Are Car Co-ops a Good Solution for Commuters

AJ: Today’s inbox question, we have Allan from Barrie, Ontario he was asking about the car co-op programs out there, you know the ones we can rent a car by the hour, by the day? Where there's a good solution for commuters, well Allan I'm the perfect guy to answer your question because I actually ride my bike to work or take the bus so I don’t really need a car every single day so we’re going to talk to Ann Marie Mackinnon, she’s a marketing manager from a company called zipcar.com she’s going to answer our question whether or not this service might work. Hey Ann Marie! Ann Marie: Hey AJ! AJ: So we’re going to talk about zip cars, our listeners or viewers I should say want to know about some different solutions for short term car services and you’re from zipcar.com. Ann Marie: That’s right! so we’ve run a car sharing service here in Vancouver and also other 13 cities across North America and the UK that allow people to use car by the hour or by the day. AJ: So what type of person wants to do this like how do you guys, what made you come up with this type of service? Ann Marie: The idea originally came from Germany where more people were using this kind of service and we decided to North Americanize it and give it a nice technological slant but really its kind for everybody as long as you live sort of in a densely populated urban area, zip cars are great. If you don’t want to own a car, you can only use it only when you want to. AJ: Kind a goes, so how does the whole thing work like do you, how do you make your reservations or how do you know when you get your cars? Ann Marie: Well things are done almost completely online and that includes mobile reservation so if you have a web-enable mobile device you can make reservations from your phone. AJ: Oh that’s cool! Ann Marie: It’s really cool so you just get onto zipcars.com, it recognizes that you’re calling from a mobile device and it chooses the cars that are closes to you automatically. AJ: Really? So it knows where the mobile phone is and tells you… oh wow that’s pretty cool and so what about the pricing is it expensive? Ann Marie: No, because you can use the car for as little as 1 hour it’s really you know, its pay as you go. AJ: Okay. Ann Marie: And it includes gas and insurance. Aj: Oh! Okay. Ann Marie: So for the average person it’s about $9.75 an hour here in Vancouver and for business drivers it starts at $8.00 an hour. AJ: And there was something interesting that you’re saying like versus renting a car, because it isn’t international service if you go traveling for example. You can actually take advantage of this if you’re a member in Canada Ann Marie: That’s right. AJ: Or in Vancouver, you can use it in worldwide. Ann Marie: Exactly! Once you’re a member of zip car member here, you’re a zip car member everywhere so if you travel to London or to New York or to Boston or to San Francisco you can use the car there as well. AJ: And so how do you know when you get there that your car is actually in the stalls that used to be? Ann Marie: Well… AJ: How do you get the keys? Ann Marie: The keys are always inside the car, we never tale the keys out AJ: Wow, that’s trustworthy. Ann Marie: It is but we have a zip card so once you’re a member you get a card and it enables you to open and close the car and the keys just stay inside. AJ: The card goes like, where does the card go? Ann Marie: The card goes here in front of this reader here on the windshield. AJ: Wow. Ann Marie: So you just hold it in front of the windshield and it opens the car. AJ: Wow! That’s pretty cool. And this is obviously a pretty fancy car; there are all sorts of types of cars. This is an Audi 83 or… Ann Marie: That’s right! But we have 15 makes and models so everything from a Ford Escape to a Toyota Prias to a Yaris, oh backs if you want to drive in wins land. AJ: Oh cool! Oh very good. Well thank you very much, so if you’re a commuter or the answer to your question, there’s definitely a few services out there with checking out zipcar.com as one of them and I recommend it, that’s a nice car. Ann Marie: Thanks.