Zipcar?

[prog]

So, to save money for certain economically foolhardy adventures that loom in my future, I'm seriously thinking of selling my car (or just giving it to someone, probably Ricky) in the next six months, before it's time to to buy another year of expensive Massachusetts car insurance.

I still want spontaneous mobility, and the ability to haul stuff around. I would not even consider this if Zipcar weren't in this town. I know some of you use Zipcar, and I wonder if you'd recommend it to me. Basically, I want to retain the ability to putter around town every few days (on average), very occasionally zipping up to Maine or wherever. Ultimately it should cost less than ~$1,500 per year to make the transition worthwhile.

Whaddaya think?

Comments

[cnoocy]

I heartily recommend Zipcar, and I think your costs will work out. You should certainly look at the rates on the Zipcar page. Two questions:

1. How spontaneous do you want your mobility? The cars do get reserved, so there is the occasional situation where, if you decide at the last minute to get a car, the nearest ones are not available.


2. How long do you tend to use the car every few days? Zipcars are charged by the hour or the day, so if you want to drive to Burlington and see a movie every Wednesday, you'll pay a fair amount for the time you spend watching the movie.

One thing to consider is that some mobility tasks are good to do in Zipcar, and others work better in taxis. Knowing the difference can save a lot of money.

[prog.livejournal.com]

1. Spontaneous as in "I should go check out this sale on interesting klunky objects at the klunk store," which doesn't usually mean "OMG I have to go RIGHT NOW."

2. Right now I use the car more often than not to get to social things (anything happening in Arlington, for example).

I'm curious what you're thinking of as far as taxis go. They strike me as very convenient but always very expensive no matter how you cut it.

[cnoocy]

The main thing about taxis is that they are often better for short-distance single-destination trips. A taxi from your area to East Arlington should be around 10-15 dollars. That's less than two hours of Zipcar, so the taxi is better if you spend 4 hours and take the taxi both ways, or 2 hours and get a ride from someone in one direction. And that's not even counting public transportation.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I've belonged to Zipcar for several years now. I've never owned a car, so I don't know how it compares to the [free-as-in-]freedom of having your own. But personally I'm really happy to have it as a resource -- on a
need-it-perhaps-once-every-other-month scale.

Note that $1500/yr = $125/mo = about 15 hours of Zipcar usage (at $8.50 inclusive)... or two 24-hour bookings (at $60).

Personally, when I do use it, it's rarely for a 1-hour grocery run but more for 6-hour heading-out-of-T-range stretches, which (a) mounts up nearly to the point of the maximum daily rate, and (b) means I usually have to plan ahead because it's tough to find available 6-hour blocks on a moment's notice, even with a dozen cars in walking distance of my house. (Especially on a Sunday afternoon, as I discovered to my chagrin a couple weekends ago.) However, I usually *am* planning at least a few days in advance, so that works fine for me.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

I [heart] Zipcar. Though I don't use it very often, probably less than once a month. I often reserve close to the last moment (like, same day I wish to use it), and have never had to walk more than 3/4 mile to get a car (and I think we live quite close to each other, so the availability in the area is pretty good).

My employer pays my deposit and all that, so all I have to pay for is a tiny annual fee, plus the hours I use it. I don't really miss having my own car anymore.

I've only had one problem with a reservation: the car wasn't returned in time by the previous user, so the Zipcar people had to change my reservation to a different car, a little farther away than I usually would prefer (and parked in a - at the time - very snow-filled driveway, argh!), but uh, yeah. I'd still recommend it.

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you'll have to use local public transportation more if you got rid of your car but I presume you're adding this to your cost estimate of switching entirely to ZipCar?

When I first heard of 'ZipCar' I thought it might be like Total Recall's "JohnnyCab" service... but alas, no. I don't know how well people would reacto to an amimatronic Robert Picardo driving them around.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Try keeping a "car diary" for a few weeks to see what your usage and needs are. Then you can run the numbers using real data. I've never used Zipcar and we are unwilling to get rid of our second car, so I'm probably not the best person to help.

[xymotik.livejournal.com]

Unrelated but interesting story: I know someone who lived in Somerville in the early 1980s and one of her friends had covered his/her walls with the parking tickets they received; due to a lack of computerization or good records management, the city never ever followed up on tickets.

I gather things are somewhat different now.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I have two or three outstanding ones right now, and get a letter in the mail every so often reminding me of this.

Every so often I log into the city website and "pay my tab". I haven't gotten The Boot yet -- I'm not sure I know of anyone who has -- but I don't want to risk it. (I do know someone who got it from the Cambridge parking enforcers, and I think Somerville plays by similar rules.)

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

Do they still 'boot' vehicles in the Boston area?

Madison WI had a boot company once. It ended REALLY QUICKLY when they ended up booting a car owned by some state executive high in political office. Shortly after that they made some new laws -- not-quite 'banning' the boot but just making it impractical for a boot company to exist -- laws such as: "No company shall be allowed to charge a fee to remove a 'boot' or other vehicle restraining device".

There are still a few private parking lots in which you can see the old 'Warning -- violators will be booted' signs but at this point they're merely an empty threat.

[prog.livejournal.com]

That sounds like individuals could have a car that offends them be booted. I haven't seen that, though my car was once towed for this reason. (Of course, the individual was pretending to be my landlord at the time...)

Cambridge, I believe, will boot your car if you step over the line in unpaid parking fines, with the idea that you have to go to the police and pony up before they'll remove it.

[cortezopossum.livejournal.com]

When they were around the boot company had a contract with the city and also offered their services to property owners who requested it (and hence got the nifty yellow 'boot warning' sign).

I guess it was an arrangement similar to the way towing companies work. Towing companies will only tow a vehicle if it's your own or if you're a property owner/manager and the offending vehicle is on the premises. A person would have to fake either case for a vehicle to be towed (or booted). I'm not sure how they check this.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've seen a number of booted vehicles around metroBoston, though I'm not sure if it was only Cambridge or Boston and/or Somerville as well.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Don't you still need insurance to drive a ZipCar?

[prog.livejournal.com]

Do you? That would be a dealbreaker for me.

I am assuming that insurance is part of what you pay for in the usage fees, as with ordinary car rentals.

[cnoocy]

It is. You need a good driving record, but they pay for insurance, maintenance, and gas.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Hm, I guess I thought that auto insurance was attached to having a driver's license, not to having a car. Maybe not.

Insurance

[(Anonymous)]

>Hm, I guess I thought that auto insurance was attached to having a driver's
>license, not to having a car

Nope; I've had a license since I was 15, but I've never had insurance (on my own). Zipcar is nifty about covering things like that (and petrol!)!

marymary

Zip! Zip!

[(Anonymous)]

You live right around the corner from a car! It's probably easier to park than the one you have now. Why are you vacillating? :) Zip, zip!

marymary