Zip Cars

[PBobs]

Has anyone used Zip Cars in the SE22 area - would be good to understand availability etc? If not Zip Cars, anyone have experience of anything similar locally?

[therealsilverfox]

I've used them for 7 years in SE22. Pretty easy to find a car, as long as you plan a little ahead. Cars always well maintained.

[Lowlander]

Never had any problems with availability.

However I found that uber/minicabs are a cheaper option (for me anyway). Worth doing the maths...

[PBobs]

Thanks for the info - useful to know.

[Cedges]

I had a discounted membership for a year but only used it the first time as unless you pay the additional (hefty I thought) insurance premium, you are liable to pay a ?500 excess for any damage/accident even in the event that its a proven non fault claim. I felt that a ?500 risk for someone else's idiot driving was too much. Something to bear in mind maybe.

[wulfhound]

I used them for a year and had a similar experience to Lowlander, so didn't renew the ?50 membership when it ran out.

But when my bank offered me a free year's membership, was on it like a shot.

Here's the thing: you pay for all the time the car is away from the space.

So for day trips around the London suburbs, the full day hire rate of ?60 ish is very expensive compared to Uber unless you're going more than 15ish miles.

For multi day trips, even though it's much more convenient than a conventional rental, the rates are so much higher that (for me at least) it's worth the extra hassle to got and pick up the regular car, being about ?15/day cheaper.

So in my experience, the sweet spot for ZipCar tends to be:

- Day trips over 12 miles. Great for trips to the beach & tourist attractions around the Home Counties - too far to Uber, too long on public transport.

- Day trips where you're driving to more than one place.. visitor attraction & then on to a friend/relative's house, then home.

- Overnight breaks, maybe two-night breaks at a stretch, their 3 day rate is ?175.

So then the question is really whether you do enough of that to justify the ?50/year membership.

I genuinely can't fault the service. The cars are clean, well maintained and good quality (especially the Golfs), the customer service is helpful and thorough. It's just not quite as easy as I'd like to make the sums add up.

[Lazero]

I've joined fairly recently, though I was a member of theirs back when the company was called Streetcar. There's often a deal available if you search around on voucher websites or somewhere like money saving expert. I got 1 year membership for ?30 and a credit equivalent to 3 hours of driving, which seems a common deal.

I was also worried about the ?750 excess, particularly as I've read online about people being charged even when the damage was done outside of their rental period (e.g. someone keying the car overnight). You can reduce the excess, but I think their charges are a rip-off - ?70/ year for a ?250 excess or ?100 for ?0 excess. You can get specialist car hire excess insurance for about ?40/ year - and that covers me for Zipcar (the full ?750) as well as Avis, Hertz etc. in the UK and Europe.

[Cedges]

Lazero Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> You can get specialist car hire excess insurance

> for about ?40/ year - and that covers me for

> Zipcar (the full ?750) as well as Avis, Hertz etc.

> in the UK and Europe.

That's interesting - I didn't know that was a thing - who do you insure through?

[Roundabout]

Service needs to charge more per hour and cover ALL the cost of damage etc: No lump sum except for membership.

[Blah Blah]

Cedges Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Lazero Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > You can get specialist car hire excess

> insurance

> > for about ?40/ year - and that covers me for

> > Zipcar (the full ?750) as well as Avis, Hertz

> etc.

> > in the UK and Europe.

>

>

> That's interesting - I didn't know that was a

> thing - who do you insure through?

This would be of interest to me too.

Found this....

https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/vehicle-hire-insurance.aspx?cl=100&advertiserid=300271&gclid=Cj0KEQjwrte4BRD-oYi3y5_AhZ4BEiQAzIFxn1mjjlJVE4dgWz7tE2KRd4exUD8MVZYHuKldWuQIl90aAvVH8P8HAQ

Seems like a great idea for those of us that hire cars when we need them.

[PBobs]

Again - thanks to all for the info, is very useful - especially the piece on specialist car excess, which sounds like it would tie in well with what I am looking for.

[Roundabout]

Blah Blah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Cedges Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Lazero Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> >

> > > You can get specialist car hire excess

> > insurance

> > > for about ?40/ year - and that covers me for

> > > Zipcar (the full ?750) as well as Avis, Hertz

> > etc.

> > > in the UK and Europe.

> >

> >

> > That's interesting - I didn't know that was a

> > thing - who do you insure through?

>

> This would be of interest to me too.

>

>

> Found this....

>

> https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/vehicle-hire-i

> nsurance.aspx?cl=100&advertiserid=300271&gclid=Cj0

> KEQjwrte4BRD-oYi3y5_AhZ4BEiQAzIFxn1mjjlJVE4dgWz7tE

> 2KRd4exUD8MVZYHuKldWuQIl90aAvVH8P8HAQ

>

> Seems like a great idea for those of us that hire

> cars when we need them.

Not sure ? hiring a Zip-Car? You have to be a member ? Not sure this insurance would cover a member of a club ? rather than an ordinary member of the public?

[Lazero]

Cedges Wrote:

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> That's interesting - I didn't know that was a

> thing - who do you insure through?

I went with these guys: http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

I think there were 2-3 others I found, but can't recall who they were. It worked out better for me to do an annual one as I do 1 or 2 longer (1 week) rentals via Avis a year, and this pays for itself before I even get to Zipcar usage.

I called them before I signed up to explicitly check that it covered all of my likely usage and they do. There were a couple of exclusions but they didn't apply to me. I believe one was vans (so even Zipvans), and the other was a type of car rental I'd never used before - something more like the sharing of private vehicles I think.

[OD]

I also have a pay as you go ZipCar membership, as a result of not renewing (I was with StreetCar before they were taken over). I find the pricing is now so expensive - which is why I didn't renew - unless you are using the vehicle for a couple of hours e.g. needing to move and pick stuff with ZipVans etc.

There is certainly a level of convenience of walking to pick up/drop off a car a few streets away, unmatched by the regular car hire, however the regular car hire places seem consistently cheaper for longer/weekend car hire than ZipCar.

Like others I have specialist care hire insurance. I purchased from icarinsurance.com.

[Blah Blah]

I agree that other car rental is far cheaper, esp at weekends.

[kibris]

Same here if you dont want to get done over with a charge just take a photo of the car after you drop it off back in its space. Then that way you have some cover