I like ZipCar. Can't say that I love it, but I do like it . Car sharing in general boils down to 3 things: 1) how many cars are in your immediate area 2) how often they are available. 3) Price So your perception of value with ZipCar will depend mainly on #1 and #2 above. If cars aren't nearby , or they have so few of them that it's always booked (which can happen to a lot of people and areas in Chicago )the service becomes useless. I"m fortunate that I have ample availability of ZipCars in my River North area, so no gripes there. But I do have to ding them on a couple things: 1) Cleanliness - these cars are ALWAYS so darn dirty. Stained carpets and floor mats, 2 weeks worth of dust , crumbs and debris inside, etc.. I can't understand how they can't clean them more often. 2) Late Fees and other B.S. - if you are 1 minute late you get a $50 late fee. My clock said I was 1 minute early, their clock said I was 1 minute late and they charged me $50 plus another 30 minutes rental time. Not cool. Another time they said I caused damaged to the vehicle and it was under investigation. I knew for a fact I didn't do it, and they refused to tell me what the damage in question was. They just made me sweat it out for 3 weeks while they "investigated" it, and then said it wasn't my fault. Again...not cool, get your facts straight BEFORE you accuse people of stuff. On the positive side: It's pretty much idiot proof and easy (enroll, get your card, reserve online, return car on time). If you can't figure this out you shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car in the first place! They have a wide variety of cars - BMW's, Hybrids, Mini Cooper, Mazda sedans, Wagons - something to appease everyone from the soccer mom to tree hugging hipster. They are cool - like Apple & Google, they are funny, chic, hip, have a quirky sense of fun about their company & products. Gas, parking spot & insurance are all covered in the hourly rate. Not a bad deal :) iPod adapters and iPass for the toll booths are built in too (they bill your account for the cost of the tolls). I've used them a lot over the past year. However, lately I've been going back to renting a car from Hertz or National for the full day more often. I do get tired of ZipCar keeping me on a tight leash and racing back to return the car on time , etc.. Traffic can suck in Chicago and many times i've had to extend my rental just to sit in traffic on I94. You can get a car for a full day from Hertz for what it costs for 2.5 -3 hours with a zipcar and I don't have Big Brother watching over me. read more

I'm a pretty loyal ZipCar user and have been for the last 5 years since selling our car. It's very convenient and much less of a hassle than renting a car-- especially living in the city where car rental services have limited weekend hours. The cars are generally in good condition and I can typically find one somewhat nearby even at the last minute. The only thing I don't love about ZipCar is their customer service. Like others, I don't feel that the rules are super clear about allowable distances, late returns, etc. I have also found that the customer service reps are not helpful and are often rude. I have interacted with them a handful of times and while a few were lovely, on balance I find them to be ambivalent and not super friendly. I once called because the car I had reserved was not in its space 10 minutes after my reservation was to begin-- they were impatient with me and not helpful. I was basically told that i just needed to wait or I could go a mile away for the next available car. That's fine, but at least compensate me for the lost time in my reservation or give me a closer more expensive car for the same rate that I reserved-- Customer Service 101. I have also emailed twice recently to report issues: Once to simply let them know that a previous driver had left belongings in the car we were using. They emailed back and told me what I needed to do claim my lost belongings... did you even read my message? Most recently, I emailed them to tell them that the car we were using wasn't driving properly-- it was jerking around and we're fairly certain the battery was dying because a previous driver had left the lights on. Instead of thanking me, they emailed me back 3 days later essentially chastising me for driving the car and not calling them as "you can avoid being potentially charged with damages or cleaning charges, and this also greatly aids us in following up with the at-fault party, as we never want to send warning emails to our great Zipcar members who do follow the rules." Hello? I DID notify you-- maybe not by phone, but I did. And you didn't reply for 3 days. I was doing you a favor, Zipcar-- wait until the battery dies while the next guy is out driving it. He'll be super happy. I'll keep using the service because it is convenient, though I do think they need to properly train their customer service representatives... or maybe I will stop doing them the favor of reporting issues with their products. read more

I absolutely believe that Avis bought Zipcar to destroy it. I've been a member for over 3 years, and am saving to buy a car again because EVERY rental I've had in 2013 has been horrible in a diverse array of completely incompetent ways: - cars missing when you go to pick up - when car is missing or reservation needs to be changed due to other members being late or Zipcar reservation snafu, this makes your day a complete fiasco often taking HOURS to resolve - all cars oil and low tire lights nearly always on = lack of basic maintenance - Zipcar notorious last minute changes to reservations switching to completely different class or type of car located miles away - reduction in makes of cars, Chicago market is nearly all Honda & Mazda cars now - increased rental fees - rude and condescending customer service All boils down to paying for a service that is completely unreliable now. Zipcar was not like this before they sold out to Avis. Since their competitor in Chicago apparently is not any better and was also bought out by a big rental car company, it seems like there is no other choice than to go back to owning a car since the big rental companies all seem to have conspired to wholly take down car sharing services. If you can't beat them, kill them. Zipcar has been so bad this year I want to report them to the Attorney General, BBB and all other consumer protection agencies. Such a betray of trust to loyal customers, many that sold their cars and became reliant on a great car sharing service, to now be stranded without any reliable car at all. read more

Overall ZipCar is decent. However, the car that is located in my building's garage has been in horrible condition for months, and ZipCar won't do anything about it. There is damage on every panel, no logo on the driver's door, and the trunk does not latch properly, so the 'door open' warning light is on much of the time when driving, and often the trunk light stays on, which puts you at risk of a dead battery if you leave it anywhere too long. To cover yourself, you have to report damage prior to using a car. That take a phone call, plus to be really sure, I snap pics with my phone. Time consuming and irritating when there is so much cosmetic damage. It's embarrassing to drive around in a crappy car with scratches and dents everywhere, and provides a very poor image of Zipcar. ZipCar's response to my email: "We had our fleet team evaluate that situation, and have deemed the damages as minor." Damage on every single panel is minor, fog light missing entirely? Yes, that's all cosmetic although the car looks like hell. However, if the trunk latch fails when someone has a trunk-full of stuff that spills out over the road and causes an accident, they have been warned. Very poor service. I expect better from them. read more

There is now a shiny, red BMW 3-series Zipcar parked IN MY GARAGE. Seriously, it might as well be mine. MINE! Sure, it's real wheel drive, but at least I'll look good when I'm in the throes of an icy 360 on Lake Shore. read more

Getting tired of using cabs/renting a car, I decided to become a ZipCar member about 2 months ago. Pros: -Their M-Th Overnight Specials (6pm-8:30am) for $38 is a great option to get things done. -Lots of car options and locations (so far, all of my cars have been clean and had gas) -Convenient, especially for an hour or two -Not having to own a car and having insurance/gas/maintenance/cleaning/parking included -Doing everything online. Cons: -I'd like more reasonably priced cars in the area (BMW option nice but really not needed for target, etc. I want cheap) -Their phone system is annoying. -Wouldn't use to rent cars by the day (get cheaper rates through hotwire/Hertz Overall for quick shopping and car sharing not bad (but very different than owning your own car). Tip: If the car is available, you can get take it 14 minutes beforehand without getting charged. Caution: Their clocks have been very tricky I am told so don't cut it too close. From what I've heard and read, I wouldn't want to deal with customer service. read more

The car I borrowed was adorable and handled well and had plenty of scoot and was in really good condition. I have zero complaints about the car itself. HOWEVER. When I went to fill up on gas, using the gas card provided in the car - it refused to authorize my Zipcard number and I had to pay for it myself. Thankfully they'll reimburse me (or at least they say they will) if I fax over my gas reciept. But it was an irritating situation. read more

Just joined and hired my first car Sunday to go buy a pool table in Elmhurst. I live in Streeterville and there was a car in the garage next door. Only down side was the parking spot this car was in. It must be the cheapest spot cause its right by a huge wall and an SUV was next door to it so unless you are a confident parker you are a bit stuffed. However, I am so no problems. I booked the car for 2.5 hrs, it allowed me to unlock the car before my time as noone else had boeked it, which was cool so I got an extra 15 minutes. I was worrying a bit about returning it late incase of traffic as its a seriously high penalty charge of $50 an hour. I do appreciate why this is there cause the guy after you may really need the car if there is an immediate booking after you, so if you aren't sure book it for an extra 30 mins. I think they should leave a good 15 minutes between bookings in my opinion. The car was clean with a pretty full tank so I didn't need to fill it. The air con stank of what smelled like gone off milk but as it was only 5 degrees outside we didnt' need it. However for me a city dweller its the perfect service. If I was able to bring my dog to chicago I would have bought a car, but as it wasn't possible after all we decided not to spend $30k on a car and try this service. I think this will be awesome and save us and the environment plenty. I think for long weekends I would check out the hertz facility behind the wrigley building as it would probably be cheaper for longer term rental but for a couple of hours you can't beat this service. I also don't see what the problem is with this being a for profit organisation. If people didn't make a profit you wouldn't have half the services we do now so people whinging about it not being a not for profit are being a bit silly. You can hire a hybrid too they have those models available. Update: In response to an email I got, I am not saying you should not support your local not for profit organisations, I am saying you have to have both. If you fail to support 'corporations' providing a great idea or business model then you may end up with neither. So by all means support your local Non for Profit shops or business, I do, but if a good idea comes along or a great shop that doesn't mean you should not use it just because its run by a larger company or corporation. I found this: "After years of losses for both companies, Flexcar, based in Seattle and controlled by America Online founder Steve Case, said it will merge with the larger Zipcar, based near Boston, in hopes of achieving profitability within the year." Also: "Zipcar's operating revenues are expected to grow by 100% in 2004 to approximately $7 million. Projected revenues for 2005 are expected to exceed $15 million. Since July, Zipcar has operated profitably in all of its markets. On the heels of this success, Zipcar plans to roll out service to at least three new major U.S. metropolitan areas in 2005, with the first rollout occurring in January 2005. Additionally, plans are being developed to be in 25 North American markets within the next five years." It's clear that the flexcar model needed corporate support as it was losing money for quite a while before it has started to become even slightly profitable. A lot of these great ideas whether for profit or not just don't make money for years. Even a not for profit organisation needs to make money to keep itself going or for raising money to help the community or charities. Profit is not a bad word. So here is a good example where corporate sponsorship was a requirement. AOL may be a big corporate monster but it also provides a valuable services at a good price to internet users. So people don't cut off your nose to spite your face is all I was saying. I thank you. Profitable companies like Zipcar are allowing this idea of car sharing to spread globally which surely must be a good thing for the environment and for everyone else. Without profit this company wouldn't be expanding so much/fast and providing the great service it does. read more

Living without a car in the city can definitely be a pain in the butt. However, so is zip car. My friend always told me how she thought they had great customer service and I should definitely try it. My experience was far from great, and I had to cancel my account shortly after I opened it. I purchased my zip car membership from a groupon, which covered the whole year as well as $30 of driving credit. After trying unsuccessfully to activate my membership online, I had to call multiple zip car offices where no one else knew how to activate my account, and kept insisting that the groupon that I had just purchased was expired. The only option to activate my account was for them to charge me full price and then credit me the money back, which was unorganized and inconvenient. My girlfriend let me use her card since mine hadn't arrived yet, and the customer service at zip car ensured me that the driving credits would be transferred from my account to hers. However, that was not the case, which I had to find out from a supervisor after my account was charged for the car. Not only did the customer service representative mislead me, they were rude, unhelpful, and did nothing to resolve the problem. The prices aren't that cheap, and the staff is uninformed, if thinking about car sharing, I'd try another service or take a cab. read more

Not having a car and needing to run and do groceries and other little odd jobs is great. I am getting a little upset with the location of lower priced vehicles. I was under the impression that whichever vehicle class you rent. The price will be adjusted for this rental. Like if I wanted a car in the Benz class that is $15.75/hr. If I wanted a car that is in the Civic class that is $8.75/hr. Now when I make a reservation. I am seeing Civics which are downtown priced more than Civics outside the loop. What is this? Please don't tell me you are pulling the "Chicago Loop. Super Tax Everything." route, because that is not cool. The majority of us using Zipcar are on a budget or trying make ends meet without a car. When I am forced to paying $11.75/hr for a Zipcar. I am now taking on $30+ for three hours worth of driving...along with my food bill. I am noticing the trend. You are in the loop/by trains (easy access) cars will be more expensive. If you don't mind catching a train. A bus. Then walking 6 blocks to get to your car. Then you can pay $8.75/hr for a rental. If you are in a so called "bad" neighborhood. You can find a Zipcar for less. Ease of access is one of the reasons why I wanted a Zipcar. All those little green bubbles on their map in the loop had me geeking before I joined the Zip. Being able to catch a train to the loop and back for a Zipcar is so convenient. Yep. I see convenience will cost you an extra $2.75. Zipcar needs to keep it legit with the prices of vehicles and go by car class for prices as oppose to location. Another little feedback I would like to add is the option to have a mobile key. I have driven plenty of new cars and some cars come with the option to have a key without the ignition key (i.e. Unlock Door/Trunk). I am all for leaving the keys in the car, but using the APP can be time consuming and not work to unlock the car. Using the keycard to open puts me in fear, because every time I use the keycard. I think I am scanning out for rental. Give us an option for a key that we can take with us. Majority of the time I will leave the car unlocked out of fear of being locked out. Still fan. This is will make my third time renting, but there are some few things this company needs to work on. read more

Generally very reliable...EXCEPT..... My husband and I have been using Zipcar for more than a year. We live in the city and there are multiple car locations within a short distance of our house; we've never had trouble reserving one nearby. So I would have given Zipcar an unqualified thumbs-up .... UNTIL we discovered their near-fatal flaw. THEY CAN'T TELL YOU IF THE CAR YOU'VE RESERVED HASN'T BEEN RETURNED BY THE PRIOR CUSTOMER. I went to pick up my car at the reserved time, only to discover it wasn't in the lot. I called Zipcar and the young man I spoke with was very apologetic, but all he could tell me was that yes, it appeared that the car was unlocked - i.e., not in the lot. The next closest car was fifteen minutes away. This means, of course, that if you absolutely need to be somewhere at a particular time, you pretty much have to tack an extra half-hour onto your reservation JUST IN CASE THE CAR YOU RESERVED ISN'T THERE AND YOU HAVE TO GO TO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT LOT. ZIpcar, PLEASE FIX THIS. read more

Zipcar was fun and kewl at first. (many cars, 8bucks an hr. for a civic, 2 blocks away) Then Zipcar took cars away from my area in north lincoln park. Then the price of the cars go up $12.50 an hr ... for a Jetta? Also! How is it cars in New York City Avg. $5.75 an hr. read more

Oh my god I have a car! Of sorts. Kinda. I love that I can just BAM decide I need a car and it's mine for as long I need it. I think cost-wise, it's FAR more economical than owning a car and so much less of a hassle. The customer service people are very understanding. They have always been very friendly and helpful over the phone. I see far more zipcars than i-go cars...I kinda think they should just merge. Charging by the mile seemed unappealing to me. I LOVE driving different cars. Nice cars. The only complaint I have really is out of their hands: when you retrieve a car from a corkscrew style parking garage, re-parking it when you're done is akin to some genius puzzle quiz. You'd never realize how hard it is to find a specific parking spot in one of those garages until you have to do it...but I'm not sure if zipcar could even fix that. Nature of the parking garage beast I would say. I have suggested (and hope they consider) replacing the zipcard with a key fob. Because it's just not common sense thinking. I have misplaced my damn zipcard so many times because it's not a key so it just doesn't jive with my whole keys in pocket/cards in wallet thing. I might just be a mental midget though. read more

My third ever bad review in 60+ total on Yelp. These comoany is truly awful. From the robotic customer service teams to the dirty cars and poor booking system. Use Uber or a normal car rental, which will be cheaper if you keep it for more than three hours. read more

Nothing against this particular branch, but their billing department initiated several mis-charges and made refunds really difficult. I am frustrated with them and will cancel the membership. read more

$50 late fee. They will probably waive one late fee, but mine was waived in the great Chicago blizzard of 2011. ... And who the hell wasn't late that night??? I'm going with I-GO. read more

We've been Zipcar members for I think about a year. We joined after we moved to the city and got rid of our car. And I'm so glad we did. First, there are a variety of locations to pick from downtown which is fantastic. Second, the cars are generally in good condition. In fact, we went to pick one up this morning to do some grocery shopping and we were greeted by the Zipcar cleaning van; the gentleman servicing the cars was very courteous. Third, I love the selection of cars available. We've driven everything from an Audi A3 to the Mini Cooper to a Mazda - we definitely have our favorites. A couple of things to note - report damage or issues right away. We've never had any problems with cars but better to be safe than charged if you notice something off. Although there is a written policy of pets being in carriers in the cars - not everyone thinks that applies to them and yes, I report that too. When I've needed to call their customer service line, the reps have been very professional and thorough, no complaints there. It seems they're continuing to expand their business; there are more car models available and they are definitely trying to increase the number of locations. Plus, they've started offering more options with their driving packages and overnight offerings. You can't go wrong with this if you live in the city and you need some dependable wheels! read more

I haven't been able to sign up for a membership as it says I already have an account associated with my email but then when I try signing in/resetting my password the system says my email does not exist in the system. Customer service hasn't been able to help and just ignores my emails so it's probably a blessing in disguise that their customer service is so awful that they can't even sign me up. read more

Zip car Chicago is ok. My girlfriend and I use it sometimes when we can find a car to borrow. The pricing could be cheaper and the customer service needs some improvement. I use "Menlo" around the corner from my house once or twice a month and the car is great. We love how they have "AUX" cords in every car so we can plug in our IPhone to play music. It is also nice that you do not have to pay for gas and 9 times out of 10 you never need to use the gas card in the car to fill it up. The things holding back more stars are pricing and customer service. We had an issue where we got an email from zip car saying our account is being charged for a ticket that was received during the time we had the car. Luckily the ticket had a picture included and it was a picture of the zip car parked in the marked zip car spot. We are not sure if zip car properly worked out the parking spot permit with the city to no be ticketed or what. You would think the ticket guy could see the zip car sign but i guess not. Bottom line is that zip car never got back to us about getting refunded for the ticket and we have not been refunded. Recently I walked by the spot and saw "Menlo" sitting in his spot with a ticket; i shook my head and kept walking. read more

Cars were filthy. Difficult to use bluetooth im cars. Very expensive-not a great way to get around chicago. Unreliable for business needs. I used them as an alternative for business travel and a zipcar proved to be far more of an inconvenience. Zipcar is like having a useless app on your phone that purports to be more convenient but is actually not. read more

Edited Review: It did take me 11 days to get my membership processed but Toby- fellow yelper who works for them was able to provide excellent customer service. I did get my packet in the mail as promised and it was really easy to set up online and looking forward to my first experience. Did I mention how awesome Toby is?? And Brandi is another great employee! Zipcar is easy to use and a real breeze. In addition to that, back at the December yelp elite event, I was promised that Zipcar would set up cars in Evanston in early January. I have yet to see that promise come to fruition. Edit: YAY!! ZIPCAR finally came to Evanston!! It's convenient because one of the locations where they have two zipcars is half a block from work so it's nice that I can just leave work and go wherever that I need to go. EDIT: I've had a couple people message me and ask why I don't use I-go and ultimately, when it came down to it, Zipcar was just closer and easier to my convenience and when it came down to it, it was cheaper - $9 covered gas, insurance, driving and came with 125 free miles whereas I-go, you pay 50 cents per mile which does add up and I didn't want to think about how many miles I was driving. And Zipcar seriously has the BEST customer service that I have ever come across - I accidently left my bluetooth headset in the zipcar and called the 1-800 number and Marianne was such a pleasure - she set it up so I had one free hour worth of driving just so I could get into the car to get my headset. MUCH APPRECIATED. ;-) read more

I signed up for zipcar online. I elected to go in and pick up my card since it was close. The process was very quick. I was greeted immediately and given my card. I wanted to sign up for insurance deductible waiver and was shown how to easily do that as well as activate my card. I have over 20 cars available to me in my area at all times. pretty awesome. read more

Zipcar! Hey girl!! Last year I decided to join Zipcar because I was NOT going to go through another winter hauling 30 pound boxes of cat litter to the bus stop in the snow and ice. I'm too old for that shit. And way too clumsy. Zipcar has several cars within walking distance of my apartment, and actually just posted up two more that are across the street! And I never have to circle the block multiple times looking for parking!! Each car has a designated spot, so no stressin' about that. I've never had a problem, except for the first time I tried to use it. The card that they sent me in the mail didn't work and I had to call customer service (though I realized later that I could have just used the app on my iPhone to unlock the door) and they told me to grab another card that was in the trunk. Done and done. Service was totally friendly and the car was the perfect size for my list of errands to do. The cars are cute and efficient yet vary in style and type so as to accommodate any vehicle need you may have. Gas and insurance are included, so I dont even have to worry about that crap either. Bonus! Sometimes when making a reservation I will frown at the $40-50 price tag, then I remember that would be just about what I would spend to put some gas in the tank of a friend's car if I ask to borrow theirs. So, definitely money worth spending. A friendly note: however long you think you will need your reservation for, add an extra half hour. Traffic in Chicago is a killer, and that $50 late fee hurts. And if the car is there waiting for you, you can hop in and drive off up to 15 minutes prior to the time you reserved it for. read more

Oh Zipcar, the love affair continues. 2 years and many miles later, you are still my preferred mode of transportation for all my travel needs. I even sold my boss on the idea of allowing me to use Zipcar to get to and from client meetings, which is fabulous for me, and actually budget conscious for him. And two weeks ago, when I accidentally forgot to hit "confirm" on my online reservation, but went and picked up the car anyway, you didn't accuse me of grand theft auto (thank goodness) but rather called me immediately and offered to actually set up the reservation over the phone. You treat me so well. I promise, I'll never take off in one of your cars without a reservation again. read more

Zipcar has been a great alternative to owning a car for our family. I was looking over the reviews, and I think you have to really be a "rule follower" in order to have success with car sharing... Some people complain about the car not being returned on time, others complain about being assessed a fine for being just a few minutes late. Well, yeah! The fines are high to discourage people from inconveniencing others. I've had good experiences with all customer service reps. I've had good experiences with all the cars. The prices are reasonable, though our frequent usage adds up during the month. The only thing I hate is when I book a car to run a few errands in an hour window (while my kids are in class) and it's RIGHT AT 1/4 tank. Shoot. But that's just bad luck! read more

Dear Zipcar: I joined your service in February, so I would be able to use a car to go out to the suburbs once a month to visit my parents and run errands, without having to be a slave to the weekend Metra schedule. Within the past few months, I have had two reservations. My first reservation went extremely well. The car was close to my home, clean, had plenty of gas, and I even did a great job with the time management on my end-even had the car back 10 minutes early. However, my second reservation did not go well at all, technically it didn't even take place! I reserved a Zipcar for yesterday, April 4, so I could go to my parents' home in the Southwest suburbs to celebrate the Easter holiday. My reservation began at 1PM, and when I arrived at the parking spot there was no car! I immediately called Zipcar to report this inconvenience. I was put on hold for 15 minutes while the representative attempted to call the previous Zipster to see when s/he would be back with the car. No luck, s/he did not answer his/her phone. The next option was for the representative to honk the horn, while she asked me to walk up and down the parking garage listening for the car's honk. I couldn't hear a thing, and the car was not there...the garage was empty. I asked her if there was another car in the area that was available, and she said no. The representative attempted calling the previous Zipster again, and this time had luck getting an answer. The Zipster stated that his/her reservation ran until 4PM and would not be back until then, so I was out of luck. The representative told me I could just wait for the car's return at 4PM and use the car until 7PM, and she would not charge me for 1PM-4PM! I'm pretty sure I booked the car for 1PM-7PM for a reason...to drive an hour to my parents' home, eat dinner, and drive the hour and a half back! The representative apologized and said she would pass this incident on to someone else, and they would get back to me. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure I will be canceling my membership. read more

If I were a tad younger and remained a city dweller, I would never buy a car and ALWAYS use Zipcar. They're convenient, customer service is excellent, and you just can't compare the costs unless you need a car to get to work everyday. I live near transportation but sometimes you need a car,, and until a lawsuit settled I was carless thus Zipcar filled in wonderfully. Admittedly, it's easier in your 20s and 30s to schlep purchases and manage the snow to get to the cars, but beyond that you can't beat it. It also made me feel like I was being environmentally responsible. And DEFINITELY pay the extra $9 insurance waiver every month. The first time I used a car I was hit and didn't have to worry about a thing. A bittersweet goodbye. read more

I haven't had a car for 3 years and thanks to Peapod and the CTA I haven't ever really NEEDED one but I missed big shopping trips to Target and the convenience of a car trunk when you're at Whole Foods. So when I heard of the car sharing programs I looked into both and just thought Zipcar sounded great. The sign up process was extremely easy--make sure you look around the site first though---I was able to find a $50 driving credit code on the main site. In just two days I was told my card was ready to pick up (you can also have it mailed). On Wednesday I signed up for 2.5 hours on Saturday but I probably don't need to do it that far in advance. Today I noticed no one else signed up for my car for the rest of the day. It was easy to use and I did all my errands. I'll probably sign up for 3 hours next time becuase I just had enough time to return the car before my time ran out. There was a full tank of gas in the car and the XM radio was fun to use. I'm hooked! read more

Love Zipcar. Awesome staff, I called when I couldn't find the car right away on a Saturday morning, and someone picked right up and stayed on the phone with me helping me by signaling the car and getting me to the right place (and not judging on my lapse in the personal direction!). The reason for the 4 stars, they do not advertise that you will be charged after the fact for tolls. I used the car for a day to drive to Madison, WI and back and used several tools and was charged about a month later for each toll. They do nicely break down every expense though so it's easy to understand. I totally get having to pay the tolls, just please inform us in advance! read more

I dig it. I joined when I saw a Groupon for it c/o a girl I had a few dates with. A year later, haven't talked to that girl in at least 10 months, still enjoying ZipCar. Easy reservations (online & phone), nice prices, lots of cars, and great customer service. I can think of at least eight cars within walking distance of my apartment. Most of the cars are small hatchbacks (Mazda M3's, Toyota Matrix, Prius, etc). There have been very few times where the car that I wanted wasn't available, yet at least one of the other seven in the area were available. Their fleet is mostly the small-mid sized hatchbacks, small cross overs (Scion XB), and then a handful of trucks and vans. I like the convenience side of renting via ZipCar much more than a brick and mortar site. Returning at 2AM? No problem. Picking up at 8AM on a Saturday? No problem. Some of the benefits of ZipCar... Gas & Insurance is included (an optional waiver can take it up to no liability), lots of cars, lots of locations, nice price, great customer service. In the winter, the cars have shovels and scrapers inside. This is a nice bonus, other rentals, you're SOL. Some of the drags... It's car sharing. Every so often, you get a car that the person before left messy, there's not many vans or trucks, and only 180 miles is included per reservation per day. This isn't bad for quick trips to the store or short errands, but tis a bit of a drag for day trips. I dig it. I use it to go visit family and friends back in Indiana, drive to gigs that aren't CTA accessible, and get to gigs where I have lots of gear to take in. Not often enough where owning a car in the city makes sense, but just often enough where this is awesome. I highly recommend this to anyone that has a license and is CTA dependent. read more

I signed up in May for Zipcar and have used the car now three times! It is super convenient for a Target or Jewel run. There are so many cars to choose from, and I've never run into a problem when the date/time wasnt available. There are TONS of locations around the city (3 within walking distance of my apt), so it makes it super convenient not having to trek far to get a car. The customer service is great too! I had $75 in driving credits that I didnt know expired after one month and when I wrote them about it, they refunded me the $60 I had lost with no expiration on the credits. I thought that was great! I would definitely recommend anyone without a car to use Zipcar for their bulk shopping trips or whatever the need may be! You can even rent them for the day. Super convenient way to get around the city. read more

Zip car gets two thumbs up in my book!! My boyfriend has a membership for zip car and it has been great for Target, IKEA and Costco runs. The coolest part is that there are 4 zip cars parked in the garage adjacent to our condo! You can't beat the price for those rare times that a car really would come in handy. read more

Really cool and awesome. Wish I could give more than five stars. Their service is easy to use, and very convenient. Their downtown office is modern, and when I went inside I was able to use a kiosk to complete my registration, with a little bit of guidance from the salesperson to complete paperwork and receive my card. There are no keys! You make a reservation online, then show up at the address you picked, wave your card over the windshield to activate the sensor, which unlocks the doors, and use the key that is on a cable bolted to the dashboard. The cars have been awesome too. Lately I've been in a couple of different styles of Mazda hatchbacks or sedans. Very clean and ready to go. Zipcar is amazing. No more worries about needing a car for special reasons like moving stuff around to the storage unit, picking up a large order from the grocery store, etc. Great choice if you plan ahead to use it for errands, or doctor appointments, instead of relying on the bus. Also it has been a great choice for having a temporary vehicle to pickup relatives from the airport, and be their chauffeur for a few hours. Thanks Zipcar! read more

So, it's been almost six months since I joined Zipcar, and I've used them a whole helluva lot (including a weekend trip to Michigan, as well as grocery runs here in the city). Seriously, xB Baumann and Matrix Malnati are totally like old friends at this point! I write this update because not only have I been delighted by how easy and straightforward and convenient and economical my Zipcar experience has been, I've even been through the accident process! Don't worry, I didn't hit anyone and no one hit me - I bumped a parking column (like you do), and voila! Over a grand's worth of damage to the door panel. No, I didn't get the damage waiver, so it was money out my pocket...but honestly, as these things go, it was pretty painless. When I called it in, the customer service agent was sympathetic and helpful, and the paperwork process was about as easy as waiting for a huge bill can be. It took about a week to sort out the damages and let me know how much I was on the hook for - and once I settled up, I was right back to zipping about like usual. So, again I say, Zipcar gets two thumbs way up from me! read more

I am a three-month member and two-time user of Zipcar. Two good experiences and many, many plans for my next trips. I don't own a car, but I do own a bike (and a CTA card): I can get around town on my bike or with my CTA card, but I can't go to IKEA and carry furniture back, and I can't do big food-shopping trips. So I, very carefully and with much deliberation, make my Zipcar reservations. I find it convenient and a little exciting, but also a bit stressful. Making a reservation for the perfect amount of time is nearly impossible. My first trip, I got stuck in traffic on the expressway and made it back just as the clock was striking midnight. I parked, we threw all of our IKEA purchases out of the car and onto the pavement, and l swiped my card. If I hadn't gone through that last yellow light, I would have been stuck with an exorbitant late fee--man, was I stressing. My second trip, I gave myself too much time, and ended up bringing the car back 20 minutes early because I was reluctant to run another errand and risk being late. Staying local is definitely easier and cheaper. I probably won't end up using Zipcar often, but it's certainly nice to have the option. Stress aside, the cars are quite fun to drive because, for the most part, they're almost brand new. They're clean, easy to figure out, and they come with brilliant amenities like I-PASSes and iPod adapters. They think of everything. The Zipcar website is very comprehensive; in their FAQ section is the answer to every question you could ever think of. It's not cheap, though cheaper than owning a car, and they do have deals every so often (like now, overnight weekday rentals for $35 and some cars for $7/hour and ways to win free driving credit). Variety of locations is great, but I do wish they had more Priuses and/or hybrids. I was trying to make a decision between I-GO and Zipcar for some time. I ended up going with Zipcar because I got a Groupon for it that was a great deal. I can't speak for I-GO (I did originally like them because they're nonprofit), but I am quite happy with Zipcar so far. read more

During the past year I began researching car-share companies. Chicago has two options: zipcar and iGo. For a variety of reasons zipcar quickly won the contest for me. To make things even better, the day before I planned to buy a membership Groupon offered an amazing deal! I like the fact that zipcar has a much larger number of cars, more types of vehicles, and many more locations than iGo. As a non-Chicago native who travels often I like that zipcar is available back in NYC and overseas as well as many cities and college towns throughout the U.S. iGo is Chicago only and even in Chi-town they fall short of zipcar in number and types of cars and locations. While the pricing structure is a bit different between the two services the actual cost work out to be about the same. I've found their customer service accessible and flexible. Although I'm now a much better zipcar user I did once return a car late. A quick phone call and the $50 fee was waived. I now plan my trips better and only rent zipcars that have enough unreserved time after my reservation to allow me to extend. Love the iPhone app! (although I wish it would load faster). A final bonus that I recently discovered is the ability to earn affinity points while using a zipcar. You may earn frequent flyer miles and/or various other rewards points for your zipcar usage by registering your account number when you log in to zipcar's website. read more

All the cars are dirty! They will actually charge you $100 for penalty if you late, AND, you will abused and attacked by someone waiting for the car because zipcar won't get them on taxi! that means, you won't get a taxi for free or any compensation if your reservation is delayed by someone! They will charge you even it's not on the terms! read more

Like many other reviews below, it's been a month and I never received my card. They kept telling me it should come in 3-7 days even though the emails they send say 3-5. Their business hours are not posted when you call customer service, so rather than telling you to call back when they are open, you'll hear "we're receiving more calls than usual today" and then be on hold forever. I was really looking forward to trying their service but I'll have to take my business elsewhere. read more

I'm an international student. I'v been Zipcar membership for several months. It was good at first. Until today I reserved a Zipcar for Drive road test but the INSURANCE CARD is EXPIRED!!! Can you believe it? When I was calling back, the agency told me they don't take responsibility of this mistake because they have a policy that requires 3 days notification before the test and he said i can find that policy on their website. But when I checked the website, I can not find such a policy. So I called back again, the agency told me "there's no such a policy on website and i just let you know that policy right now!" I just want to told everyone they are not only totally irresponsible, but also try to cover this mistake by chatting their customer. read more

I love Zipcars! When I moved to Chicago I didn't bring a car with me. I'm one of those people who really loves driving (except during rush hour). When I lived in the Gold Coast it was much easier to get around and run errands without a car. My husband and I signed up for Zipcars before moving out to Bucktown since the closest grocery store is about a mile away. It's been a pleasant experience so far, we've only been members for about a month. My only complaint ... you can't gain access until the exact minute your reservation starts. if you show up a few minutes before your reserved time, you might look like a jackass standing around trying to get into the car. I'm sure the people on the patio of the bar adjacent to the Zipcars probably thought I was really odd hanging around near an alley under the El. Oops, I should update this. You can actually gain access to a Zipcar 30 min before your scheduled time, if it's available. You'll be charged for it of course. read more