Zipcar Etiquette

Now I know why I own two (2) cars.

The only ugly kid is the original poster!

bradedward wrote: [quote=pokersloper]"Sounds to me like bradedward tried to do the right thing"

Planning your day around the possibility of there being traffic in NYC would have been doing the right thing.

...I did...an hour actually.
Sorry dude, you're the wrong one here not the waiting family.

WhyFi wrote:

2) How are we certain that the family reported him? The cars only respond to your card during your reservation times, it's entirely possible that returning and locking the car late raised a red flag.

The only way Zipcar finds out about low gas is if someone reports it. The red flag is the automated phone call made by the reservation after yours.

As a side question... is Zipcar even cost effective? I mean, there are car rental companies sprinkled all over the city. Zipcar just strikes me as a stressful thing that can be very happily and easily replaced by a 1-day rental from Enterprise etc.

Why did you bring their kids into it calling them stupid and ugly? Seriously, that was rude and you lost all credibility there.

I'm curious, let's say you had reserved a car for an hour. (You needed to move one large piece of crap or something close to home). The person who has the car before you shows up 5-10 minutes late and the tank is less than 1/4. Just going to find a gas station could totally blow your time frame. For really short trips, if the tank is as full as its supposed to be, you wouldn't have planned a gas trip.

Getting the car late plus having to get gas will take up a considerable amount of your reservation. Would you call it in?

"Getting the car late plus having to get gas will take up a considerable amount of your reservation. Would you call it in?"

First he would call the children ugly. Then he might call it in.

Instead of using the automated system in this situation, it would have been better to call Zipcar customer support directly. They tend to be very understanding and possibly would have contacted the next party and rebook them into another vehicle.

That being said, this is NYC and a zipcar being available is very rare last minute on a Saturday.. but at least it's worth a shot.

bradedward wrote: [quote=Whatchuwant][quote=bradedward][quote=tybur6]As a side question... is Zipcar even cost effective? I mean, there are car rental companies sprinkled all over the city. Zipcar just strikes me as a stressful thing that can be very happily and easily replaced by a 1-day rental from Enterprise etc.

I hear their hurtin' actually. A lot of the regional managers make next to nothing and they just made a yearly membership fee. I don't see how they compete actually, especially considering they include gas in the rental.

The regional managers make 6 figures. They've always had a yearly membership fee, so I'm not sure what you're talking about there. But yes, the company has been operating in the red since its inception. The investors are still throwing money at it though, hoping its time will come into profitability this year or next . We'll see....


I heard their making 30-40k, took pay cuts but I suppose my source could be wrong.

Actually they didn't have a fee when they first came to the city. Not sure how long you have been a member.

I'm not a member- I used to work there. There is no way on God's green earth that the regional managers took a salary decrease for that much money. No way. As for no annual membership fee when they first came to NY- that was probably a promotion. Short term. They've had their annual fees for years now.

pokersloper wrote: bradeward,

An hour? This isn't Baltimore.

I think he means he allotted an extra hour which is reasonable especially when it's a pay per hour service.

Being late happens and guess what, you can not plan for everything no matter how much time you allow.