April 9, 2008

What is Zipcar?

Anyone who drives in Boston knows about parking in the city. Parking garages outside downtown are rare and expensive. On-street parking is impossible to find, and the city reserved most on-street spots for residents. Resident parking permits are difficult to acquire, and don’t even guarantee a parking spot–they only guarantee the hunt for a spot. And parking enforcement runs all day, handing out costly tickets for violations. Those with money can buy parking spaces, running $50K and up, but bloated SUV’s and poor driving skills often require two precious spots.

I don’t have a cure for Boston’s massive parking problem; I wouldn’t even know where to start. I do, however, have a suggestion for individuals looking to avoid keeping a car in the city.

Zipcar.

Zipcar began in 1999 as an auto-sharing program in our very own Cambridge, but quickly expanded other cities around the US. Here’s how Zipcar works: customers pay a fifty-dollar annual fee and, when they use a car, a small hourly fee. The hourly fee, usually only nine to fourteen dollars, covers gas and insurance for up to 180 miles of driving.

Zipcar differs from auto-rental agencies in several ways.

• Customers make all reservations online or on the telephone; no dealing with rental agents and long lines.
• Zipcar rents by the hour, not by the day. Customers pay only for the time they need.
• No additional fees. Unless the daily mileage limit is exceeded or if the car is returned late, customers pay no other costs. Hourly rates include all gas and insurance.
• Zipcar placed pick-up locations all over the city, not in huge, inconvenient lots

This is my favorite part (two parts, really): cars are located all around the city, and they are nice cars. Coopers (convertible!), Volvos, BMW’s, Jettas, and even pickup trucks. They have about twenty pick-up locations in the South End and over one hundred spread throughout the rest of the city.

Mr_Alyk works with someone who owns a car, but gets an SUV every time he visits Ikea or moves apartments (JS, time to settle down and buy. With Redfin, of course!)

Another friend uses her Zipcar to shop at South Bay a couple of times a month. She spends sixty dollars a month for her zip car and sixty dollars a month for her Charlie Card. She saves a ton over owning a car in the city. If she kept a car in the South End, she would have to pay all the regular car costs– financing, maintenance, and gas—and then some. She’d also have to pay another couple hundred a month for parking. Her insurance would double, and parking tickets would kill her.

Zipcar isn’t the cure to all the world’s ills, but it’s pretty convenient for those who could use a car, but don’t want to keep one in the city.

More Alyk on the South End

Redfin Sweet Digs Boston Home

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