Eric's Estimate

Zipcar In Vancouver… kick ass?

Posted on April 12, 2010 by EricNo Comments

I’ve written about zipcar before, but my blog has changed a lot since then and the post has been lost.

For that reason I wanted to touch on my experience with Zipcar in Vancouver once more.

I signed up with Zipcar about 3 years ago because having a convertible rear wheel drive car I didn’t have wheels during the winter.

What is zipcar?

It’s basically a car coop that allows you to reserve a car from your cell phone or computer and then go and pick one up and drive it for your reserved time.

Sounds awesome, right? That’s what I thought too so I signed up and used it… and used it a fair bit. So here’s my experience:

The cars that Zipcar offer are pretty cool. You can pick up a Mini Cooper, Honda Civic, or Toyota Prius… they have trucks and SUVs and even an Audi – though I forget what kind.

The locations of the cars that Zipcar has is pretty good too. I found one close to my work, and about 8 that were pretty close to my home. The Zipcars are spread out around Vancouver so that you don’t have to walk too far once you reserve one.

The signup is cheap, and you get a nifty card that can open up the cars.

Once you need a car you just reserve your Zipcar online or on your phone, head on down to the location of the car and swipe your card over the windsheild… this will open up the car and the keys are inside… pretty cool, huh?

You drive it around and then bring it back… though bring it back on time because the penalty for a late arrival is pretty hefty.

I can see the point of the high penalty price though because if someone else has it reserved after you it’s a pain in the ass for them to not have the car available.

I was thinking that it would be kinda difficult to keep track of the time when the car was due back to it’s home, but actually Zipcar sends you a text message to your phone to remind you… that’s kick ass!

Plus, if you have an iPhone you can even download a Zipcar app that allows you to find and open the Zipcar once you’ve reserved it.

I don’t have an iPhone… nor do I want one… but I think that’s a pretty cool feature.

All in all I use the Zipcar whenever my car is off the road and it’s very convenient. It’s not the cheapest option, but it’s really the best one for my purpose.

If you want to check out Zipcar in Vancouver or any of the other locations in North America you can actually get 25 bucks just for signing up through my link… plus I get 25 bucks in my account so we can both help eachother out.

Here’s the link to Zipcar’s website and the offer… or you can hit the banner at the top of this page.