Self-Serve Car Rental 143
abb_road writes "Claiming 'Web2.0 values meet Brick and Mortar,' BusinessWeek is reporting on an entirely self service car rental company. Zipcar customers make all reservations online or using a cell phone, then use a card-key to pick up their car from the parking garage--no attendants needed. According to the article, one of the other important attractions of the system is transparency; the reservations system allows you to see exactly what cars in the area will be available at what times, and then reserve or adjust your plans accordingly. From the article: 'If the nearest Mini convertible is booked until 3 p.m., the customer might postpone plans by an hour to get it -- or decide the Mazda with a sunroof on another lot will do.'"
Re:old news (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why bother (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:But... (Score:3, Interesting)
But I'll get it when I'm driving in Vermont at Christmastime just because I've forgotten everything I ever knew about driving in snow because I spend the other 11.5 months of the year in Southern California. I'll also occasionally get it if I'm renting something I'm not used to driving--like an SUV or a truck.
Actually, my favorite story is from a place that does "exotic car rentals." They don't offer insurance on their cars--your insurance has to be able to deal with it or they won't let you rent the car. Some guy rented a lamborghini for his buddy on his buddy's 30th birthday. His buddy was driving the car (the renter was the passenger) and the buddy totaled the car. Complete write off. Of course, the buddy's insurance won't go that high. And the guy who rented the car wasn't the driver, so his insurance won't cover it. So the guy who rented the car is buying the rental company a new lamborghini--and, yes, he'll be paying for it for the next 20 years.
Re:Why bother (Score:1, Interesting)
As for broken cars and whatnot, I've yet to have a problem. The cars are all very new and well cared for. They even have XM radio these days.
Re:One-Way Rentals? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Sounds Interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice bonus BTW: I had a reservation a few months back on a car that got into an accident about 30 minutes before my reservation was to start. (The previous user was parking and things didn't quite work out with his technique.) Flexcar phoned me to let me know that there was a problem, reserved the closest available vehicle for me, and gave me a nice credit "for my inconvenience." A really great customer service experience.
Re:Maybe not (Score:3, Interesting)
I finally gave in to the pressure from the Ryder truck rental guy to pay an extra $100 for the insurance. Two days later I drove that 12 foot truck under an 11 foot overhang, doing about four thousand dollars worth of damage in the process. I was amazed at how fragile that big truck was, actually - but I was real happy I bought that insurance.
As I understand it with Zipcar, there is a deposit you pay ($25 or $50 maybe?) and when the next guy rents the car and doesn't complain about it being dirty inside those funds are released. Like a bond, sort of. I could be wrong, haven't had any coffee yet.