short haul.

It's battle of the titans now - sure, Zipcar is now Avis, but Car2Go is a Mercedes thing, in conjunction with some goddam hedge fund or other. They are flooding the cities with those cars because face it - nobody was buying them. They are the closest thing to the experience of driving a mid-70s Beetle there is, and I mean that in a wonderful way.

TomJohnsonJr on April 18, 2013 at 12:16 PM

I've switched from zipcar to mostly car2go too. But I can think of lots of reasons to "touch" a zipcar. Like if you want a truck. Or a van. Or an all wheel drive vehicle. Or a car that seats more than 2.

ohthetrees on April 18, 2013 at 12:17 PM

I work in SLU and apparently every single car2go is driven by Amazon staff to work each day. Sometimes there's 5 or more car2go's lined up on a block just sitting there throughout the day.I don't see how they can be making much money.

Conrad McMasters on April 18, 2013 at 12:19 PM

I rent Zipcar's vans and trucks all the time but I think I'm going to sign up for Car2go also. I think they can be complementary.

care bear on April 18, 2013 at 12:30 PM

I didn't know it was undignified to drive a Car2go. I feel kind of cute and smug, like I know something you don't when I'm driving one. I think, "the future is pretty cool. Here it is."

Simply Me on April 18, 2013 at 12:38 PM

Why ZipCar? Here's an example. A friend drove a Car2Go to our house this weekend, and then helped us move some furniture with a ZipCar cargo van. The latter would not have been possible via Car2Go.

giantladysquirrels on April 18, 2013 at 12:44 PM

It would be cool if you could hang a bike on a Car2go car - that way it could be used for one-way bike rides, or for bike breakdowns.

Jude Fawley on April 18, 2013 at 12:46 PM

You can't think of a single reason - really? Like, maybe having 2+ friends? Or if you don't want to spend almost twice as much money per hour?

Zipcar is also usually cheaper than car rental companies, sometimes MUCH cheaper, for weekend trips unless maybe you're getting the smallest, cheapest car. (Zipcar includes gas & insurance). And car rental agencies are hell.

I've used car2go more to replace cabs than to replace Zipcar.

raku on April 18, 2013 at 12:46 PM

thanks, @1. fixed!

Anna Minard on April 18, 2013 at 12:46 PM

Zipcar did a member survey last year to gauge interest in a membership option/service almost identical to Car2Go. In all likelihood they'll implement such a thing if they feel it's feasible. I know I'd be up for it!

BostonFontSnob on April 18, 2013 at 12:52 PM

@10 "Car rental companies are hell." They really fucking are. Zipcar is superior if only because I never have to deal with a car rental agency clerk.

BostonFontSnob on April 18, 2013 at 12:56 PM

I haven't even looked at a zipcar since signing up for car2go. I am a little sad, though, that car2go has increased my carbon footprint, since I ride the bus a lot less often now.

Mittens Schrodinger on April 18, 2013 at 12:59 PM

I'd like a car that should I need to go on the freeway...well I COULD take the car on the freeway.

Cato the Younger Younger on April 18, 2013 at 1:02 PM

I saw a Car2Go behind me yesterday and "lack of dignity" is definitely the right word. The hipsters looked a little embarrassed and an awful lot silly. But hey. Hipsters man! They can take it.

I haven't gotten into these car services cuz I have a car! But, I definitely need to try it out one of these days. Unfortunately I don't think they quite synch of up with my needs, but maybe they do!

fletc3her on April 18, 2013 at 1:06 PM

Don't know if Avis is bummed about buying Zipcar, but I sure was.

Bauhaus I on April 18, 2013 at 1:07 PM

Here's the biggest problem with Car2Go: people who use them to go from downtown to their neighborhoods after work....and the cars sit, parked (and available) in obscure residential neighborhoods until morning. When your hipster gets back into the same car and drives it back into town.

I'm a big fan of Car2Go, but I live in Belltown and there are virtually never any cars within two miles after 6 PM.

Cornichon on April 18, 2013 at 1:22 PM

Car2go is perfect for those occasions when I need to get somewhere without bringing anything with me or taking the highway, as well as those days when I simply need some random passerby to think "That guy must have an enormous cock."

Otherwise, I prefer Zipcar, and believe there's room for some form of both services.

Agent Michael Scarn on April 18, 2013 at 1:22 PM

@2, please bear in mind the post is a pre-text, and everything is black and white. And, of my God, please think of the poor cyclists. When is someone going to invent a flying bike so these Gods can take their rightful place in the commuting hierarchy?

If we could comment with wav's, this post deserves either a sad trombone or a wet fart.

biffp on April 18, 2013 at 1:23 PM

I use Car2go to get between neighborhoods, but I use Zipcar for work. If I have to drive to Olympia to meet with a client for a couple hours, I'm not taking a Car2go. It's better to spend $35 on a Zipcar that I can pick up in front of my office, because it's always there, and return it to that same place, reliably. Always.

ERIN! on April 18, 2013 at 1:23 PM

I cauterized the part of my brain that once worried about my "image" vis-à-vis a particular form of transport by doing [considerable] time on a moped.

I still have fond memories of breezing through lemon groves around Santa Barbara, or out to one of the beaches, barefoot and helmetless.

rob! on April 18, 2013 at 1:25 PM

Re: 22, early 1980's, for anyone wondering what geologic era that might have been.

rob! on April 18, 2013 at 1:28 PM

Well because I mainly rent trucks and cargo vans for work. And, well zipcar could always change their model if they feel market pressure.

tictoc on April 18, 2013 at 1:29 PM

Car2go is great, but the fact that you can’t reserve one more than a half-hour in advance will be a turn-off for many people who can’t be super-flexible.

I drove a Car2go to work this morning simply because there was one available three blocks from my house at the time I needed it. Otherwise I would’ve taken the bus.

DOUG. on April 18, 2013 at 1:31 PM

Hey Rob@22: I'm San Marcos HS Class of 1986. I remember those lemon groves!

DOUG. on April 18, 2013 at 1:36 PM

Despite never having heard of Cars2Go and having to look up what they are, what @19 said. Big plus for me with Zipcar is not having to find parking, as well.

Dougsf on April 18, 2013 at 1:41 PM

@22 - when I was a wee lad scootin' 'round on my '68 Li 150 Special, I likely thought that WAS my image.

Dougsf on April 18, 2013 at 2:01 PM

What @3 said. The business model is completely unsustainable except as a means of [advertising]/[shoveling off unwanted] Smart cars. (Ford likewise owned Hertz for several years, but foisting lemons off onto business people didn't work out so well.) Car2go is likely to collapse within a year or two, leaving behind proven business arrangements such as rental cars.

kk in seattle on April 18, 2013 at 2:04 PM

@26, I haven't been back in years and hoped that most of them (above Cathedral Oaks/Foothill Road) were still there due to anti-growth sentiment, but a quick glance at Google Maps satellite view suggests they are not.

rob! on April 18, 2013 at 2:06 PM

How about this graph?
http://seattletransitblog.com/2013/02/12…

Car2Go is optimized for spontaneous, short, one-way trips.

Josh Bis on April 18, 2013 at 2:12 PM

I love car2go, but used a zipcar today--if traffic is horrible you can count on a car2go being more expensive than an $8 an hour zipcar. Shoreline and back, $10 with zipcar. I've been stuck on traffic on Broadway in a car2go (had a lot of groceries or I would have just walked) and the trip ended up being $14. Kinda ridiculous for a trip from one end of Broadway to the other. I am also very frugal.

erasedk on April 18, 2013 at 2:58 PM

The friend thing makes sense. I don't have any friends so I didn't think of that.

Grant Brissey, Emeritus on April 18, 2013 at 3:06 PM

Got my ex to get a Car2Go free membership - she loves it.

If I'm going to be stuck in traffic, I usually just use a bus, instead of a car. Gets there about the same time, from start to finish, counting finding parking, paying for parking, etc. Way less hassle.

Normally, if renting longer term, it's way cheaper to get a rental for around $6 a day from one of the car rental places. Usually can find that, unlimited mileage, and decent mpg if I look around. Think I use Kayak to start looking for those, but sometimes I rerun the top choices in other sites, just to check.

Will in Seattle on April 18, 2013 at 3:11 PM

@22 god I loved those. My grandma and grandpa used to take us to those and the orange groves whenever we visited SBA.

Will in Seattle on April 18, 2013 at 3:13 PM

I take zipcar because when I need a vehicle, I'm usually going out of town and I need to make sure it will survive on the freeway and be there by the time I'm ready to come back home. There is seriously no point to having a car for inter-city travels.

treehugger on April 18, 2013 at 3:33 PM

I've always paid up to a third more at any rental car place than with Zipcar's daily rate. Last time I went in to one (Enterprise, I think) they asked for FIVE DIFFERENT REFERENCES because I didn't already have car insurance. (Why would I be renting if I had a car and therefore insurance? Ugh, whatever.) Three of them they had to call directly. Two had to be family, the rest had to be neighbors or business associates.

When they asked me for two family members I eyeballed the guy and said, "My parents are dead and everyone else lives in other countries." (I'm in my early 30s, most people wouldn't think my folks are dead, which they are, no biggie.) He got very flustered.

In the end one neighbor and two business people had their days interrupted by this young man who had no other choice and I was grossly over-charged. None of this happens with Zipcar. And it's cheaper. I have no idea why people think rental places are inexpensive.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot on April 18, 2013 at 5:20 PM

@34: $6 a day for a rental car? Bullshit.

bigyaz on April 18, 2013 at 5:27 PM

@37 really? Never ask for any from me. Are you under 25?

Will in Seattle on April 18, 2013 at 5:31 PM

@37: I'm pretty sure you're required to have liability insurance when you drive in Washington state. I don't own a car, but I have liability insurance for when I rent or borrow a vehicle.

DOUG. on April 18, 2013 at 6:32 PM

I Wonder If Avis Is Bummed They Bought Zipcar

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