Crappy company with crappy customer service. Charge you a non-refundable application fee and, even if you meet all their requirements, they can reject your application with no explanation. And when you try to find out why you were rejected, they just send you to their website to check the eligibility requirements, where it says they can reject you at their own discretion. Basically, if they don't like your face, your name, your gender, they can just reject you with no explanation. read more

I have literally never written a Yelp review, but my experience with Zipcar and Zipcar customer service has prompted a level of outrage that I believe warrants writing a review. First off, don't even THINK about returning your car even a minute late without incurring a $50+ charge. I returned a car 7 minutes after the scheduled time and was charged an extra $50. What a crock. Secondly, there is currently a bug in their sign-up process. Specifically, when I signed up and created my account, I clicked their monthly plan (at $7/month). However, when I finished creating my account, I was defaulted to the $70/year plan, with no way of switching. I was subsequently charged $70 to my credit card. When I called customer service to attempt to switch my membership, I was told that it was not possible to change my membership, as I was already charged for the yearly membership. They would not refund my yearly membership and switch to monthly, as it was "against policy", and not possible in the new system that they are using. This isn't even mentioning the amount of time I had to spend on hold with customer service. Oh, and the one time I did use a Zipcar, it smelled like weed. DO NOT USE. read more

I have used zip car a handful of times and it is extremely unreliable. Half of the times, I can't even get out of the parking garage the car is in because there is no pass to get out so you have to sit there at the gap hoping someone can open it for you... the other half of the time the car is filthy or smells like cigarettes. Don't waste your time. Uber or take a taxi. read more

Denied my application without explanation and charged me an application fee without any ability to appeal.

FRUSTRATED! Literally, each time I've used a Zipcar there has been a problem. There has always been something to eat up my rental time, not to mention causing inconvenience: double billing, no gas, no air, damage or excessive dirt. All irregularities have to be reported during the rental period. At the time of this email I subscribed to Zipcar's monthly service providing me with $50 in prepaid Zipcar service. My credit card was also billed for this particular rental. This email was customer service's resolve. I called today to report that the Zipcar app states that my 3 month old driver's license has expired (impossible). I requested the corporate contact information. Patricia, the Lead Agent told me that they don't give out the corporate office contact information. read more

Zipcar - An email - Car Rental Near Me

I used Zipcar a few times over the past 5 years - definitely not enough to make up for the annual fees that they automatically charge. At $14/hour, it doesn't make much sense if you're planning to rent for a few hours as a Budget/Enterprise/Avis/Hertz rental can be had for ~$30/day. With Car2Go and options of the like in Chicago, Zipcar is a thing of the past. The last straw was that they cancelled my account after being "inactive" for 12 months (even though I was paying the annual fee). Car2Go and Uber don't charge annual fees. Bye bye! read more

I rented a car online in April 2021 for a Saturday meeting an hour away. I received an email telling me the car I rented online was not available and they assigned another car for me to pick up which I didn't mind. When I arrived on Saturday, no car can be found and by chance I saw a person there fixing the original car I rented. That person said sorry there is no car available. As a result, I missed my business meeting and there wasn't enough time for me to arrange another car with a rental car company to attend the meeting. Some rental car companies did not even have any car available for that weekend. I have been calling ZIPCAR, and waited for 30+ minutes without anyone answering. No one respond to my multiple emails as though nothing ever happened but they keep charging my credit card. There is no customer service. I called in today (June 26) to cancel my account. read more

What a joke! Had to get out of Chicago on an errand and thought Zipcar would be a good dependable means of transportation. Boy was I wrong! Approval was done within the hour, but the closest car was a 30 minute walk. In January no less. I find the car and it's filthy dirty, it smells inside, and there's garbage in the front and back seats. I unlock and get in and go to start the car with an error message on the dash and it would not start. I followed all directions and ended up having to call customer service, which was in Mexico. She informed me that the fob was probably dead and that they would have to give me another car but the closest they had was another 21 minute walk from that location. I told her to suck it and that I would never use their service again and requested a refund of my Membership as well as the days fees, but they refused to refund my application. Skip this company, it is not worth the aggravation. read more

Now that it's not a private company, it has the worst customer service ever. I was a member since it that introduced in Chicago after 12/22, I have cancelled my membership. I would advice you to look else where for car sharing service. #zuckcar#worstservice read more

Avoid using Zipcar. I cancelled my membership two months ago, but I am still being billed. I called and cancelled again today. They will only refund one month, and will not refund the $35.00 membership fee. They are crooks. The more you use them, the more flaws become apparent - unclean cars, lack of availability, and poor customer service. I am giving them one star because I have to in order to post this review. read more

Price per hour keeps going up, customer service continues to plummet. I STILL MISS I-GO. PS: Lyft thanks you for all of the business you've been giving them thanks to your crappy service. xoxo read more

I've always thought Zipcar was a ripoff so I haven't touched it... That is until someone posted a "low car diet" promotion they were running. So I signed up, got a free membership, and a $150 driving credit. I used it twice this weekend. Both were to go to/from the airport picking up and dropping off Brian, who had two giant servers with him that wouldn't have fit in most cabs or my car... Soon after I made the first reservation, I learned the Brian's flight was delayed.... I tried pushing back the reservation (picking it up later, then dropping it off later), but they wanted to charge me a fee to pick it up later that was about the same as if I just would've picked it up at the same time. So I just added time onto the back of the reservation. So my $35 reservation quickly became a $65 reservation, but I took advantage of that by going to Home Depot beforehand and ended up buying a giant tree that fit well into the Scion xB (see picture!). The return trip to drop off at the airport was about $27 for 2.5 hours of driving time. Cheaper than a cab I guess.. The hourly rates ($11/hr for most cars, $9ish for some small dinky ones) are high for certain vehicle types. The rates are going up soon due to gas prices. Some of their vehicles are really nice models, others are kinda bleh. Why would you pay $9/hr for a cheap Mazda 3 when you could drive a BMW 328 for nearly the same price? The daily rates they charge are almost double what it'd cost to rent a car for a day, though with Zipcar you'd probably end up with a nicer car. ...The Scion xB I rented was REALLY disgustingly stinky inside. It smelled like stale beer, I wanted to shower after. I had to keep the windows down and the AC blasted to try to compensate for the smell. Had I not been getting it for free, I would have been pretty offended at the smell. It also had some scratches on the side, after reading the other reviews apparently I'm supposed to have called them to report them so they don't charge me, are you kidding me? ... I rented a Suburu Outback for the return trip to MDW, which was actually really nice to drive. Though the way they do their key/smart card to unlock, it's impossible to turn off the parking lights... I'm surprised the thing doesn't run out of battery, and I'm even more shocked that the condo dwellers whose lot Zipcar uses don't get ticked off at the constant lights on all of the time. Outside of thinking it's a bit pricier than I'd want to pay to use a car for a few hours, To me the only reason Zipcar is a viable option would be convenience. it sure is convenient to just go online and make a reservation (or call), then go pick up the car... that's a lot easier than going to a local car rental place and having them type things into a computer for 5 minutes, then spending another 5 minutes to get out of the lot... For me, though, the convenience factor is mitigated by their lack of any options that are really all that close. I'd say if you had to walk more than 3 or 4 blocks to the nearest Zipcar lot, it's no longer all that convenient. They don't have a single lot in the Ukranian Village.. In my case it is a full mile away to the nearest lot. And all of the lots in my area only have 2 cars, so if you want to be picky about which model you have to go further to get one you might like or need more. If you want one of the more luxurious cars (BMW for instance), you'd have to go all the way downtown or to River North, which are the only places they have those. I imagine if my membership continued to be free, and a lot was a block away, I'd "spring" for it more often than I otherwise might. It would also be useful if they could somehow allow a one way reservation to drop off at another zipcar lot. The reservations are all computerized, it seems like somehow they could figure out an algorithm to control one way reservations and still not end up with no cars in one location or too many in another. Bottom line... It's good to have as an option, but I can't imagine ever feeling the need to walk a 2 mile round trip then spend $30 to borrow a car for an hour or two to run to the grocery store.... I'm too frugal for that, and even a cab in that case is probably cheaper anyway. read more

Zipcar - Carrying a 17' tree in the Scion zipcar i picked up... part of the "low car diet" promotion - Car Rental Near Me

Zip car is the worst car sharing service in history of mankind. I have been calling customer service for over a month and still they couldn't reactivate my account from 2011 even after I send all required documents etc. Run don't even waste your time . read more

Great Idea, Horrible Execution Do not waste your time, and just use a traditional car rental company instead. This company has a great idea for a product and could have had a lifetime consumer. However, they've been nothing short of a nightmare to deal with. I successfully rented a car 8 months ago and on the FIRST rental had an issue where the car would not lock when I returned it. I called their help line and they told me to leave the car unlocked and they would look into it. At that point, I was not using the account enough, so I cancelled the subscription with plenty of notice before the next month's bill. This month, I thought that I would give them a second chance because it sounded more convenient than picking up a car at an agency. However, their online system would not approve my license and did not tell me why. I independently searched their eligibility requirements, and I met the criteria because I paid on time, did not damage the car I rented, have not been in any accidents, and have a valid driver's license. So, I reached out to their help desk, which is when the bulk of the issues occurred. I talked to five different people who all told me something different over a two week period. The first person told me to add my credit card information to my account. So I did, but their website simply did not work and would not allow me to click the "finish application button". Then I called their general help phone number. The representative was friendly but clearly wasn't trained to help with IT related issues. So he told me that the only way to activate my account was to send a pictures of all my personal documents (license, passport, etc) OVER EMAIL and that this was the only way to reactivate my account. I tried to say I did not feel comfortable sending this over email, but I eventually caved against my better judgement. Then I got an email back from a new customer service person saying the issue was that my account was locked so they had deleted my original account and needed me to create a completely new account and pay another fee. So I called a second time. Again, the representative was polite but clearly did not know how to help me and simply told me to go ahead and create a new account. I went ahead and tried to do so, but I was not approved again. So I called a third time and talked to another representative on the phone who said she did not know how to help. So, she referred me back to the specialized group that could only be contacted via email. This time they sent me a generic email saying that my license was blocked due to either "delinquent on membership fees, closed for viability (late returns, violations, damages, etc), failure to agree with the terms and agreements, or failure to pay the application fee). At this point, I am FUMING because I paid every bill from the original rental 8 months ago, did not damage their car, and it seems incredibly fishy that they conveniently told me this after two weeks and 3+ hours of filtering through their customer service groups. The only thing I can come up with is that the monthly fee didn't get charged correctly in the process of closing my original account or something went wrong with the car locking issue on the first rental, and neither of those were my fault. -A middle class 25 year old who lives downtown without a car and has nearly perfect credit read more

Don't sign up with these guys if you need a car right away. The website said applications could be approved in as little as a few minutes, but once I entered all my info and paid the stupid $25.00 application fee it said it could take up to 2 weeks. I needed a car right away so that was useless to me. I waited a while and I still couldn't book a car. I called to get a refund, but they REFUSE to refund the application fee. read more

Another holiday, another reservation canceled by Zipcar last minute. This time it was the night before Father's Day and I got an email that there was an issue with my car and there were no other nearby cars, so they were canceling my reservation. Zipcar is fine for occasional grocery shopping, but you can't rely on it for important dates you can't miss. read more

After reading through the rules and regulations, Zip Car was for me. The sign up process was very painless and that was over two years ago. Pros: *Very easy to reserve cars. *Various cars and locations available in my area. I try to rent different car each time I need a car. *Don't have to worry about gas prices since gas included. *Rates are very reasonable from day rates to hourly rates. *Social events and discounts at various businesses. *Billing - very easy to read and understand. *Being sent emails/text regarding reservations. *I have learned to reserve cars far in advance. Be flexible on short term rentals (hourly rental) Wish list: Earning points for each rental. All about earning those points for free upgrades or cars. Just a thought. Increase mileage for long term members. Sometimes, the 180 miles included in daily rate is just not enough. Overall - keep up the great job, Zip Car! read more

Bad customer service and LIES!!!!!!!!!! my husband is still waiting on the 50 dollar credit they told him he would get after completing the survey!!!!!!!!!! it's been weeks no 50 dollar credit!!!!!!!!!!! lies lies lies read more

I've never had a full account with zip car and never had a chance to drive a car from zip car so I thought I'd try to sign up for an account again. I was turned down the first time because my debit was stolen and had a get another one so I asked my friend to pay for me and I'll put my card on the account when I receive it. I was unaware that she had a problem with zip car so I've been banned (I guess) from zip car when I didn't do anything wrong. Mind you, this incident happened 10 years ago & I'm still on zip car's shit list, it's just weird but if they don't want to do business with me & trust I was about to do a lot of business with my upcoming venues, oh well! read more

I'm definitely a loyal Zipcar driver. They are freaking sweet! Here are the highlights: *$9 an hour for a car *Gas is PAID for *Insurance is PAID for *Multiple garages with tons of cars to chose from, located throughout the city of Chicago and other cities *Just merged with Flexcar, so now even more cars and locations will be available *$25-$50 driving credits available for new members (http://www.retailmenot.com/view/zipcar.com) *Reserve and extend reservations via online and/or your mobile device! read more

Zipcar - Quick and easy - Car Rental Near Me

I applied a week ago with a clean driving record so I could use Zipcar on a trip. A week later they still haven't approved my account. I called about the issue and why several times and their customer service has no clue on whats going on and cannot help at all. Since I had to upload my drivers license and I am a black male, I feel they are discriminating since there is not other reasonable explanation to the holdup. Very sad and Zipcar should be ashamed!!!! read more

Zipcar is honestly a trash company. It used to be very helpful and convenient but in the last few months everything about the company has gone downhill. Cars are GARBAGE- always full of trash, disgusting, broken. And that's when you can get a car. Very very frequently I will make a reservation only to show up at the location to find no car. Customer service is impossible to get in touch with and if you are able to get in contact, they are not at all helpful. Today my car was not at the location and they rescheduled my reservation to somewhere an HOUR away. How does that make sense? If I don't have a car.....how can I get somewhere that is an hour away....? Trash company. DO NOT USE. A TOTAL RIP OFF. read more

I've been a member of Zipcar for well over a year now. I would drop this membership in a heartbeat if there were a similar competitor. The cars that I reserved are often not At the location of where I reserved the car, or the car reeks of smoke/pot. Or the car simply does not start. Each and every time I had a call customer service, which are extremely rude. I've dealt with a guy name "Mike" multiple times. This person's name is not Mike as it is obvious that the customer service is outsourced. Beware if you get this guy, he only makes the situation worse. read more

Beware. Please read all the one star reviews - they are real. Do not use Zipcar - they will steal your money. Just had a trip cancel and they charged us for 5 hours - argued and argued and they will not budge. Also the car was on empty and the gas card was declined. So I put my own money in and returned the car with gas. This has not been our first bad experience. Just don't do it. read more

The WORST car rental system in the US. I have been a member for about a year (I have cancelled when my first year membership ends November 1st). I can honestly say I've onlg had about 2 good experiences with Zipcar, at the beginning of my membership. First and foremost the cars are ALWAYS dirty inside from previous drivers and NEVER filled with gas. So much to the point that I stopped going out of my way to stop and fill up for the next guest because no one ever did it for me. Several times I arrived to my vehicle and it wouldn't start / the card wouldn't work to open it, I would call, and then they then cancelled and rebook a reservation with a new vehicle at a location in which I would have to pay to Uber to because it wasn't as close. Also, there is no way for them to transfer your funds. So while I was charged $125 originally for the 1st vehicle (which didn't start) I was then changed again another $125 for the replacement vehicle for a total of $250, and the originally $125 will be refined in "5-10 business days", go figure. How can a company not have an override option on their system to fix this? Not to mention every time this happened they said "all we can do is offer you a 30 minute driving credit" which is equal to just about $4.00... thanks Zipcar. Finically, there is NO grace period. For example, if you book from 12pm until 3pm you better have that car back at exactly 2:59pm or be ready to be hit with a $50 fee. I had an experience where I had reserved until 10am, I pulled in at 10:01am and had a VERY angry couple waiting in the lot yelling at me saying I was rude and in considerate. This is UNSAFE. In today's world, I was actually really scared. Why doesn't Zipcar do something to prevent this? Anyways, if you're someone like me who liked to take the vehicle for 5+ hours to visit family in the burbs you're better off using enterprise. DONT give zipcar thousands of your dollars like me. read more

I've been using ZipCar for a few years and it's been great. About a month and a half ago, I was adjusting the rear view mirror of a car and it popped off the mount. I made the mistake of reporting it on the app and now, my account is suspended due to an 'accident'. My account had been suspended for a month while their incident team 'reviews' the 'incident'. I use this service all the time because I live in Chicago and don't have a car. The customer service is outsourced to what sounds like India or Pakistan. I'd just like to speak to someone local because no one can seem to help me. It's completely insane. Their customer service is horrible. read more

Used them six times. Four went amazing no issues. The other two- once was locked out of the car as their system went down and was stranded in a garage for an hour and a half. The second time, the last time I will use them- we parked the rental on our street. Upon returning the app would not open the car nor allow it to be driven. Customer service was terrible and only after five tries did we reach somebody helpful who could speak English in full sentences. It took them two days to tow the car. We lost some groceries locked in the trunk. We were finally reimbursed and told we weren't accountable for the car. It's all a shame. If their technology and customer service was reliable they'd be fantastic, but I cannot recommend them at all. You will be left stranded unable to get into or drive your car, it will happen eventually. read more

I received the first month free which is great. With that promotion, I was able to use a zipcar once and it was great to get around quickly to run errands because I do not have a car. However, I had a few negative experiences. Firstly, I made a reservation for 4:30pm-8pm. I got into the car at 5:00 but was surprised to see that I was still charged for a 4:30 start. When I called customer service to ask about it they said "You made the reservation for 4:30 and no one could get the car at that time other than you." So, I guess they're saying they lose out on money as long as you have the reservation. I was not aware of that. I thought you made the reservation and prices/times were adjusted at the end. As I drove around in the car, I began to see VERY LARGE spiders coming out outside of the car and crawling around. They were first crawling on the side mirrors (where I guess they live behind) and I was like okay well at least it's just outside. Then when I went to take out my groceries and other stuff in the trunk I discovered that they were in my bags and one was in a bucket I bought! Terrible! Nasty customer service. When I called to ask about being charged for my reservation, the lady was rude. She didn't seem to be bothered by anything I said and wanted me to get off the phone as soon as possible. She told me that I should've filled out a report about the spiders as soon as I got into the car but she was too incompetent to understand that the spiders didn't come out until I started driving. Lastly, it would've been nice for them to show you which meter to read to fill up the gas tank. I wasn't sure which meter was the odometer because every number I told the gas station clerk he said was incorrect, so I gave up and put the car back in the lot without filing it up. read more

The experience was overall good. The car was fairly clean. To my surprise, it was a newer car. I expected an outdated vehicle since it's for community usage but i was pleasantly surprised. I really like the app. I was able to see the amount of fuel that the vehicle contained and detailed location information which helped me with my decision. The only complaint I have is that it is a little bit too pricey for the amount of time you get. I only had the vehicle for about 3 1/2 hrs and it costed me about $68. This included all of the fees and extra insurance coverage. A person could just go to a regular car rental establishment and have the car for the whole day for close to this price. A person could also get 2 days for about $100 with hyre car if you choose the right owner. Overall, I would use this service again to run QUICK errands. read more

Was told one thing but got another...after they sent me an email saying problem with my license...I checked and had expired...called and was told if needed to cancel could get $25 back...after two reps and 40min call was referred to app fee policy...bs and thirsty! read more

The customer servic agents are based in Mexico City and it is impossible to understand their spoken English. Terrible customer service. The agent would not get me to a supervisor, and it sounds like there are no native English speakers in their customer service department. read more

Zipcar remains a going concern in spite of itself. I am unable to use the app on my Android, I am unable to update anything in my account, except for a password, and, its customer service cannot, or will not tolerate any expressions of frustration, anger, as they feel that they are being disrespected, because, of course, it's all about them, and their feelings. My technical issues are now more than two weeks old, with no resolution in sight. read more

They eventually fixed the issue, but it took over a month to even get a response. Their customer service line is in desperate need of employees. I no longer am a customer because I purchased a vehicle, but for about five years I used zip car and would say a three star review would be a fair assessment of their services overall. read more

They never sent a confirmation. The driver never showed up at booked time and had to cancel appointment. I called they told he still hasn't dropped other ride. That he will get there when he gets there, and he sometimes stops off for coffee. That I would just have to wait. There was no apologies and they didn't care. Horrible service. Don't use them. read more

Went to put gas in my car and the gas card was missing. Called customer service to report the missing card and I was told that I had to put gas in the car at my expense and then take a picture of the receipt and send it to them. I told them I thought this was ridiculous and as I was explaining why, the customer service rep kept talking over me, repeating their policy over and over and refused to listen to me. My request to speak to a supervisor was refused because they would tell me the same thing. When I tweeted my experience, customer care contacted me and insinuated that I stole the card. Absolutely arrogant and dreadful customer service. read more

Just closed my account after ten years of membership. Zipcar used to be fantastic, but they've gone rapidly downhill since the Avis takeover a few years ago. Cars are not being serviced regularly--in the past few months I've encountered cars that are filthy, have flat or low tires, warning lights on the dashboard, expired registration, non-functioning gas cars, or non-functioning I-Passes. The worst thing is the frequent changing of reservations with little or no notice. Five or six times in the past year, Zipcar has moved my reservation to another car without telling me, or by sending an email a few minutes before the reservation. This week, they did it twice with the same reservation, so I was running around my neighborhood trying to figure out which car I was supposed to be in. That was the last straw. No more Zipcar. read more

I completely agree with the other poor reviews. I've used zipcar for a long time and the customer service is horrible and somehow seems to be getting worse. I rented a car and they charged me double what I was quoted. My first call was not returned. My second call, I had to stay on the line for 45 mins before they finally refunded my money. It turns out they raised the weekday rate and didn't tell anybody and the system is still quoting the old rates but it is charging new higher rates. For the most part over the years the actual renting of the cars has been a good experience. Occasionally a car isn't there or it's low on gas, but the problem is when you have to call them. Easily the worst customer service I've ever experienced. After all these years I'm going to look for alternatives... read more

Since I live in downtown with my workplace close to my home. I don't feel the need of having a car of my own.Zipcar offers good,fast rental service with no worry of insurance and gas. I normally use it to go all the malls outside city limits, walmart and those target trips. Zipcar looks a reasonable option if it is for few hours or it is being shared with friends.Otherwise $10-$11 on weekends becomes bit too much much. They do have a good fleet of cars with a good variety to choose from.The only problem is sometimes the previous driver leaves car dirty/ less gas or with scratches. Then it becomes messy. Zipcar is a good option only to be used for short duration of time otherwise itb starts your pocket. read more

I established a ZipCar account and was told a key would be sent to me. After a month it was not received. I tried repeatedly to contact them to get said key. One year later, they are still billing me and refusing to stop even though I have talked with them and they have sent confirmation emails stating the account is closed. Bad: *Customer service is very hard to reach *Billing is continued long after account is closed *Follow-through is non-existent Buyer beware - rental cars are often cheaper. read more

Absolutely horrendous customer service, and the business model seems to be based on scamming people out of the membership fee before they inevitably cancel. It's pretty telling that "calling to cancel" is one of the first options when you call the help line. I joined end of July and booked a car for a weekend trip several weeks out. The day of the reservation, the reserved car was dead - with battery, brakes, and oil warning lights flashing. Probably good it never started since it likely would have died on the highway. When I called customer service, they said the only car available was about 10 miles away - basically pointless so we had to cancel our trip. The customer service rep was very blase about it - sounds like that happens all the time (cancelling reservations due to DOA vehicles); took nearly a week to get the pre-paid trip $ back. Then it took nearly two months of calling and emailing several times a week to get reimbursed for the non-refundable motel stay - including sending 3 different versions of the receipt sent multiple times, because there was ZERO chance I was going to send them my "bank statement" as they asked at first. Meanwhile, from the moment I joined, I was also contacting Zipcar for explanation of why the advertised rates were never available; after about a month of emailing and calling, they finally admitted that the university plan rates they had on their website were based on a SINGLE car for the ENTIRE campus, which people weren't actually able to reserve. So the advertised rates were a scam too. Finally, if you call to ask about the status of a ticket, they'll flat out lie about when you'll hear from someone, and tell you literally nothing - the customer is "not allowed" to speak to the department who handles complaints, but you're "welcome to email" - i.e. send your complaint right into a digital trash can. Only through extreme perseverance and non-stop follow up by the customer can you get ANYTHING resolved - the other tactic seems to be hoping you'll give up out of sheer frustration so they don't have to reimburse you / you forget to cancel the membership so they can scam you out of more $ for cars you'll never drive. So I was a member for a little under 2 months, and never managed to even drive a car. A completely useless, borderline fraudulent business. read more