What are people's experiences with using zipcar locally ?

[clare]

Our car is on its last legs and we're thinking of getting rid of it but we'll need a car a few times a year. What do people think of zipcar round here ? We'd be interested to hear local views as some of the review sites I went on were slating it....

Many thanks.

[Nigello]

It's always worked well from my experience.

[tfwsoll]

I have been car-less for a few years and am a fan of car clubs. You need to be organised if you want a car at peak times ie you are unlikely to find a car available at very short notice on your doorstep. If I need a car for a longer period I hire one - you can get some good deals on-line. The only time I miss having a car is for spontaneous drives out into the country if the mood takes me but I can live with that.

[Ron70]

I have a zip car membership and there are plenty of vehicles in ED. I don't use it that often to be honest but every time I have, it's been a pretty painless process.

Ron 70

[clare]

Thanks that all sounds encouraging.I presume if you are a couple you both have to take out the ?60 membership ?

[sanity girl]

I've used zipvan but not zipcar and my experiences have always been positive.

[therealsilverfox]

I've used it for four years and never looked back. You ahve to plan in advance if you want anything around peak, but I've never found this to be a problem and I'm not the most organised! They have a zero excess policy but it's expensive and if you do want this added reassurance - then you can find it for a fraction of the price elsewhere. Whenever I've had any issues - they've always sorted it promptly. I'm a convert and a slightly wealthier one because of it.

[Medley]

Generally works v well indeed. We have one on our street in HOP and it's almost always available. Bargain really.

Only issues we had with them was when some delightful person took out the mirror of our Zipvan, whereupon we had to pay some sort of charge - which was basically a tax on honesty as we could have not reported it.

And we once returned it something 1.5 mins late (the car wasn't booked for another 2 days) and they whacked on their charge for that. But I protested and they took that off.

[MarkE]

Would echo previous comments - moved to ED without a car and never saw the need to buy one. Even if we abused it we'd not come close to the cost of owning and running our own car.

I actually find the availablity at short notice to be pretty good - i can usually get a car for an evening with only a few hours notice and one for a full day at the weekend with a week's notice.

Only had one bad experience in two years (someone had failed to leave the keys in the car and I had to trek into Elephant & Castle to collect one), and they're usually pretty comfortable and clean.

Also only ?2.50 extra a month for a second driver on the account, which is pretty decent.

[Jakido]

Look out for introductory offers - Time Out had a year for ?35 recently (incl ?35's worth of driving credit!).

[bridgetm]

My partner and I have used zip car for about 4 years. We don't use it that often but when we want to go on short trip or do shopping for big furniture. The only problem as said above is knowing the exact time you need the car for. You can extend your trip while out though which works great.

If you want extra insurance, to completely remove the excess it is ?14.95 a month but you can add this on and off depending on when you're using it.

If you do the maths, it's much cheaper than owning a car!

[Loz]

I always had a car - never considered not having it. But I took a career break that ended six months ago and had sold my car before that to help fund it. Since returning, I've not bought another car, but used Zipcar and Zipvan. I thought it would be a temporary thing, but between Zipcars and internet supermarket shopping I've realised I don't actually need a car.

With insurance, maintenance, road tax and depreciation it would cost you minimum ?1000 a year to have a car. Even if you factor in the zero excess insurance, if you only generally do short hops around London, then Zipcar is the way to go. Plus you get Zipvans available to you. And they are *very* handy.

[antantant]

Massive Zipcar fan. As mentioned above, check out a separate annual insurance excess reduction policy like icarinsurance.com or similar and look for the car club cover option.

[clare]

Thanks everyone.

Really useful and so far pretty positive :)

[tfwsoll]

Thanks to those people who suggested separate excess insurance - hadn't thought of that!

One of the other positives is not having that impending dread when your vehicle goes in for an MOT. In my case, my car was regularly vandalised whilst parked outside my flat.

[EDAus]

Unfortunately our experience with Zipcar has not been as positive the main problems being:

1) dirty vehicles - chicken bones, take away rubbish, some oily patches on the window that even with window cleaner did not come off, dirt and plant materials in the car etc

2) no fuel, having to change plans and spend time from your booking filling up the car

3) problems with the car that they emailed us to fix e.g. tyre pressure - took 20 mins of our booking to sort out

4) damage to the car - someone had tried to move something too large inside and damaged the centre glove box and inside of the car

5) bookings being moved - we have booked a car on a street near us, at the last minute we received a text stating the booking had been moved to another vehicle on the other side of East Dulwich over 15 minutes walk away from the original booking. When we called they told us eventually someone had written off the car we booked, nothing else was left so we had to put up with whatever was available or go without.

6) unreliable no car in the bay - when I called them I was told to search the street which I did for 15 mins in the rain with arms full of shopping. Eventually I asked them to track the vehicle, they refused to tell me what had happened to the car, after requesting to speak to someone more senior I was told that the car had been tracked and was miles away, basically the person had not bothered to return it. They transferred the booking to another car which was again over 15 mins walk away as it was the only option available at zero notice. As a nice touch they started the booking charge straight away so I was paying to walk to alternative car. We ended up an hour and half late for our appointment.

Each time we have complained and they state that the issue/s will be dealt with directly with the member etc but in our experience it is getting worse rather than better.

We have started using Enterprise in Peckham Rye, they have been more helpful friendly and reliable.

[newtoedf]

Sounds like a pretty bad experience for you EDAus. Our experiences have been very different though and almost all positive, we've certainly never had a dirty or damaged vehicle although the one which is in our street did get written off a while back and it was a pain while we were waiting to get a new one. I spoke to someone at the Council about it at the time to try to get the replacement speeded up and he said that one in particular was more heavily used.

I have found that I don't use it as much as I thought I might, it usually works out cheaper to take the bus to B&Q and get a taxi back for example. For more than a 2 day trip it usually works out better to hire from avis etc.

I checked recently and you are allowed to put a bike rack on it which sounds promising for a few cycling trips!

[clockworkorange]

Edaus- where is enterprise on peckham rye. Thought nearest was old Kent road? Would love one nearby.