Zipcar, now 50% cooler
Zipcar sent out an email the other day announcing that they were about to launch a redesigned site.
If you don’t know about Zipcar yet, you should. It’s an hourly car rental service that helps car-deprived people in cities like NYC, Boston, and San Francisco get a car for those vital runs to Ikea or Costco, or daytrips to places where public transportation does not serve. (While it is true that most worthwhile destinations are served by some sort of public transportation, be it subways or commercial airlines, there are, believe it or not, places worth going where Continental or the MTA do not deign to run.)
Zipcar is fast, convenient and (relatively) cheap. Where else can you have the joy of driving a mini for $12 per hour?
The Zipcar experience, according to the online demo, is about to get even better. Their new flash-based website appears to make finding an available car matching your preferred time, location and style much easier. Plus, it makes heavy use of Google maps, which I adore.
The new system looks so cool that I want to rent a car just so I can have an excuse to use it.
March 16th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Zipcar may be one of the greatest things ever in the world, ever. We decided to rent out our parking space for $200 a month, and sign up for Zipcar’s $200/month plan instead. Factor in the other fixed costs of car ownership (like insurance) and you’re looking at $300 a month you’d just be flushing away by owning a car - not even building up in “car equity.” The best part is the flexibility. From home, we have 8 cars within 1 block - 2 Volvos, 2 Elements, an Escape, a Mazda, and 2 Scions. From work, within 3 blocks I have a Matrix, a Prius, and a BMW 330 (drool). No maintenance, no gas, no car washes, no headaches.
I can’t say I’m in love with the new flash website - I liked being able to use the non-flash version from my PDA, but the google map interface is totally lickworthy.
One of my favorite uses in NY is late-night pickups from JFK. The taxi lines can be way long after hours, and they make you stand outside in the cold like cattle. 2 hour Zipcar rental (@ $8.00) + bridge toll (@ 9.00) and you still come in only marginally above the sketchy shuttle services, and cheaper than the fixed rate into Manhattan. It even has FastTrak, so you can hop in the car literally without a penny.
I don’t know if I can say enough great things about them.
March 17th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Yeah, I used Zipcar last time Jannine came back into the city from California. Her flight was delayed, which was a bit of pain (had to extend the return time a couple times). But still, it was definitely less than taking a cab.
The $200 plan sounds perfect for SF, where you need a car SOMETIMES, but if you live in the right place, you only need it every once in awhile.
On the other hand, for NYC, the rent-by-the-hour plan is ideal, because you may only need a car once every month or two.
I didn’t think about Flash incompatibility with my BB. That’s a major pain. Maybe they will run a parallel non-flash version, or is that too much to ask for?