Where do I start? I've taken a few punches from Zipcar in the past - dinged up cars I've spent 10 minutes photo documenting before leaving the lot so they don't pin it on me, dirty cars, very low gas, paid for gas because there is no gas card and then not reimbursed. List goes on and on. But this one takes the cake. I have about 4 hrs between checking out of my hotel and jumping on a flight home from LAX. Happens to be my Step-Mom's 80th bday and I'm in town so I call the night before to say I'd love to take her to lunch while I'm in limbo waiting for my flight. She says that would make her day and I book my Zipcar near LAX. Get to Avis rental lot where Zipcar says Ira (my car) would be parked and there is no car where the pindrop indicates. Actually, there is no Zipcar lot - just a twisted area of linked fences and concrete barricades. So apparently it's an Avis employee lot of cars without a Zipcar sign in sight. Had to ask an Avis guy where's the Zipcars. He says they moved lots and points 300 yards across the Avis lot. Would have been nice to have the right location but I pushed honk on my app just to be sure he's not wrong. Silence - other than her planes landing overhead. However, a message pops up saying the previous driver had not yet returned the car. No worries. It will take me some time to navigate a labyrinth of parked rentals, bustling Avis shuttles and abandoned construction areas as I'm walking in the indicated direction. I'm then alerted that I shouldn't be walking in this area by a nice Avis guy who gives me a lift in the Avis car he's taking to the carwash. I tip him $5 when he gets me to a barely recognizable Zipcar lot and I jump out. Side note - he says no one ever tips him. He deserved it for at least providing the most customer service I receive all day. During my commute I called Zipcar and placed on hold for 15 mins. Once I'm at the correct lot I honk again and try the unlock button on the app. Nothing. Finally a Zipcar agent answers. She says nothing can be done but mentions the driver says he'll be back soon. At this point it's been 1/2 hr and I tell my Step-Mom I probably won't make it. I get on the Avis shuttle and decide I'll just head to the airport. About a minute on the shuttle trip and I'm notified that my reservation has started and can't be cancelled. I ask the shuttle driver to get off, which is ironically right where I was first directed by Zipcar to meet my car, Ira. So, I walk the 300 yards again but no nice Avis guy this time around to give me a ride. Finally get to the car at 50 minutes after the reservation start time. Screw it. I hustle to my Step-Mom's to have a quick 30 minute "bite" instead of a long lunch to catch up. I return the car on time and get to the airport where I settle in and decide maybe I should check my account. Here is the kicker. . . Zipcar charged me for my original 10am pick up time even though I didn't have access until 10:45am and states that I returned it 2 hours late. Charged me those 2 hrs and a $100 late fee. I almost had to laugh because I did try to extend my ride a 1/2 hr to have a little more time at lunch but they said someone else had booked it. No one got in the 15 minutes I was waiting near by at the shuttle stop so my assessment - things went wrong on many levels and I suspect this is business as usual for Zipcar. Wish my customer rep was more empathetic. Wish Zipcar would update location lots when they move 300 yards. Wish I had a '64 Impala. read more

When I pressed my membership card against the reader on the vehicle, the vehicle would not unlock. The whole point of the service is to drive a car. How can you drive a car that cannot be unlocked? I called to report the same issue 4 days ago and was reassured that it would be fixed in a day or two. When I called today to ask Frank if the situation had been rectified, he told me it had. So I made a new reservation, counting on the fact that the problem was solved; however the card reader still did not work. Therefore, I was extremely late for an important appointment since the zipcar was unusable. Then I got Travis on the phone - a supervisor, mind you - who told me he could do nothing for me. You are the supervisor and you can do nothing for your disgruntled customer? Completely ridiculous experience with this service. Do not use them! read more

I booked a car on the app but there was no car on arrival. I called and they gave me a refund. They give you a window to get the car but if the other person doesn't bring it back, the car is canceled and you have to look for another car that is not available. Maybe this app works I would try it again but it seems like a scam read more

Let's talk Zipcar I rented a Honda Fit on Nov 23 and drove it from 9:30 in the morning to noon. I then returned the car (early I might add), and left. Apparently, some parking patrol idiot decided to ticket the car (TWICE) for being parked in the spot reserved for ZIPCARS, NOT REALIZING THE DAMN THING WAS A ZIPCAR. And rather than you guys contesting it (or you know letting me know about the tickets), you FUCKERS PAID THE $53 TICKETS, THEN CHARGED ME $272 for the VIOLATION. AND TO BE CLEAR, under your website (https://support.zipcar.com/hc/en-us/articles/220334248-Traffic-Violations) is the following: If you do not pay a ticket, we will be notified and charge you a $30 processing fee. Additionally, you are responsible for the cost of the ticket. If we can, we will redirect the violation to you. If we can't redirect it, we will pay the fine, along with any late fees and bill the total to your account. Other fines or membership suspension can also result, so please pay the ticket when you get it. HOW CAN I TAKE CARE OF THE TICKETS WHEN YOU DON'T TELL ME ABOUT THEM UNTIL FEB. 28?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! First off, I'm cancelling my service. Hell, even Enterprise doesn't rip you off like this! Second, I'm jumping all over social media to explain the ineptitude of this company. Hell! I can't get a straight answer from your call center, who can't even tell me what day I took out the FUCKING CAR!! HOW THE FUCK DOES THE FUCKING CALL CENTER SUPERVISOR NOT BE ABLE TO FUCKING FIND OUT WHEN I TOOK THE CAR OUT. I HAD TO GO INTO MY ACCOUNT TO FIND OUT!! Third, I DEMAND A CALL from a supervisor on FRIDAY March 24, because I want to know: 1) Why wasn't I made aware of the tickets when they were issued on Nov. 23 (or at least within the month, so I could pay them without your dim-witted fucks getting involved). 2) Why didn't I received a letter regarding the tickets until Feb. 28, which is THREE FUCKING MONTHS AFTER THE GODDAMN TICKETS WERE ISSUED!! 3) Why the charge against me is MORE THAN TWICE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING TICKETS WERE?!?! 4) When are your assholes refunding me my money? I am calling first thing in the morning and I want answers and restitution. read more

I can't talk about how the cars run, cleanliness or anything else because my car just straight up wasn't there. I had caught a Lyft to pick it up and searched and searched for it, but... nothing. Pretty sure the car part is the ENTIRE PREMISE of the business, but hey... maybe I missed something. My conversation with the customer service went something like: Me: "Hey, my car's not here. I've been looking for it for half an hour." Zipcar: "Oh, yeah it's not there. It's 4 miles away." Me: "What? Why didn't you tell me?" Zipcar: "Well we have so many cars on the road it's impossible to keep track of them." Me: "What does that even mean? So you don't have enough staff or resources to like... RUN your business? This is my first time using this service and this is the experience I'm having. I'd like to cancel my membership and for you to refund my money." Zipcar: "Would you mind telling me why you want to cancel your membership?" Me: "Are you SERIOUS?" So yeah. They suck. Just take a Lyft. At least they're there when they say they'll be. read more

I have booked a lot of cars using zipcar and have not encountered any big problem. I had a fuel issue but customer service was nice and took care of it and refunded me the amount. Also the cars are in good condition and good price for 1-2 hours read more

Never have cars available, kinda want a refund for paying the application fee etc ....

I tried to rent a zip car but the car I was sent to had multiple dents and problems--after trying to send pics before taking the car, and talking to an agent, I was unable to take the car because the system would not process the photos soon enough and I most likely would've been charged for the damages. I did not take the car, asked to cancel my membership that I had just applied for. The agent told me it was cancelled and all was taken care of. Then, a month and a half later, I got an email from ZipCar telling me that they were apologizing for their oversight, but they hadn't charged me for the past two months and were now going to do so. I called to discuss and the agent I talked to told me that she would cancel and send me an email that it was cancelled. I asked her to include in the email that I would not be charged for those months and she refused, saying that it was cancelled and that would take care of it. I said please include that I will not be charged anyway, but she still refused so I had to wait to discuss with a supervisor. The supervisor, Jonathan, assured me that I could delete my credit card from their system by going into my account. When I tried, it would not update my account without my reactivating my account, which I did not want to do. We will see if this is the end or the system still tries to charge me. read more

This is one of the worst services I've ever experienced. The idea of this business is great, don't get me wrong. But their customer service is the worst service one can imagine. I used this service for almost two years now and I think today was the last time. I reserved a car nearby and took a Lyft to get to the location. On arrival I realized the car wasn't there. This happened twice already. I call them and ask if there's anything they can do for me since I paid the ride to get there. As they did it the last few times they told me that there is nothing they can do. Bad, unfriendly service. Overpriced and malfunctioning. read more

Driving in L.A. tends to be a maddening and tedious experience. I don't own a car and haven't for over 10 years, and almost every time I drive in this town, when I drop off the car, I remember how glad I am not to drive regularly. It's the opposite of biking which I find freeing, relaxing, and fun -- and which isn't contributing to smog, global warming, and the rapid over-consumption of limited fossil fuels. That said, sometimes a car is much more practical than the alternatives, and I cannot bike to some of the gorgeous parks that are also not served by public transit. Zipcar has some advantages and disadvantages to car rentals, but I am now downgrading my rating to 2 because of a huge issue with relaiblity. It can be a good deal, can be very convenient, and is generally way less of a hassle than renting a car. See the end of this review for some caveats where it's been not at all reliable and a huge hassle, though. And, at least in West Hollywood, they seem to be every few or several blocks. Since I don't own a car, and thus don't have car insurance, the daily rate for rental cars can be quite expensive. Also, renting cars is USUALLY way more of a pain. The rental places are often rather far away (at least for someone traveling by foot or public transit). It seems to always take 15-30 minutes to get the car once you get to a rental place and sometimes as long to drop it off. With Zipcars,it can be as little as four minutes from leaving my apartment to getting in the car (1.5 blocks away) and driving off. Here are some tips and warnings: 1) One tricky aspect is that you pay by the hour, and someone may have the car reserved right after you. If no one has it reserved after you, you can send a text to extend the reservation in 30 min increments and it's very simple. But, if the car is reserved after you and you need to extend the rental, you're just out of luck.* That's to be expected, but it can be a problem if you plan to just have it for an hour or two and it ends up traffic is terrible, or if you plan to pick people up from the airport and their flight is delayed. And, if you have to plan to build in an extra 30+ min in case of traffic when you're only renting a car for 1-2 hours, it makes it a lot less worthwhile. (*If you turn it in late, it's at least a $50 fee, which is reasonable since you can just pay to extend it if it's available, and if it's not available you're screwing up someone else's plans.) 2) If the car is in its spot up to 14 minutes early, you can get the car early! (Earlier than that and you pay for the extra 1/2 hour.) 3) It's a very good idea to take the time to read the reservation info and -- if you haven't driven a specific car before -- to build in a little time to familiarize yourself with the car. There are some weird non-standard features in cars these days, from how the keys work to gear shifts with unusual options (Prius). 4) You lock and unlock the car with your Zipcard. BUT, if you become worried you forgot to lock it, you can text "lock" to 74657. 5) It seems like a decent part of the quality of the Zipcar experience is depending on others not being selfish or inconsiderate, since a staffer doesn't see the car between every person using it. That means not leaving the car dirty, not returning the car late, don't leave lights on and cause the battery to die, reporting problems and dirty cars, etc. So, if you use Zipcar, please don't be a jerk. During a couple of rentals it was a bit of a fiasco because the person didn't return the car in time and didn't answer their phone when called by Zipcar, so we had no idea if it'd be another 2 minutes or another hour. One of the times, reimbursed for a cab to the nearest Zipcar (two miles away) and gave me a few hours free, but it messed up my plans and wasted more than an hour of my day. Chances are, if you use Zipcar enough, that will happen. So, the motto "Wheels when you want them." only applies of the last person returns the car in time. Another time, we got to the car, which I rented for only 1.5 hour to give my hubby a lift, and it would not open. I called Zipcar and they thought it might be a dead battery. Today, my hubby reserved a Zipcar was gone due to construction. They then told him to go to another location, and it wasn't there either, and now they admit they have no idea where it is. So now he's in an Uber and is running really late. We'll see if they reimburse. The usefulness of a car rental/share -- particularly one you often reserve for only 1-3 hours -- is way less if you can't count on them being there and operational. read more

Well I've been using Zipcar for a few months now. Here are some rules of thumb which will help to minimize the side effects from using zip car as indicated. 1. Do not makes precise plans if they rely on Zipcar. It is very likely that some asshat has failed to bring the car back on time and you will burn minutes or hours getting to another car. 2. Keep your cellphone charged. You will frequently be on the phone with customer service. Because a lot can go wrong in a system where you are relying on a company AND it's customers to make shit happen on time. 3. Bring some air freshener. I don't know what some of these people are doing in their cars. Changing diapers? Cooking meth? Slaughtering chickens? 4. Do not use your debit card for zipcar reservations. Use a credit card. If you do use a debit card, keep some extra money in that account. Because zipcar will stack authorizations on you. For example: Let's say you plan a trip, I don't know, maybe to Fontana for a Nascar race. You've got your ice chest full of silver bullet. Your mirrored Oakley's deflecting glares and snickers from the unworthy hollywood slickster types. You walk down Hollywood blvd flip flops slapping up a rhythm that reminds you of a song from the first Bocephus album. Sleeveless Dale Jr t-shirt and that fuckin perfect mustache blowing in the breeze whipped up by your awesomeness. You think this Zipcar thing is hippie shit, but damn son, when in Rome. And it does seem convenient. Anyway, you arrive at your zipcar location only to find your car is not there. You get on your Droid, because iPhone is communism and star wars was badass. You call customer relations. They set you up with another car four blocks that-a-way. They cancel out your old reservation and make a new one with the time changed. You think to yourself, "Damn I should have kept my dually," and set to walkin'. You get back from your trip a little tired and sun-bleached but it was a hoot. You had to park way out in the boonies because you don't want to be seen driving a Prius at a Nascar event. And the damn thing pulled to the right a little because of all the curb-tappin hippies who drive these things. You check your bank account and there are several pending charges from Zipcar on there. You just about shit a brick and get on the phone with customer service yet again. They tell you that the reservation for the first trip was authorized when you made it. Then, when it was cancelled be cause the car wasn't there when you showed up, they voided that authorization. That authorization will be refunded to your account in 3-5 business days.Then they made a new reservation and authorized your card again, pretty much locking up what little is left in your account after Nascar and child support. But it seemed so convenient. read more

I reserved a Zipcar for a trip to San Diego with 4 friends. We are extremely dissatisfied with our experience. When we arrived at the pickup location at 7:30am, the car I reserved was not there. I called the customer service, who tried to help me by pressing the horn and contacting the previous customer, but was in vain. The nearest alternative Zipcar was more than 2 miles away, and we still couldn't find the car after checking every car within two blocks of the pickup location. I had to cancel the reservation and switch to another car rental company. As we didn't make advanced reservation with that company and needed a car immediately for 2 days, we had to spend much extra money. The total car rental and gas cost turned out around $70 more than the cost of my original Zipcar reservation. In addition to the monetary loss, what was more significant was our time wasted. As mentioned above, we went to pick up the Zipcar at 7:30am. As a result of the incident, it was not until 9am when we finally got another car. The five of us wasted 1.5 hours each (i.e. 7.5 hours in total), the traffic got more congested, and we had to skip some spots that we originally planned for our trip. The energy spent looking for the Zipcar and finding alternative rentals made us already tired even before we started the trip. After the trip, I emailed a complaint letter to Zipcar, but haven't received a response. All the five of us have come to the US for less than a year, so this was the first Zipcar experience for most of us. As a result of this awful experience, all of us are either planning to cancel our membership, or reconsidering the original plan to apply for membership after getting driver license. From the negative reviews and low ratings on Yelp, I learned that they are consistently delivering poor services, and we are not the only victims. read more

I cannot express terrible Zipcar is. I don't often have bad experiences with companies, but Zipcar is sincerely the worst. I;ll tell you why: 1) I made reservation for a car in San Diego. Couldn't get in the car. My card wasn't unlocking the car. I tried for 10 minutes before calling customer service, who were somewhat nice but had to unlock the car remotely from their office. A HUGE pain in the butt when you're running to an interview. 2) After that debacle, I decided to order a replacement card. That was my second mistake. It cost $15 and, oh yeah, IT NEVER ARRIVED. Zipcar totally fell off my radar from that point. 3) One year later, I check my bank account to find my account's been charged $40 (it's a yearly subscription). I forgot Zipcar existed. Of course, they didn't send an invoice or notice, by e-mail, mail, carrier pigeon, anything! This is incredibly annoying. 4) I log in online to cancel my membership. They say to call their general line at 1-866-4ZIPCAR. I call the line and the only option I hear is an automated message repeating "PLEASE ENTER YOUR ZIPCARD NUMBER." The Zipcard number is ONLY found on the bottom of the physical Zipcard... WHICH I NEVER RECEIVED. So now here I am, struggling to cancel my awful membership, feeling once again like I've been locked out of my car. DO NOT USE ZIPCAR. I repeat, DO NOT USE ZIPCAR--no matter how desperate for transportation you are! Trust me, $85 down the hole later, you'll regret it. read more

Customer service is 24/7 and everyone you talk to is super nice. When it really comes down to it though - they are NOT there to help you. I reserved a car a few days in advance because I needed to make it downtown from UCLA for an interview. I get back from class and check my email - they had moved my reservation to a different car, further away. I was lucky that I decided to stop at my apt before the interview because I was just going to go to my car straight after class!! I was supposed to be notified by text if anything changed, got nothing. Checked my account online and I had been unenrolled and could not get it to take my number again. Since my new car was further away, I left my apt early and PASSED MY PREVIOUSLY RESERVED CAR SITTING THERE ON THE SIDEWALK. Ugh. I get to the space for this new car and it is 10min late so I'm standing there for 15-20min before I can go. Of course LA traffic is ridiculous - I planned for that. But because I started out late, I got back late - by 7 minutes! $50 late fee. Bam. WTF Zipcar. Honor your reservations. Tip to users: If the person before you is late, cancel your reservation if you can because lateness is a vicious, vicious cycle. PS: Sorry to the person after me :( Thank you for being understanding and I hope you weren't on a tight schedule! read more

Zipcar is offered almost everywhere -- but especially around universities. Tutorial for use is online. Check out on their website for locations, but I'll be reviewing those near West LA/UCLA. Used this car rental system for the first time yesterday. I normally drive a much smaller car and needed a larger one. Here at UCLA, there aren't a lot of options if you don't have a car and need to go far away. Zipcars have been popping up more and more as a means of transportation for students wherever they may live. Membership is relatively cheap ($25 application, $50 annual) -- as long as you'll be using it. I have a friend who uses it at least twice a week, so it's definitely worth it. It's cheaper if you work for a University and can get the membership waved. The cars are now $8 -- up from what it used to be (I think it was $6?), with the exception of the SmartCar, which is $7. To become a member, you go online and fill out an application asking for your drivers license and insurance (I think), but it was all really easy. I got approved rather quickly. They send you your ZipCard, which is basically your key when opening any Zipcars after you reserve them. The reservation system is also online, but they have a VERY convenient mobile site that lets you reserve, as well as extend and honk the car, should you ever lose it in a parking lot. So why use this instead of car rentals? Well, you shouldn't. It's an alternative for shorter trips (less than 180 miles), with the number of hours you have it adding to the total cost. Since gas is included, if you're taking the car for about two hours 20 minutes away, it's a pretty good deal! The cars are all kept in good condition, and the overall experience was very easy. FYI: If you work for UCLA and your job may require you to drive, you might be able to talk your department into getting you a FREE membership with NO annual fee. read more

My first experience with ZipCar was a bit of a nightmare. I rented the mini Cooper convertible, one of the two cars available at the Roosevelt Hotel's parking lot, the closest location to me. The problems started when I got to my destination and realized that while the windows would roll back up, the top of the car would not. In a normal car, this wouldn't be an issue - you would just leave the top down and lock the doors - but this is a MAJOR problem with ZipCars because you can't take the ignition key out of the car. Literally, they are bolted on to the dashboard with a wire bungie cord, and you have to use your Zipcard to open and lock the doors. So, when I got to my destination, I realized that I couldn't park the car on the street, because with the malfunctioning top, I would be leaving an open car with the ignition key inside in full view of any passerby, and there was no way that I was going to be left stranded and responsible for a stolen car. Luckily, I found a valet to leave the car with, but I couldn't run the rest of the errands I had had planned, since they would all involve parking in public garages and parking lots. After spending half an hour on the phone with the customer service rep and then writing an email, I was ultimately refunded for this trip. So, A+ for ZipCar's customer service, F- for the actual car. My next few trips with ZipCar have been better, although none have been perfect. There's always some issue -- the car is dirty or the gas card doesn't work. (I have yet to be in a car where the gas card actually works. And other Zipcar users are so chintzy, they only fill the cars up to the minimum amount. Dude, you are getting reimbursed; fill up the whole tank!) Overall, ZipCar is a good, temporary way to get around town, if your car is getting serviced or if you've just moved to LA and are looking to buy a car, but I wouldn't recommend it as a permanent transportation option. read more

If you ever see zipcar or know anyone at zipcar, run away. They are literally devils sent by Satan to ruin people's trips. Not only are they incompetent and unable to perform basic tasks such as picking up the phone and communicating clearly, they wasted a college students precious spring break. This makes me question whether zipcar even hires human adults, as even my 2 year old cousin can do a better job than what they did. If zipcar does not shutdown their dead business or change their clearly failing business model and customer service, something is clearly wrong. Please do not make the egregious mistake of going with zipcar. read more

I finally got the chance to "use" a one way car. But when I tried to start it, the car wouldn't start because the battery was low! Thankfully the representative refunded my reservation, but it was very inconvenient and disappointing. read more

I signed up for Zipcar through my university, they offer free hours so I thought what do I have to lose? My time and my patience, as it turns out. I will not be using this "service" again, even for free. Signing up was a nightmare. The website is like something you'd expect from a small town midwest realtor in 1999. Signing up I was given the choice to have my zipcard delivered or to pick it up, I chose delivery. A few days later I got an email telling me my card had been shipped. A week later I started looking into it. Another week and about 9 emails later I found out that my card actually had to be picked up at my campus transport office. I did this and noted the confusion to the campus transportation people but they didn't seem to care. The impression I got was that zipcar was never used by anyone, or was so awful that they were immune to complaints. Finally I came to try the service. I'd researched it all on their mediocre website and thought I had a plan. No such luck, of course all of the cars close to my home weren't available midday on a Monday. So I changed my plan, thinking I can walk a few miles to a car. I booked my car, walked the miles, found an empty parking lot. I tried calling the help number where a polite but helpless rep told me she'd honked the car's horn, called the previous driver, re-confirmed the location three times, etc. etc. etc. The feeling I got was that she was used to this and really just wanted me to hang up and go away. This whole thing smacks of some irresponsible dotcom cash grab rather than a genuinely useful service. read more

Worst experience. Predatory. So hard to cancel the recurring payment. Customer service makes it really hard to cancel. Been getting charged months. Friends also cannot cancel. The service itself is expensive but that's not even my complaint. Can't cancel in the app. Can't cancel on the website. Literally need to talk with people and then you talk with them and they won't help. It's the absolute worst. read more

I got a Zipcar the last time I was in LA and I'm so in love with this service! There's no need to go a central office to pick up the car. Just get a membership, book the car online, and go to your nearest Zipcar (they're located all over the city!) and you can unlock it with your trusty little membership card. Whoever thought of this idea is a genius! Also, the cars are all relatively new so they're more gas-efficient and come with ipod docks so you can cruise to your tunes of choice. Zipcar is definitely my kind of ride. read more

The car is not even available when and where promised. The delays in customer service are deplorable. Not a reliable source of transportation. read more

Zipcar - Car not here--! - Car Rental Near Me

I'd want to give a 4.5 star based on my experience out of 14 reservations across a year. Most of the reservations are for airport pickups or interviews. One BIG problem I saw from previous reviews is that the Zipcar may not be there at your reservation time. My suggestion is that before enrolling in Zip car membership, go to Zipcar website and find out how many Zipcar spots near your location. The more the better. I live on west side of UCLA and there are 5 Zipcar spots within 0.5 miles. Out of my 14 reservations, two times the previous drivers did not return the car on time or to the same location. But by calling Zipcar I could quickly find an alternative within 5 min of walk. If there are only one or two zipcar spot in your comfortable walking distance, be mindful of enrolling in Zipcar. Also I usually arrive about 15 min earlier to either take the 14 min extra time or solve any problem early on. read more

Almost every Zipcar experience has been a disaster for me in various pick-up locations in Los Angeles, unfortunately. It's a shame, because it's the only hourly rental service I know of. Literally 4 out of 5 times I haven't been able to pick-up my car because either the keycard doesn't open the door or it's impossible to actually find where the car is located in a random parking garage, even using the horn honking feature. Incredibly disappointing. read more

I have been trying to complete my on-line application for months. The website keeps freezing at a certain point. I called their LA office and got transferred to the department that works on the web site. I left a message and never heard back. I tried again a couple of months later and same deal. If they can't follow through with someone that wants to join and give them money, it does not instill great confidence in the quality of their customer service. What if I have a problem when a car I reserved isn't there or breaks down? I need reliable transportation options but I don't have much confidence in Zipcar after my experience. read more

Worst car rental app ever. My car that I reserved wasn't there. Lol I called to customer service and they switched the car to a truck lol. They don't have any cars available. I wasted one hour on the street taking rounding trip uber. I was so pissed so I just closed my account and they won't refund the application fee which is $28. It was hilarious a car you reserved wasn't there lol so you never know when you actually get there and see your rental car lol. read more

This review is for the actual car use only since I finally decided to rent a car before my membership expired lol 3.5 stars CONS: The rental rate for 24 hours (about $80) is pretty damn high considering you can rent a car Fri-Mon for about $35 so I wouldn't recommend it if you need a car for an extended period of time....or anything over a few hours. PROS: Totally worth it if you need a car for a few hours to transport furniture, etc. Zipcar is "open" 24 hours a day so you can essentially rent a car ANYTIME. They also have an amazingggg phone app that will locate the car for you by honking the horn on the car and even unlock the doors! You might have to search around for your car since some of the cars are parked on a street rather than a lot so this is a pretty handy feature. I also really love that you can rent a car on extremely short notice. So yeah. I forgot to cancel my membership so I have it for another year. I'm sure I'll use it again at some point when I have to move something big but probably won't keep it after that. You can also rent cars by the hour using RelayRides but umm I haven't tried that yet so I derno. I just don't know if the $50 or whatever annual fee is worth it... read more

WORST COMPANY I'VE EVER DEALT WITH!!!!! They just take customers money and don't provide what they promise and don't refund when they break the terms of their agreement. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!!!!! read more

Was going to do the $50/mo plan as I only need a car on weekends but they only do round trips and not one ways. I was hoping to rent from santa Monica and drop off in NoHo every Friday night and then rent from Noho back to santa Monica every Sunday night or Monday morning but since that's not an option theres no point in signing up. Too bad! read more

i have been trying to give them my money forever but their website is so buggy and the helpline doesn't know how to fix it??? pls take my business??????????? 0 stars if i could read more

This company does not vet their drivers very well. They hire aggressive people that should not be on the road. See my encounter below and the letter that I wrote to the company To whom it may concern; If you are going to let just anyone put your sticker on their car you should definitely reconsider your business strategy. While driving south on the 5 towards San Diego in the fast lane, for whatever reason a red car with the license plate #6ZKB476 decided to slam on his breaks then did it again. After that he shook his finger towards his rear view mirror, gesturing in my direction. Then he zipped off weaving dangerously in and out of traffic down the highway. As I was driving further south I saw him again driving very aggressively through traffic. I was heading into the right hand lanes to keep down the 5 south, all of a sudden he swerved right in front of me and into my lane almost taking off the front my car! As I honked to let him know I was in the lane he proceeded in my direction at an alarming rate. He then went back into the other lane and as I passed him he flipped me off as if I was in his way as he was speeding to get to wherever he was going. If this is the way that you are going to run your service I will definitely not be using it. These drivers are representatives of your company and therefore are supposed to uphold your reputation. If they are going to be this reckless on the highway then they are not only a danger to themselves but also to those that are around them. I will not be recommending this company to anyone. Hopefully you will vet drivers better from now on. read more

Zipcar is really trash nowadays. I initially became a member I think in 2012. The cars were always brand new, they were always immaculate in fact a couple of times I had to wait while an attendant finished cleaning the car. They had really convenient pick up locations for me on USC campus. The prices were fair, and you had easy access to real people with regards to customer service. In fact I remember I had to go sign up in person at a location on Cahuenga in Hollywood. I recently started using them again in March 2017 after a car accident. My how times have changed, they are garbage. Apparently they were bought out by Avis and it shows their customer service is just as terrible as renting from Avis. My first clue was that they were thrown off of USC campus in favor of Maven. So now the locations to pick up the cars nearest to me are inconvenient. In addition the cars are almost never clean. Body damage is left unattended. Several times I reported mechanical issues and it took reporting the same issue multiple times before they got addressed. And heaven forbid you should need to call customer service. It was always frustrating calling customer service because if you did something Zipcar felt was wrong they will charge you in a second but if Zipcar does something wrong that messes up your trip they don't compensate you at all. And it's even worse because now they have no online mechanism for reporting an episode. I tried sending emails regarding the bad customer service I received twice and the emails bounced back to me. You have to call customer service the wait times are insanely long now last night I waited for an hour, today I had to wait for 38 minutes. Car-sharing with them every now and again would probably be fine, but trying to use them as a consistent option has been extraordinarily frustrating. I cannot wait until I just get my new car and move on. read more

Their cars are usually in poor condition and dirty. Be careful when you use zipcar since basically you don't get any insurance coverage for anything. I used one of their cars and car was hit by other car when it was parked. I report the incident and thought since I wasn't in the car when it was hit, they will not charge me. But, they said doesn't matter if it wasn't your fault and charged me 1000 dollar for a hit and run which I wasn't part of. Rent a car from car rental companies and don't use zipcar at all. read more

I have had too many issues with this company. Do you guys ever clean the cars? Dog hair, cigarette butts, missing gas cards, dents. On serval occasions the cats have not been there when I reserved them. I've spent half the day running around the city looking for another car to get into. On time I had to wait 3 hours for the other person to bring the car back. I had to switch out of one car because the horn wasn't working. A few weeks later I had the same car and the horn still wasn't working. One time I had to switch out of 3 different cars because of mechanical issues. The customer service is extremely unprofessional! They are no help! All they do is charge my account on hold my funds. I would not recommend anyone to use this service. Their customer service is a major downfall to them. *** PLEASE HIRE MORE PROFESSIONAL STAFF *** read more

This is crazy how they decide to cancel me for no reason once I had a gas issue that I had to come out of my pocket in pay for. I'm highly upset member service suck they lie about things. They removed me from using zip car because I had a issue with the gas but they blamed it on billing issues in which I never had a billing issue. I believe that the member service team is doing a scam in San Francisco. They never contact you back until they feel like. I actually had high hopes for zip car but removing me for no reason is horrible. I will be taking further action on this issue with a lawyer. read more

Horrible service & unreliable. A HUGE disappointment. I've been a member for less than half a month.. CANCELING my membership

This company sucks. We drove the car an hour and a half away, went for a nice hike, came back and the car wouldn't unlock, customer service rep says car is "offline" and will need to be towed. Tow truck took 2 hours and of course we had to be present when the tow truck arrived. So what can we do? We're an hour and a half away from home. Rep says we'll have to find alternate transportation. Luckily we can Uber, however this Uber was $100. We tell the rep the additional Uber and faulty Zipcar need to be fully refunded. Rep says she "cannot promise that". Excuse me? The rest of our day was ruined because we had no way of transportation due to our Zipcar suddenly "going offline". This company is a joke and their business model doesn't make sense. Stay away! read more

This is clearly some kind of "fly-by-night" operation! I literally had my credit card number change because my card was lost, so they weren't able to charge me for the $8.00 monthly membership fee for a couple of months. I had been deathly ill and unable to get the new card number to everyone until yesterday. After giving it to them, they promptly charged me the past due $16.00 and then when I wanted to rent again today, they told me I was banned permanently. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! After reading all these negative reviews, I'm starting to think they did me a favor! :D read more

Sorry I could not give a lower rating. Honda with less than 9000 miles. Battery dies for no apparent reason. AAA comes and looked at the battery and said a 450 amp battery was holding g less than 50 amps and the terminals showed scratches that are conducive to prior jumps. read more

I had scheduled a roadtrip with a zipcar, reserved the car for 3 days. When I showed up the car wasn't there. I then had to wait an hour and a half on hold, sitting on the sidewalk, in order for them to tell me that they didn't know where the car was and there were no other cars available. Then they cancelled my trip and put me back on hold for another half hour to get a reimbursement and credit and while I was waiting they hung up on me. Terrible service. read more