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

[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.