I have a monthly plan of $50. So zipcar charges me $50 on day 15th of every month and the deal is that I can use that $50 for my reservation. Today is Feb 14. I rent a zipcar and drove for 2 hours. It was $22 and I thought that should be covered by the $50 I paid on Jan 15 because I didn't rent any this month. I was wrong. The story was amazing: I was told one minute ago on the phone with zipcar that the $50 bucks expires on the 13th every month. So every month on the 14th, no matter what I rent, I need to pay in addition to the $50. Thanks zipcar to create this wonderful trick! This one star is for your creativity. And I closed my account officially. read more

Zipcar sucks - if you reserve a car, it may or may not be there when you get there. It may or may not be clean. It may or may not have gas. There may or may not be a space to park it upon return. And, if you have a problem, they may or may not be helpful or polite. So, if you want to take a chance the next time you need a car, try Zipcar. read more

I experienced terrible customer service just now. This is my second attempt to close my account. I have no had a personal car for over two years and closed this service then. I just found out they charged me the annual fee still last year and are trying to do so again this year. I keep getting notices about my past due balance, yet when I call they tell me my account is in fact closed. Yes I can still log in and got an email just today about a billing problem. Don't join zipcar! the customer service rep was argumentative and rude on top of it. read more

They say that pride goeth before a fall.... I recently made an overnight zipcar reservation which, to their credit, is a great deal. $30 for 630 pm to 830 am, you can rationalize it as $15 per commute with your own dedicated parking spot in the morning when you get to work. Awesome. Everything went smoothly, including the email I received about an hour after returning the car that confirmed I had returned on time. Two days pass, and all of a sudden I'm receiving an email that says I actually returned the car a half hour late. Now, they said, I had to pay the full daily cost of renting that particular car ($88) and pay a $50 late fee on top of that. I immediately called them, and the guy I talked to was clearly trying to retain as much of this new trumped up fee as possible. He told me that he could waive the late fee but that the day rate of $88 still stood. If I wanted to get the rate back down to $30, I would have to take it up with the local office. Not only does this make no sense, it's clearly just a test of my will, since the local office doesn't return phone calls and tries to conceal their phone number as much as possible. Luckily for me, I still had the original email that confirmed I had returned the car on time, so I was given an email address to forward that email to. Later in the day, I received a new email. They were refunding me, bringing the rate back to $30. BUT, THEY MAINTAINED THAT I HAD TAKEN THE CAR BACK A HALF HOUR LATE! AFTER I JUST FORWARDED THEM THEIR OWN EMAIL SAYING THAT IT WAS RETURNED ON TIME!. At this point, I could see the writing on the wall, I knew that every transaction with them from here on out would be a hassle. I promptly told them that they were wrong and that I didn't want to be a customer anymore. They emailed me back with confirmation that my account had been cancelled. So let's emphasize this last point, shall we. I got what I wanted, which was to get back the money that they tried to swindle from me. As they gave me this refund, they maintained that I was lying to them, as if I was just trying to get out of my commitment to pay extra when I return a car late. What do they have to gain from this? Who would want to remain a customer with a company that blatantly calls them a liar when trying to settle a financial dispute? It's like they're working out of spite. They weren't always this bad, by the way. I put the blame squarely on AVIS, the company that acquired them. AVIS is going to run this company straight into the ground and it's a damn shame. Good riddance, Zipcar. read more

I've been using zipcar for a while now. It's an amazing service but be warned!!! They will milk you for every dollar! Random charges as well as over-charges are frequent and take week(s) to be refunded. Zipcar- a great idea, just not implemented very well. If only they weren't money hungry goblins! Lol read more

Zipcar member since 2008. Until 3 weeks ago was able to transact all business via their web site and never had a problem. Purchased the damage fee waiver for my most recent trip; hit a pole exiting a parking space; called Zipcar immediately to report the accident. Received an email the next day explaining that I'd be hearing from the claims adjuster within 24-72 hrs and that my account would be suspended pending the results of the investigation. OK, reasonable. Not reasonable: never hearing from the claims adjuster; reaching out to Zipcar repeatedly and getting ZERO RESPONSE. Not even an attempt to set expectations for how long it would take to resolve the issue. Here's what I've learned: Zipcar doesn't care at all about its customers, just the money they can collect in the short term. I guess this model works if they keep signing up enough new members? But I cannot get my head around why Zipcar is OK forfeiting money I would otherwise have happily spent with them in the future. Now? I'll be cancelling my membership and encouraging others to do the same. read more

I think the low average rating for Zipcar says a lot about how the company operates to begin with. Of course it's a great idea: affordable membership fees, pay per hour, no need to pay for insurance, maintenance, or gas... Yeah, the idea is great, but the company's execution is not just bad/inefficient, but the customer service can be absolutely ridiculous in both policy and conduct. 1. What I mean by that is, I've been fighting zipcar to get a rightful refund for weeks, I've contacted them 3 times by email and over the course of 20 days did not receive a reply. I've spoken to 2 representatives on the phone since then, and while I did get more answers from them, their hands are tied by company policy that is unfair to Zipcar customers. Summary: Horrible policies and unresponsive customer service. 2. Many things can go wrong, and many things will, many times I have used Zipcar many times since coming to college. It is a NECESSARY EVIL because I go to school in a very remote location and the nearest grocery store is a ~30 minute walk away, and when you're crunching during finals or just plain tired, you can't really commit that kind of time. So I use Zipcar to go grocery shopping, to get to the nearest airport or train station, to make visits to the doctor, etc. Here's a list just off the top of my head of things that have gone wrong and their resolution: a. Zipcar would not start when I was trying to leave the grocery store. Spent about 10-15 minutes trying to get this to work, fully aware that the time in my reservation was running out and that being late would result in a $60 charge. That is a stressful situation. Car battery appeared red, and the car started but not the engine. I called Zipcar. They said they disabled the engine because I waited 30 seconds to start the car after swiping in, so this is an automatic response... It's a silly response, and also either untrue or inaccurate because I tested this system in my next reservation and had no problems. b. Zipcar provides a card for you to buy gas with so you don't have to be charged, but these gas cards are often rejected from gas machines due to being expired or some other error, and so I have spent out-of-pocket money on gasing up the car. Yes, they are supposed to refund you, and I have had mixed responses with this in the past: quick refunds in the full amount, or as of late, needing to send multiple emails and contact multiple people to get my money back. c. Leaving items in the car by accident is a disaster. I brought furniture and two tennis racquets from home, forgot them in the trunk. Called a rep who said I could swipe back in and grab them within a certain time limit, but I explained that the card swiper on the car was broken, which was why I ENDED UP STRANDED 180 MILES AWAY FROM MY ORIGIN POINT FOR 2 HOURS on the trip I had just completed (that's a whole other story and a nightmare, and though it is the biggest example of how unreliable Zipcar technology & policy are, I hope you get my point by now without me explaining that). So, their car was broken, and my items were inside, and the policy states that I should be able to swipe in and get them for free but the representative told me there was nothing she could do for me if their car was malfunctioning, and that if I really wanted to, I could PAY FOR ANOTHER RESERVATION in the future to TRY TO GET IN again, and reclaim my items... So I would say the policies are unfair and unhelpful. d. A Zipcar at my location was rear-ended and the Zipcar people bungee-corded the crumbled trunk shut, then resumed to try to sell the car out for reservations. That seems completely screwy to me. e. Probably the scariest one: Zipcar will not let you swipe back into your car if you are in a cellphone dead-zone. So, if you're driving around in the boonies or any remote location with spotty cell service, you'd better not get out of your car, because you won't be able to get back in. This has happened to me, and I wasted a lot of the time I paid for (hours) waiting on hold and waiting for a car mechanic (not Zipcar, who was very nice) arrive to break the door open for me... Ridiculous system, stupidly unreliable. Summary: Unrealiable technology and systems in place. I use Zipcar because it is a necessary evil at this point in my life as a student in a remote location who still has to run basic errands like go grocery shopping, go to the doctor, and get to bus stations. I would say 50-60% of my reservations have had something go wrong, and horribly. I have put up with Zipcar for a while now but the most recent and egregious instance of being let down by this company has really shocked me, and what's worse are their efforts to make things right: they gave me $20 of credit that expires in a few weeks. Unfortunate. I would NOT recommend Zipcar because you WILL be let down, or screwed, or even stranded because of how unreliable the company is. If another company is available, go with THEM instead of Zipcar. read more

I recently moved from Berlin, Germany to the U.S. and my employer subsidizes a Zipcar membership. While in Germany there are several competing car-sharing companies, here Zipcar seems to be a monopoly and my experience so far has been horrible. I hope some other car-sharing companies will start up here to force Zipcar to improve, but for now I'm back to car rentals. Zipcar is really bad -- here is some venting: 1) My first reservation for a Zipcar ride was moved to a different car just a couple of hours before I was about to take off in the early morning. So, they send me an email in the middle of the night: My reservation was at 8:30 a.m., and the email was send only around 1 a.m. So, I didn't check the email, stood there at the wrong car very frustrated and ended up taking a cab. 2) My second reservation was also moved, but this time I at least knew what to expect. What I still find irritating is that they moved me to a car with a slightly higher rate and just apply that higher rate -- it's the equivalent of an airline bumping you up from economy to business class because the airline overbooked and then the airline charges you the business class fare. Airlines understand that if they mess up they don't get to charge you more for it. Only a monopoly company like Zipcar could even think of charging you extra for their mess-ups. It was only a couple of dollars, but I find their arrogant attitude grating. 3) Zipcar just seems to have 30 min intervals and a $50 fine when you're 1 min. late offer. This is a very old-fashioned business model. Berlin car-sharing offers billing by the minute, leave your car anywhere on the street, or also book for some time and get billed separately for the time you reserved and the miles driven. read more

I am very upset about the low level of service I got from zipcar. I paid 400 dollars for 5 days of zipcar and a week after they tried to charge my card an extra $152.19, I tried to contact someone who could help but was repeatedly put off and told someone would get back to me in 48 hours on 5 or 6 separate occasions, nobody ever got back to me, this was a year and a half ago. Last week I tried to change over to a new state and hopefully get this fiasco fixed, I was told by billing that someone would get back to me in 48 hours, guess what? Nobody ever did. I need zipcar and I feel backed into a corner being strong armed out of my money. I wouldn't recommend zipcar to my enemies. I really wish enterprise cars hare was in Rhode Island. read more

Zip Car is NO substitute for owning a car. DO NOT RELY ON THEM! If you're over 25, you're better off going with a normal rental company. Once upon a time, about 3-4 years ago, Zipcar was great. The hourly and daily rates were cheap, and it was easy to get a car on a Saturday or Sunday, simply by booking 4-7 days in advance. Then it kept growing... and growing. And prices started skyrocketing. What used to be $6-10 per hour suddenly became $9-12 per hour. Then the economy tanked. And while prices didn't come down, people started giving up their cars and signing up for car-sharing, sending membership soaring. Suddenly you couldn't get the car you wanted on a Saturday or a Sunday without booking weeks or a month ahead. Then this week came the last straw. Since it's next to impossible to get a car on a Saturday or Sunday without booking a month in advance, I booked a car for Easter Sunday, to go drive out to see my family. Imagine my surprise when, without any kind of email or other warning, they charged my debit card for the entire cost of the reservation... a month before the actual reservation! This wouldn't be so bad with a credit card, but this is my debit card... now I'm out 100 bucks from my checking account and it will take at least several days to get my refund. After much digging on the company website, there was a small blurb about "if your credit card has been declined in the past, we will charge you in advance". What kind of a shady change in policy is that?? No email? No letter in the mail? No phone call? No three-strikes-and-you're-charged-in-advance?? I lost my debit card last fall and it was a nightmare getting a new card to replace it. Yes, it's my responsibility for losing the card but it's not like my credit card was declined due to overspending or giving them a stolen cc number. I've been a pretty responsible Zipcar customer in the past few years, returning on time, keeping the cars clean, driving safely, filling up the gas tank, and canceling with enough notice so that others could reserve the vehicle. I even raved, at one time, about how great it was. It's shocking and an enormous disappointment to see them treat their customers this way. I feel a little bit betrayed for the great word of mouth I spewed about them, only to have them slap me with this BS. Since they bought Flexcar and became the world's biggest car-sharing company, they seem to have lost focus of their customers and think that they can get away with whatever prices and policies they want. Please, please, PLEASE re-think your plans of giving up your car to car-share. It's simply not worth it. read more

I've been a member for many years, and I'm constantly on the verge of quitting. It's partially Zipcar's fault, and partially the fault of the bad apple members. I'm sick of late cars. I'm sick of dirty cars. I'm sick of missing cars. Most of all, I'm sick of people smoking in the cars. That's the thing that is keeping me from renewing my membership after it expires in July. I'm sick of the lack of respect inside the community of members. But Zipcar is also responsible for enforcing the rules and doling out fines and punishments. And if the bad apples aren't removed from the community, I just get more and more pissed off. Particularly this last time. I ended up being late to my doctor's appointment, used up 20 precious daytime minutes on my cell phone waiting for someone to talk to me, then I was transferred to a car I hate, AND charged for the higher hourly rate. Not cool, Zipcar. They are aware of my dissatisfaction, and have yet to make any attempt to make me less upset. So I don't know how I'm going to get everywhere I need to go, but I'll figure it out. Without Zipcar. I joined Yelp today so I could write this review. I'm that mad. And I want people to know. Something went wrong along the way with the company, and I think it has something to do with there not being any accountability for bad behavior. There's no pride left in the community. And for day rates, Enterprise is less expensive. read more

I suppose doing Zipcar is better than having to deal with paying for a car, parking and maintenance but I still find the service a bit inconvenient. It is often difficult to schedule a car at the time you require when you wait till a few days before and I am particularly irked by the fact that the first time you use a Zipcar in Boston you have to pay an additional $10 fee (that they don't tell you about until after you've signed up). The saving grace for Zipcar I think are the cute IKEA Zipcars which are pretty convenient to me and cost only around $6 or $7 an hour to rent. They are hard to book though, so book well in advance. Zipcar is best used when you plan a week or so in advance, book the car ahead of time, are able to get an IKEA car near you and don't run in to traffic. I get so stressed out if I get caught in traffic with only a few minutes left to return the car. I've never been late, but I've been awfully close. The stress! read more

My feelings are mixed. Yes, I like being able to rent a car at a moment's notice for an hourly rate. I rarely use Zipcar except when I have an out-of-town job interview or am moving to another apartment. I have no issues with customer service. If I ran into a problem beyond my control, they were understanding and always gave me an extra half-hour at no charge. However, I've run into many issues every time I've rented a Zipcar. Not one, but two times when I had to get gas, the gas card did not work. Upon calling customer service, they tell you to pay yourself and send them a copy of a receipt for a refund. Unfortunately I lost my receipt, so I cannot claim a refund, so that was $30-something bucks out of my pocket. I know that part was my fault, but the fact that the card did not work on the only two occasions I needed gas makes me question the card's reliability. I tried multiple times to get the card to work and followed the instructions. I also find the website a little confusing to navigate if I want to find certain information. Make sure you carefully observe the maps and directions, because sometimes a car may appear to be someplace it isn't. For example, one time I wanted a certain type of car, so I reserved one in the parking lot behind the Star Market on Commonwealth Ave according to the website; however, upon arriving at the parking lot, there was no Zipcar space. It turns out that it was actually in a space off an apartment on Naples Road. The last time I rented a Zipcar, I returned from a stressful day of interviews to find that there was a non-Zipcar in the space! I called customer service, and they told me Zipcar could not call a tow on the car. I guess the "Zipcars Only - All other vehicles will be towed" sign was pointless. The lot was full and cramped, so I could not park or wait there for towing service. Customer service told me to find a legal parking space, and if i had to pay, they would refund me the price of parking. This is Boston, I was already exhausted, and none of the lots close by provided you with a receipt of the parking costs. Luckily, I managed to find a free spot in a parking lot. i recently renewed my membership; however, I am questioning if I should renew next year as well. read more

We're getting a car. Our latest and greatest experience was renting a Zipcar for an evening so we could pick up our cats as we were moving. If you own cats, you know that cats hate car rides. HATE. So we decided to move them last after we moved out all our furniture and to move them late at night after attending a NE Revolution soccer game in Foxborough so they weren't stuck in traffic. That way, they would be at their new home in 20-30 minutes tops. So we wrestled them into their crates (which they also hate) and put them in the car. We stopped at a 24-hour Shaws on our way back to pick up kitty litter. I stayed in the car with the cats to try and calm them as best as I could. Husband returns after 5-7 minutes. Car won't start. Its about 2 am at this point. So we call Zipcar...because, hey--that's a Zipcar benefit, right? People to come and take care of you if the car fails? 1) We were told that we should just ask some passing person for a jump start. At 2 am in the MIDDLE of a major city, for chrissakes. What better way to advertise that we are stranded and ready to be mugged? 2) After arguing with us that it couldn't possibly be the battery, maybe we flicked our card wrong, etc., they finally decided to call in our request for a tow truck to jump our stalled car. This is 20 minutes into our contacting them. Our cats are pretty upset at this point and mewing constantly. We tell them about the cargo we have and that they need to send someone NOW. 3) We get a call back telling us it will be an hour or two. At 2 AM at night. They fully expected us to sit there until 3 AM or longer!? My husband cusses them out and says that they better have someone here a bit sooner than that. Magically, a tow pulls up. 4) The battery was beyond dead. It took several jumps and it was more than obvious to all of us that the car wasn't being maintained properly. The tow guy mentioned casually that he "jumps Zipcars all the time." 5) We got no apologies nor any offers of reimbursing us for our lost time sitting in the car. At all. In fact, they sounded indignant that they were having to send out a tow truck. 6) Finally got to our new home with two completely catatonic cats. The one, who is incredibly fussy and fastidious with his hygiene, had thrown up and urinated in his crate. We had to bathe him as soon as we got home (something else cats just LOVE). So we got to spend another hour hosing him off and trying to calm him down. It was 4 am before we all got to go to sleep. We looked into leasing a car the following day, but as luck would have it, we have family looking to get rid of an old coupe with low mileage that we're going to be getting for FREE. I'd rather pay money and gas and insurance and know that the car is actually being taken care of than trust Zipcar again. read more

For the most part I have been pretty happy with ZipCar since I gave up driving in 2008. The good: -They are available in Salem now! (I was missing them after I moved out of the city, it was a hassle to go into boston to rent a car and bring it back after I was done) -The hybrids are still cheap: $7! -I can rent a car for an hour to run an errand (like say bring my bf to work on a Saturday so he doesnt have to bike in), which I cannot do with Hertz. -One time the battery died in the car I had and they called us up to see what was wrong and if they could send someone to give us a jump. The bad: -They love to charge extra fees whenever they can. My biggest complaint (and the reason why I no longer take advantage of the $34 overnight rate on weekdays), is that if you get stuck in traffic on the return to the city, and can't get the car into its spot on time, they will cancel your $34 charge and bill you an hourly rate for the entire night. I was 25 minutes late once. I even called to tell them I was going to be late. I expected them to tack an extra half hour or hour charge onto my bill, but no. They changed the entire reservation and I ended up paying upwards of $90 for the car. I called to complain and they told me to read the fine print. And yup, its there. If the car isnt back on time, they charge regular rates for this promo. Wish I had known that before. -I need to book a car around a week in advance if I want to use one on the weekends. Usually this isnt a problem but once in a while I want to go shopping on a Saturday, and cannot find any cars. -There are only 5 cars in Salem. I wish there were more. -People don't leave enough gas in the car. I rented a car for an hour and got in to find less than a 1/4 tank. Knowing I would get charged for it, I had to go fill up and cut into my window of time. Annoying. -They bill me in weird ways. Like recently I owed them lets say $250. I was billed for $240 and have a balance of $10. When do they plan on charging me this ten dollars? Why not just take it all? And I never know when they are going to take my money, so if I book a car I have to make sure I have the cash the day I book, just in case. -One time I forgot my card at home. I called them to see if they could just unlock the door so I could DRIVE back home to get my card. I know they can unlock remotely, they did it for me one when my card was not working. But no, they refused. Said I would be billed for a replacement card, even though I explained, the card was only a mile away. This still beats the price of owning my own car, but lately I have been finding myself going through Hertz if I need a car for more than a couple hours. Prices are comprable and its easier to rent from them in most cases. read more

I really liked the idea of Zipcar and I was excited to use it. I have used Zipcar two times until now. The first time the car was not in it's place, I called customer service, it took about 30 minutes until we found the car somewhere else and a guy was smoking weed inside it. The next time, I planned a very important trip for 11:30 pm. The car was there fortunately, But there was no key inside it! The customer service didn't answer, I couldn't even cancel the trip since I had opened the car locks with my card. So I missed an important trip! All that being said, I will never plan an important trip with zipcar but I'll maybe use it for more flexible trips. I still like the idea but unfortunately it's not working in the way that it should work. read more

I have been Zipping since September and I have generally positive things to say though the cars are not always clean inside I have found. You kind of learn which cars get taken better care of and try to rent those. The cars at Brandeis are particularly bad. In the financial district they have been quite good I find. One at Brandeis had so many scrapes and dents on the outside (every quarter panel and door) and debris on the inside that I had to call twice just to leave a complete voicemail when I reported damage. Oh yeh you need to report damage when you unlock the car or expect to pay for it if the next driver reports it first and they don't know about it. Same with dirty cars. Best to report if it is bad and you don't feel like cleaning it for free. They do give a small rebate in that case as it takes some time. Of course in winter you have to expect a bit of grit on the floors as it is unavoidable unless you have a portable vacuum in your bag so they seem to understand that. I have also had a mini convertible that was undriveable due to a mirror being missing but I only lost a half hour as there was another mini parked next to it which was available. Great cars to drive. I have also found cars with less than 1/4 tank of gas but just report it they deal with your inconvenience. Also common to find a low tire sensor on in the car -perhaps drivers don't know where to fill them with air but that's a minor inconvenience and usually the sensor kicks in even when the tire is only 3-4 pounds from optimum so it is not a safety risk in most cases just hard on tires. Great to be able to drive quite a range of cars. And do buy one of the upgraded commitments -why pay an annual fee of $60. You will use the service more as you get comfortable with how easy it is! I am on a $75 a month minimum plan which works well right now but they have quite a range of monthly commitments with benefits for each. Sometimes I have wished I could rent one for more than 4 days which is their limit. Overall a tremendous idea that will continue to grow geographically and in terms of service options I suspect. read more

Customer service really sucks. It is so so bad, they need to do something about this, everytime I have a problem, I have to wait over 30 min and it takes about 30 more min for them to resolve any issue. It is really bad, very frustrating. I've been waiting for an hour and a half today! read more

As an update to my prior review, a representative from Zipcar reached out and ended up fixing my account so that I wasn't double-charged for changes to the booking out of my control. Great. However, I should not have to escalate my complaint in order for something to be done. Also, they are starting a pilot program, "Zip one-way" which is a taxi/Uber alternative. They have replaced most of the cars in South Boston with Zip one-ways, BUT the program is still in a pilot phase and hasn't been rolled out to the general population yet. I am wondering why the "regular" zip cars have been replaced with Zip one-ways when the metrics aren't there to support the change yet. read more

Literally HORRIBLE service after multiple problems with the car. It looks like they have been bought out be another company and they are just the worst now. Don't expect any help when you have problems. The app wasn't working, couldn't get into car, then couldn't get out of the garage the car was in, then there was no gas in the car, then when I went to get gas, the gas card didn't work. I had to call FIVE times to get help, all with major attitude and they pretty much told me to GF myself. I cannot believe the waste of money this service is. SAVE YOURSELF and AVOID. read more

Zipcar: You rent a car by the hour. Gas and insurance are included. I was a member for a number of years but dropped their service this past year when they started to get greedy. Pros: -Cars acceptable condition (compared to Hertz 24/7 which seems to not care at all) -Never had problems with billing or customer support. -The iPhone app is well made. Cons: -Greed. Zipcar was purchased by Avis in March 2013. Prices were increased from about $7-8/hr to $10-12/hr and higher Friday-Sunday. Annual membership fees were introduced (or perhaps they were present before, but I was never asked to pay them since I signed up before the fees; this changed when I tried to renew last fall). They also have a fat application fee now. -Additionally, they got rid of the late night 50% off special. You used to be able to shuttle a friend home in the middle of the night for $3.50. Now it's cheaper to Lyft. -It's cool that you can enter the car free up to 14 minutes early if it's sitting there, but if it's 15 minutes they will charge you extra automatically for 30 minutes. Why not just block a customer from opening the car? Is this "convenience", because what it looks like is you're trying to grab a few quick bucks that your customers didn't want to spend. -Too many high-end cars! What segment of your clientele wants to rent a bmw for $16/hr to go to the grocery store? Most of your fleet should be cheap hybrid insights/ford prius/etc (at $7/hr), with some pick-ups and SUVs. Conclusion: Zipcar used to be amazing, now it is simply better than the competition, which doesn't say much. read more

I had a terrible experience with them. I got overcharged twice because they claimed that I picked up the car earlier than I did. In both instances I waited before entering the car to make sure I don't pick it up too soon before reservation time and they still overcharged me. They claimed I picked it up earlier. No response to my requests for assistance with this issue either. Worst customer service ever. Another issue that happened at least 3 times is them changing the pick up location on me and then when I arrive the car does not open when I am already late for an important meeting. Overpriced and poor customer service. Stay away from them. read more

This is the best idea ever. I can use a car anyplace. I go to Framing ham, Zipcar, I go to Washington DC Zipcar, Bracketing's you get the idea. They didn't like my idea of the blow up friend so I can use the HOV lane, but hay why not? The cars are all new and it is much cheep-er than a rent a car, and is cooler than taking a cab. read more

I was a loyal zipcar customer for 2 years. I recently lost a debit card tied to my account, which I forgot about and my membership was suspended. I understand that it was my mistake; however, I never received any emails or phone calls letting me know. Instead I received a letter from a collection agent. I tried to sort the ordeal out over the phone with Zipcar, but to no avail. They will not renew my membership and sent a pretty upsetting email. As someone with excellent credit, the lack of response and immaturity of the staff at Zipcar is quite disconcerting. Save your money and use Enterprise or another car-sharing service. Better yet, you could use Uber or take public transportation, all are better options than Zipcar. read more

I love love love zipcar. I moved to Boston 4 years ago with a car that really sat in the driveway and I finally sold, Zipcar is a perfect replacement. I've never had trouble reserving a car in my niehgbourhood as long as I look at least a day in advance and the cars are always clean and ready to go. I think i my year membership I've filled the tank 3 times....this is excluding the two times I forgot to..SORRY! the thing you have to remember it's a community car and so there are some membership rules that if you break suck for you, Ive paid the price a couple of times, like getting stuck in traffic and bringing the car back late, or forgetting to fill up the tank.... Zipcar is great for day trips to the grocery store or target etc, but the rates aren't so great if you want to have the car for ore than one day..but then again I recently rented a car for the weekend and paid more with the cost of insurance and gas. The one and only problem with zipcar...make sure you know exactly where the car is before you go...don't leave the house with a vague idea, if you haven't walked past it or rented the car before print out the map, trust me I've been lost in my neighbourhood looking for the right alley and gotten well it's in between tremont and Shawmut.....so definitely really know where the car is before you go because the staff of zipcar don't! Other than that if you're looking for a car in the city without owning a car this is absolutely the best way to go read more

Cars are always dirty and most of them in bad condition. They charge people for deductibles but don't repair the cars. Right now, the one I'm renting, there's no visibility through windows. You have to clean them first. Plus, the service is no cheap at all. Very expensive. read more

My husband and I needed to book a car for a wedding today, so earlier this week we booked a zipcar (Honda HRV) for 24 hours for today/tomorrow. At exactly 1 PM (when our reservation was to begin), we received an email saying our reservation had been changed to a different car (Mercedes C300) at a different location. When we went to the new location, we noticed that the car's trunk was open. We tried closing it, but it was clear that the latch was broken. We called zipcar and told them about it and how we needed a new car ASAP to make the wedding. The customer service woman was completely unhelpful and inconsiderate of our dilemma - she said there were no other cars available for the times we booked and asked if we could change our times, at which point my husband reiterated that we were renting a car to go to a wedding, which is not something that can be changed. My husband then asked if we could speak to someone else, to which she replied that nobody else would be able to help us in booking a new car for the time we needed. Exasperated, we cancelled our trip, although my husband noticed that he was still charged for a 24 hour trip that only lasted less than 15 minutes (all of which consisted of trying to shut the broken trunk and speaking to an unhelpful customer service representative). He then called back again and got another representative who at least properly cancelled the charge, which the first person (intentionally?) did not do. While this in of itself was bad enough to warrant a bad review, we were flabbergasted when we saw a review left by a gentleman 3 hours ago who mentioned that he had many troubles with Zipcar regarding a Mercedes C300 which had a trunk which did not shut. If this was indeed the same car and zipcar gave us this car (knowing it was damaged) after cancelling our original reservation with no advance notice, I cannot emphasize how disgusted I am with them. Do yourself a favor and avoid this "car rental" company at all costs unless you are looking to book a car for a 20 minute ride to Wegmans...and even then I wouldn't book a zipcar, as it is clear that they are not concerned about the safety of their customers if they are auto-booking them to cars that have safety issues which have been previously reported to them. read more

Fees. Fees. Fees. If zipcar could figure out a way to monetize yelp we would be paying a fee to review zipcar. 3.75 to call customer service 15 to replace an rfid card ( anyone who knows an EE major knows how cheap RFID chips are and I cant imagine how much cheaper they are in bulk). read more

Ok, reading the reviews from folks bitching about the late fees....um, don't return it late, dillweeds. Sorry, but there are fees with going past your allowed time in almost every arena. And it is SO simple to extend the time as I have been able to do all the time and on the occasions we couldn't extend the res, I spoke with a Zipcar rep (AT NO COST) and was able to get a ten minute grace period. Seriously, I can't see how most people in Boston and Greater Boston could afford to own a car when Zipcar provides FREE GASOLINE (is it that hard to fill up a tank when you're not paying for the gas??) and you can park in COMMERCIAL PARKING SPACES. Boggles my mind, I tell ya..... read more

I can't even begin to explain how unhappy I am with the Zipcar in the Hyde Park/Fairmount Hill area. 1) Each time I have reserved a car from the Hyde Park or Pingree Street locations it either smells like cigarette smoke or weed. 2) I reserved from the new Fairmount location today and the car was missing when I arrived to pick it up. In its place was a car that looked as though it had been in an accident. I called Zipcar directly and spoke to Molly. I ended up having to change my reservation to a car over at the Pingree Street station which, you guessed it, smelled like weed. On top of that when I asked to be reimbursed for my total reservation, I was told I could be credited for only the first hour. Unacceptable Zipcar. Completely unacceptable. I'll be hard pressed to find reasons to continue using your service anymore. It's not worth the money or aggravation. Thanks for nothing. read more

Literally created a yelp account just to review this AWFUL company. The concept is great in theory but every time I've rented a car - the car has either not been there on time or most recently I arrived to a zipcar with a dead battery. Zipcar refused to switch me to a new car and left me in a total lurch holiday weekend. The employees were rude over the phone and then failed to issue me a refund. If there were ZERO STARS I'd say that would be a more accurate rating. Great concept but in reality totally useless and an absolute waste of your time. Save yourself the hassle and use a legitimate rental car agency. read more

Zipcar is generally a fine service that does exactly what you hope it does. I have been a reasonably pleased user for somewhere going on ten years. However, it's clear that its customer service game needs attention, especially reading these reviews. The fact that there is no 'front desk' at Zipcar that you can call without having a member number at the ready - in one example - is something I as a longtime member would pay a bit more for. When I rent from a nearby car rental agency - the people in direct competition with Zipcar - I am with alacrity and am always able to reach someone by phone, certainly without knowing the workaround codes that Zipcar users need to figure out to get a person on the line. Customer service does matter, and that doesn't mean a web site. Zipcar clearly doesn't put much stock in customer service issues because it's the only game in town in its class. And competition will eventually come, as it always does. I hope for all our sake it will arrive soon and apply the needed pressure. read more

good idea, horrific customer service. I'll gladly pay more to get better service from another company. Again, if you are without issue, zipcar is great. However, if you have any issues... the nightmare begins. It's your call as to whether you want to take that chance. read more

For starters, the car was not clean when I entered the vehicle. Second, over an hour before my ride was due, I attempted to extend my time as traffic and weather conditions were preventing me from getting to the dropoff location on time. When I attempted to extend, it stated that someone had the vehicle immediately after me. I never knew someone had the vehicle after me until I tried to extend it. When I called zipcar customer service, I was on hold for a long time and the agent was very rude. When I expressed my concerns in regards to not cleaning the vehicle prior to me transferring it to someone else (as this is in direct violation of Massachusetts COVID-19 guidelines), she was extremely dismissive and said if I don't get the car back on time, I'll be fined a late fee. When I tried getting to a gas station to fill up the gas, the gas card was not working. I tried multiple locations and found out the gas card was not working. I was told by the agent at this point to just return it "as is" which I did. Once I returned the vehicle, I was charged for all the mileage I had to expend to find a working gas station plus a late fee (which after talking to four different agents, they finally said they would refund the late fee). I can honestly say with all the negative comments online and my personal experience, this ruined my anniversary with my partner and I will never be using Zipcar again and will be informing the Massachusetts Department of Health immediately of their lack of due diligence for sanitizing the vehicle in between each usage. read more

Zipcar is great. If you don't understand the concept, let me explain. After you sign up ($100 deposit which you get back when you end your membership, $50 annual fee, and $25 application fee), you go online and view the available cars (tons all over Boston), block out the time for a specific car you want, show up at the car, swipe your card to get in and drive off. The rates are between $8.50-$12.50 an hour and $60-$90 for an entire 24 hours. Given that they pay gas and insurance even the daily rate is better than renting a car or getting a cab. The cars are always clean and they've just installed XM radio in most if not all of them. Your credit card is automatically debitted, so it's truly having all the convenience of a car at a fraction of the cost. read more

Zipcar is the perfect way to get around if you don't have a car and only need one for a short period of time. I'm taking one to Canada next weekend and I figured it was actually cheaper than a rental car...and much more convenient! I pick up the car one block from my apartment, and pay a flat day rate (between $60-$90 depending on the car) and get 125 free miles per day, including gas and insurance. Extra miles are only $0.20. read more

Zipcar CHARGES a CONVENTION FEE of $10 per name on the account! In other words, if you rent in Boston, you must pay this fee. If you rent in Cambridge, you are not charged! I have a second driver on my account, which I pay an extra $25 for, and I still had to pay $10 for their "convention fee". This extra cost is a punishment for the comsumer. I wrote Zipcar and told them to pay the convention fee! Why should we be charged?! They just don't care. The city and Zipcar make money on this ridiculous convention fee charged because we may park in Boston using a zipcar. Does anyone else out there resent this charge??? read more

Here's the bottom line: ZipCar does what it's says it does. You can rent cars by the hour and get mediocre insurance and gas for free (exception: insurance sucks if you are under 21). In some cities, like Boston, it doesn't really have competitors so if you need a car and don't own one, I'd recommend it. But ZipCar doesn't make things easy. Here's are the biggest problems: 1. Some people are jerks and you share the cars with them. If they are late or park the car in the wrong spot, you're screwed and ZipCar might help if you call them and complain but it's going to take at least 15 minutes, probably longer and if you're on a tight schedule (which you probably are) you're f*cked. 2. They have issues with billing. When you say you want to be canceled or ask to get a refund because the car didn't work, wasn't there, or was late or whatever (it's not that common), they will bill you, claim to refund you and you may or may not get it. They will pretend you did. 3. They will nickel and dime you to death with fees. Some of these are taxes (varies by state/city) they pass on, and some are just retarded--such as charging you $60 if you are an "occasional driver," switch to extra value member and switch back. They're gas cards rarely work so you have to pay yourself (or get hit with a fee), but don't expect to get reimbursed without a scanned receipt and good luck with their billing. (Some of these fees make sense, as they punish the jerks you share the cars with. See #1.) 4. Sometimes the cars are hard to find because the descriptions are bad. If they are parked in a garage and an attendent isn't there you're probably going to have problems getting out as the cards/passes that open gates are hit or miss. To compound this problem sometimes Zipcar will change your reservation to a cheaper car to leave open the possibility of renting out the more expensive one (this would be if you have some kind of special like a daily or nightly rental on weeknights). I don't remember if they tell you about this but they switched me to a Civic in the same lot and I hate the Civics they buy, the 2011s, the first in a decade or something that Consumer Reports wouldn't recommend, so it annoyed me. 5. A lot of ZipCar drivers are terrible. They just annoy the hell out of me when I'm riding my bike in Cambridge. Turn signals are not optional and no you can't cut through the bike lane any more than you could cut through any lane or the sidewalk. They can't do anything about this but it feeds into #1 above. It's kind of hard to believe ZipCar doesn't have more competitors at this point because they don't exactly have a great corporate culture or cheap cars or any special technological advantages. I guess they just benefit from returns to scale (in Boston especially as it is their home turf). They will milk you with the small amount of monopoly power it gives them, but not THAT much so I'm not canceling my account and most people probably shouldn't. read more

Utterly unreliable: a service that was originally intended to help individuals has proceeded to find every way that it can to fail them. I never write Yelp critiques (I usually use it for the purpose of praise), but I feel compelled to place pressure upon this company. They essentially cancel a pre-existing reservation if it doesn't have a sufficient enough number of reservations that day and move you to a far-off location (two or three miles away, and they assume that that is a synonymous experience). They do not honor the foresight of your planning; they recklessly and carelessly change your location or simply cancel it. I have been incredibly disappointed, inconvenienced, and had whole days ruined by the lack of respect this company has for individuals who rely on it, individuals who live in distant locations without a car or a readily available cab queue, individuals who have disabilities or injuries (which make walking long distances difficult), individuals who make little money and can only rent a car for an hour or two to get groceries for their families. This week my service was canceled or relocated 3 times (once when I relied on it for jury duty and once when I needed to get groceries on my single day off). I have heard that they actually move cars (cancelling your pre-existing reservation) to Logan Airport (in Boston) during busy holiday weekends. I just had my entire Columbus Day plans ruined by this. And then they say, in my experience, but we've just "relocated your reservation" to a new car available for you 2 or 3 miles away ("it's still in your zip code"). When you can't get to it, they offer you Uber. Well, it shouldn't be mandatory to join Uber. I joined Zipcar, I pay fees for it, I get charged whenever I change my mind at the last minute, but THEY never get charged or affected when they change their service without any warning. read more

I've been using Zipcar for two years now. Since I haven't owned a car in 7 years (since I moved here), it is refreshing to finally be able to go to Home Depot and Petco without switching buses, calling cabs, etc. They offer lots of different payment plans, and I get away with about $50 a month to cover groceries and other errands. There are plenty of cars in Brighton if you live around Cleveland Circle. Also, if you go to other cities with Zipcar you can use cars there as well. read more