Zipcar

Zipcar

 3.5/5 (1467 reviews)

Our promise. We provide a buying advantage with verified reviews and unbiased editorial research.

Overall Rating3.5 out of 5
See all 1,467 reviews

About Zipcar

Zipcar Reviews

Recent
  • Recent
  • Oldest
  • Most helpful
Any
  • Any

A link has directed you to this review. Its location on this page may change next time you visit.

How do I know I can trust these reviews about Zipcar?
  • 4,246,216 reviews on ConsumerAffairs are verified.
  • We require contact information to ensure our reviewers are real.
  • We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
  • Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
Page 3 Reviews 40 - 240
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 28, 2022

Zipcar is the worst company ever. It’s always an issue and they never take responsibility and the customer service people is just as worst. It’s always the same people with the same attitude. Horrible!!

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 26, 2022

I have been a Zipcar member in Toronto since 2014. This company has been going down the drain for the last three to four years. Customer Service waits are horrible - waiting for 45 minutes to speak to a person about a problem with a one hour rental - on a recent occasion. Rates increasing without notice; problems with the app.; cars that are booked that do not start when you arrive to pick them up. This last problem happens at least one out of every four rentals now. I can no longer rely on the cars to be in good working condition. When I report it, nothing changes. I am on hold right now to cancel my membership and am now 52:34 minutes in on hold. They have bilked me for long enough. Enterprise Carshare here I come.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 24, 2022

I arrived at the garage to pick up the ZipCar, the staff at the garage kept saying the car was't working and insisted that I called ZipCar to change the car. I asked him what's wrong with the car but he refused to tell me, just kept saying that the car didn't work. He started helping other customers and ignored me. I called ZipCar and put on hold for 10min before I could talk to a representative. While I was waiting, I asked the staff if he could just switch the location instead of having me called because I had an appointment to go to. He said no and I had to talk to ZipCar. After he finished helping all other customers, he said he's going to check on the car. When I finally got on the line with a ZipCar representative, he brought the car out and said the car was actually working. Because I was in a hurry, I just hung up the phone. It was 20min late from my original pickup time.

I ended up extended my trip for 30min on the App to 4:30 pm. I returned to the garage, there's a line. I waited in line until a lady came over. She kept yelling and asked me to open the trunk. I didn't know how to. She walked around the car a few times then left. I waited in the car until a guy gestured that I could leave the car. I left the car and forgot the end the trip on the ZipCar app until 5 min later.

ZipCar charged me for the extra time and a $50 late fee. I called to explain the situation, the lady said I should've called ZipCar right away when situations happened, so they would refund me the time I lost while waiting to pick up the car. Well, it's my first time using the service. They refused to refund the $50 late fee. I didn't even bother to ask for the refund of the wasted time at pickup! Terrible customer service, unreliable pickup, a lot of fees and surcharges. Cars are super dirty!

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 19, 2022

What a pathetic company. The customer service is horrible, they'll suspend your account without warning and they don't seem to care about quick resolutions. The cars are normally dirty and smell like weed. The cars are usually returned without gas so you'll have to spend time filling the tank. Other drivers are always late returning cars so you'll be waiting forever for your reservation.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 19, 2022

My credit card information was stolen using ZipCar's platform and Zipcar tried to process a $500+ charge on my card. I was able to work with my credit card company to block this charge and immediately deleted my zipcar account. A year later, Zipcar sends me a 'final notice' email that I would be reported to a credit agency for a $21 charge that was made to my account about a month ago. I feel like trying to rent from Zipcar was the biggest mistake I have ever made. Currently on the phone with their 1866 number so someone can put a stop to this nonsense. I'd advise folks to use any of the other car rental apps. This one has been a disaster for me - a one-time user.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 16, 2022

I booked a car. I got to the spot and the car wasn't there. Couldn't speak to anyone at Zipcar so emailed. No response. Got a Gig (rival company). Three days later, no response. Saw on website I'd been fined for returning the car, which I'd never even seen, late. Emailed. Was told no refund as I returned the car late. Explained I didn't get the car. No refund... Finally an automated refund and no acknowledgment of their multiple errors and pathetic customer service.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 29, 2022

They have not responded with proper resolution for the past 90 days and as a result my driver's license was suspended. Totally ridiculous and pathetic customer support. I am even surprised they are still in business. These kind of businesses should be shut down by Federal Government for well being of its citizens.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer Verified Buyer
Original review: Dec. 30, 2021

I signed up for Zip Car, paid their application fee, and was denied without reason. I'm 58 and have been driving since 16 yrs old. I have excellent credit and no driving infractions, yet I was denied.

12 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 23, 2021

I live in Philadelphia and joined Zipcar in early November 2021. I was approved November 11 by email and my credit card was charged $25. Throughout the ensuing 6 weeks, I called Zipcar (a call center in another country) 3 times asking about my membership card. Each time, I was put on hold for 5-10 minutes while someone investigated the matter. One time I was assured that it would be sent via UPS and I would receive an email with tracking information. It never happened. No one could ever explain why I never received my card or what their process was. I was told that my account had indeed been approved.

I finally cancelled my “membership,” today, December 23. At the end of the exchange I asked how I could contact their customer relations department to express my thoughts and was told me there was no such thing. I could only express my thoughts to the person to whom I was speaking who was actually a roadside assistance person who answered the phone because everyone else was extremely busy. This entire process indicated to me that Zipcar continued to be in a state of disarray as it clearly had been a year ago. I thought they had climbed out of it but I was obviously wrong.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 23, 2021

Zipcar really lie about everything in they review. They blocked my account after I booked a whole day trip with them. They don’t explain to me why my account was blocked they telling me to check the app. I find this very disrespectful and I feel like this is their way of scamming people's account after charging a $25 application fee. Then they say due to multiple logins on the account it’s being disabled which that’s a lie.I hate their service and I think this should stop being a business nobody can’t count on Zipcar for nothing. I’m upset!!!

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 20, 2021

Signed up for Zipcar because of their advertisement saying I could use a car right away (link: https://support.zipcar.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025161813-What-To-Know-Before-Your-First-Trip). Was told I can't do so as I had a previous account (closed in 2016). To be clear: I paid for a new activation and the monthly fee (same as everyone else) but was told I couldn't have the same terms as everyone else. The Zipcar web site does not mention that the terms don't apply for everyone. I am really disappointed as a) I can't use a car I needed to, b) I spent hours on the phone just asking for fair terms-same as everyone-and they refused to help, and c) they refused to refund me the activation fee even though they didn't provide the service I signed up for.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer Verified Buyer
Original review: Nov. 26, 2021

Advertised $75-90/day vehicles. After paying for an annual membership, which came to $77.18, I found the only available vehicles in my area were $140/day and up. This is vastly more than I could pay at a regular car rental agency, such as Enterprise, which is saying something since rental prices have gotten sky high lately. I’ve canceled my membership, with no apparent recourse for getting my money back. To top it off, I now see an additional charge to my credit card from Zipcar for $27.57! There aren’t enough expletives in all the languages of this Earth to describe what a shameless scam this is.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 21, 2021

I would leave 0 stars if I could. I got a parking violation, which was a mixup from the parking lot and got it cancelled right away. I sent all the documentation proof to Zipcar immediately and for a month and a half - and counting I called 10 times maybe and got 0 response, except that they have a queue. The supervisor of their customer support dept refused to take my call and I have filed a chargeback via my bank now. The worst customer experience of my life.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 21, 2021

Never do business with them. Worst company ever. Looters, falsifiers. They looted the money on the name of non-refundable application fees. All the documents requested were submitted as they says application approved in minutes. After 30 minutes they replied, "Sorry your application is rejected because you did not meet the eligibility criteria." Upon asking what documents do they need. I provided all. They are big liars. Never do business with them. They are just to loot your money.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer Verified Buyer
Original review: Nov. 19, 2021

It was a nightmare from the start. Their cars are more expensive per hour than they advertise and there is a 25 dollar (hidden) activation fee so it is not just $7 a month. I ignored it and opened an account to rent a car to get me to a half marathon I was running and had been training for months. Looking back, I should have just had a friend drive me to an actual dealer. It would have been less "convenient" but would have saved me money and been much safer. The car was awful when I got in it. The driver-side floor was all torn up, there were smashed pretzels on the passenger side and the outside of the vehicle was all scratched up. I rationalized this in my head because it was a rideshare and still got in the vehicle.

I started driving on the freeway and noticed the window was difficult to see through so I tried to use the wipers to clean it but they had no fluid in them. It quickly became clear to me the car had not been brought into maintenance in a while. A few minutes out from where the race was going to start the check engine light, car maintenance light, and low tire pressure light had all come on. I called the company at 7:40 (20 minutes before the race was going to start) to let them know about the issues and that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. They told me I needed to drive it back to the location I picked it up from and get a new car for the rest of the trip... obviously, that wasn't going to work and I wouldn't have had time to make the race so I told them I would call them after.

Finished the race, got water, and called them back when I got back to the parking lot with the vehicle at 11:23 am. Retold them all the things that were wrong with the vehicle and they told me I needed to get in it and drive it back to the place I got it from - putting my safety at risk. Basically, they have said that because I didn't return the vehicle the first time I called it is all on me and they take no responsibility for not maintaining their vehicles.

This is a company that puts profit over people - and not just in small ways. Their cars are unsafe and they don't care if you end up in an accident or dead due to their lack of responsibility as a company. I would never want anyone to end up harmed because of this company's lack of regard for human safety and life. Do not use them - actual rental cars might be more difficult to get initially but at least they will offer roadside assistance and maintenance their cars often so you know you will be safe.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 19, 2021

Absolutely horrible. Took a pit stop about ten minutes into the two hour trip and the car wouldn’t open after we tried to get back in. Customer service left us on hold for ages, couldn’t help, told us to stay with the car for 45 minutes to wait for a mechanic, and said that if we left they’d charge us an abandonment fee. I’m livid, this is a horrible business. Never using again.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 15, 2021

I took a Zipcar to LA for an evening, on the way back the car would not start. I was on hold stranded in the city for two hours before they towed the car and I had to take a painfully expensive Lyft home at 3am. The communication through customer service was terrible even though I'm sure the employees tried their best.

While that was the worst instance, I've had only one successful trip with zipcar. Several times they cancelled the car at the very last minute without giving a reason why. Another time the gas card didn't work and I had to refuel the car out of pocket to avoid getting charged massive fees. There are so many other cheap car rental companies out there. Don't use zipcar if you don't have to.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 14, 2021

Zipcar has given me the worst service I have ever seen. I was given cars that did not work, cars that were not there, cars that had no gas card or an ezpass. I spoke with representatives that were rude. And very very unprofessional. Now for all this inconvenience that zip car has given me. (Mind you. This has been going on all week.) I was given driving credits and switched to another car due to the previous cars not working or malfunctioning equipment. (i.e. gas cards and ezpasses.). Me as a customer I should not have to pay for the irresponsibilities of others.

Now the driving credits that were given to me as compensation for the very very difficult time I was given were taken and now zip car does not want to give them back and I have not used them. Zipcar expects people to pay out of pocket when gas cards or ezpasses go missing. But expect for people to pay full price and expect no issues when service like this is provided. This is unbelievable. They should be ashamed at how they treat they’re customers. I will be canceling my membership.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 21, 2021

I have been a Zipcar business member for over 3 years, renting at least one a week for my work. The quality of the car got worst with time, they don't seem reliable anymore, not to mention that most of the time cars are not available at the scheduled time, asking to move to other locations and losing sometimes one or two hours. Overall I can not take this anymore and decided to not use this company anymore. We tried to talk over the phone and explain the problem but they seem just they don't care.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 16, 2021

I would give NO STARS if that was an option. Joined Zipcar for all of 13 days. The number of non-refundable fees charged without notice or advisement on their website is unacceptable, especially for family accounts. Not a company I want to have access to my credit card info so they can freely charge whatever they want, whenever they want. DO NOT RECOMMEND joining this service. Save your money and go elsewhere.

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 5, 2021

I was very polite and asked to speak with a manager regarding a concern. He told me "the manager said the same thing I told you." I asked again to speak with the manager and he hung up on me. His name is something like Alzoni. I only called them because it was last minute and I couldn't get a traditional rental but I'll have one on standby next time. No wonder I haven't used them since 2014.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 23, 2021

This company first of all, do not offer the services that they claim to offer. I signed up, they charged me for membership and all this other stuff, then I couldn't find a car in the area that they said they had available cars. THEN, after cancelling my membership and asking for my account to be deactivated, 2 months and many emails later they continue to charge my credit card every month for a membership that they confirmed was cancelled. Terrible customer service and they are thieves on top of it!

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 20, 2021

Deducted membership plan charges and was unable to use the service. Information on website and from customer service representative are 100% different. Please call and ask before jumping into Zipcar (in Kitchener, ON, Canada)

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 20, 2021

I used Zipcar many years ago and they were always clean and well maintained. Not this time. I picked up my car, and it smelled really strongly of smoke. Additionally, the car was really dirty inside and outside. The AC did not work, and there was a notification on the dashboard: "Maintenance due now." This made me nervous, as I did not know what required maintenance. During my drive, it started raining and there was no washer fluid, so the windshield got very dirty, which was scary while I was driving. Throughout my two days driving the car kept stalling out at slow speeds.

When I called customer service, I was only offered a discount on my next rental, but not even a partial refund. Why would I want to rent another car in this condition?? There was no acknowledgment or apology offered. I paid so much for two days with a dirty and unsafe car. This is no way to run a company. I cancelled my membership. In all my years renting a car, I never received such poor service, or paid money for an inadequate car.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 18, 2021

I called before applying to make sure I would be able to start driving when approved as a driver. Online there was conflicting info about this, so I called and was reassured over and over again that I would be able to start driving right when I was approved. I was told the Zipcar number would generate on my account right away. So I signed up, and paid the fee to find out that the reassurance I was given was wrong. I was able to cancel right away but they will not refund my $25 application fee for a product that I will never ever use. I am appalled and disgusted at the way this has been handled. Do not recommend Zipcar; try Turo instead!

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 14, 2021

I rented a car, which I confirmed could be unlocked by phone. I got to the pickup and was unable to unlock the car and Zipcar was unable to send it a signal. Two customers also left - one for the car not being available and another for similar unlocking issues. I spent 90 minutes on the phone with zip car finding me another car, which I told them my phone was international. I was constantly put on long holds on purpose, as no supervisor wants the liability of making an actual decision. Finally after being trekked to another location, and another 35 min on the call to unlock the car; I received an older car, with stains and cigarette smell. I decided to not take the car and now zip car after 60 minutes on hold tells me I should wait to see if a refund is approved. This is a joke. I would be embarrassed to be part of the leadership of this company.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 11, 2021

I was a Zipcar member for over 7 years when zipcar "migrated to a new platform" for NYC customers. Previously I was generally satisfied with the service and used it regularly. Then all hell broke loose and I was never able to rent a car again. The customer service has been horrendous. No one at ZipCar was able to explain what happened to my account or to fix it so that I could rent. I finally gave up and cancelled my membership. Fast forward 18 months. My circumstances changed and I tried to renew my membership. I was "approved" for membership but was still not able to rent a car. All the problems that existed before remain and the lack of customer service remained as well. For the last month I have been trying to get the money refunded that I paid for this non-service and even that is impossible. If you have not used ZipCar - spare yourself the annoyance and go elsewhere.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 28, 2021

This is a complaint about Zipcar's horrible application process. I applied for a Zipcar membership around June 30th 2021. I provided them with all the information and documentation they requested. After not having heard from them for several days, I contacted them.. 3 different times they asked for the exact same information (that I had already provided). They even asked me to provide a picture of me holding my driver's license.. which I did several times. Their telephone support is deeply useless.. a bunch of reps who have absolutely no power to do anything other than make excuses and repeatedly say "I'm sorry."

In frustration, I cancelled my membership application. Today I got an email from them saying my application had been rejected because "failure to meet eligibility requirements." This is a complete falsehood. I am an excellent driver.. never got a traffic violation.. never had an accident.. no criminal record. I have the means to pay for their services. In conclusion.. for me.. this rates as one of the the top three worst customer service experiences ever. I hope that Zipcar has competitors. Since I did not get the service for which I paid, I requested that Zipcar refund my application fee.. they refused.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 28, 2021

I hold a Driver License from both New York State and my home country in France. Accordingly I meet the requirements for membership with Zipcar. (I've rented car with regular car rental company and never encountered an issue). Yet, Zipcar denied my application for membership and told me I could not reapply - even though they said I meet the requirement with my non-us driver license. I asked to cure the problem by resubmitting my non-us driver license and they refuse. More, they refused to issue a refund for the membership fees. This is nothing else than a consumer fraud and their customer service just awful. Stay away from this company, very dishonest company.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 27, 2021

I registered for the annual plan and called up customer service to change it to monthly. They didn't. I asked them to delete my account so I can recreate another, they didn't and instead put my first account under "pending review" status. I called them multiple times over 2 months and often complained about how poor their turnaround time was. The "customer service" has zero autonomy. They keep deferring my case to the escalation team and the escalation team does nothing.

After I complained one too many times, I got a response, quoted "It is not possible to have two accounts with the same information for security purposes. Since your other account under the e-mail of --- is under review, we are unable to offer you a membership. We know you may disagree, but please understand this decision is final and cannot be reversed. We hope you continue to seek out other means of alternate transportation in the future."

This makes me think that: 1. The agents don't know what's really going on and are too lazy to look. 2. The agents don't really care if their customer is having a harrowing experience. 3. Zipcar has too many customer and is earning large revenues to care about one customer. I mean, who is this customer agent making decisions on Zipcar's behalf? So go ahead and rent Zipcar but if you run into trouble with the car, please don't expect them to sort you out without a lot of haggle.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 21, 2021

The entire experience was a nightmare from start to finish. Booked my car back in March. They changed the reservation twice before my trip on July 15th. I left from NJ to ATL and went to pick up my rental in College Park, we get there and the car won't open with the key card. I tried to go through the app and there was no reservation! But I had an email. It was after 11 pm so customer service was closed which is ridiculous. Customer service should be 24 hrs. We had to select the option for a police officer reporting an accident with one of their vehicles in order to speak to someone. Finally get through and they offer me a refund. What is a refund going to do for me for the next 5 days of me being stuck in a strange city with no transportation?!

They finally found me a car close to my Airbnb but at that point I wasn't going to be able to pick it up till the next day, the 16th. The idiot agent booked me all the way till the 21st even though I told him I didn't need the car that long. Smh. They did offer compensation for the Uber rides that I had to take because of the lack of transportation however.

They booked me with the exact same make and model of the car that wouldn't open. This car had physical damage that I did not immediately notice and did not have time to report and when I did the supervisor that we spoke with was highly unprofessional and tried to say that I would be liable for the damage for not reporting it as soon as I saw it. Had I not had to waste time getting another car in the first place I would have. Then he yelled at us, put us on hold for 20 min and then disconnected the line. I may have to go back to renting cars through my job. Smh.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 17, 2021

#1: Awful customer service. #2: Impossible to find the prices as they are advertised, always more expensive. #3: Car was dirty and smelly. Experience: Rented a car for the first time--signed up for annual fee, which I was told could be refunded within 30 days. Car rental location changed the day before, super inconvenient. After the location switch-up, and a disgusting car, when I called within 30 days to cancel annual fee, I could only get partial refund because I used the service. Okay, but that never happened. Called again: "Once you use the service, we can't refund the annual fee." Nothing is as they say it is. Absolutely awful.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 16, 2021

I wanted to try Zipcar to see how much I used a vehicle before purchasing. At first, the service is great and easy to use for quick trips. You don't have to worry about parking, gas, etc. However, the fees are OUTRAGEOUS for a weekend trip. I always ended up renting a car instead, which kind of defeated the purpose of Zipcar. Also, any time I would book for a full day, something went wrong. They'd cancel the vehicle on me with short notice and I'd have to go to a totally different spot to get a new car. They clearly don't like day trip usage.

Also if you get in an 'accident', just forget about it. I backed into a pole once, minor damage, did the responsible thing and reported it through the process. That was on May 25. I STILL do not have access to use Zipcar. They are STILL "investigating" and absolutely nobody could give me updates on anything. Ultimately I decided to lease my own car rather than deal with the hassle of Zipcar anymore. I'm sure I'll get a bill for some outrageous amount of money, for a cracked rear brake light. Do yourself a favor and if you are going to use it, do the most expensive insurance you can buy for every trip.

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 16, 2021

Do not take their service. They are not what they used to be before. Their customer service is useless and ineffective. They cancel your trips at random and do not give money back. I gave up after politely asking them for various customer problems for more than 2 months by phone and email. I can show you as proof. They just apologize but don't act on anything. Their business is sham and they just want your money but don't bother about giving service. Avoid them and be safe.

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 30, 2021

I love the concept of car sharing and the ease of which you can reserve and check out a Zipcar. Zipcar also has nice vehicles that are easy to drive. Unfortunately, 9 times out of 10 the cars are often dirty. If you call Zipcar, the support staff is friendly and helpful. But overall, they need to increase cleaning and maintenance of their vehicles. Additionally, the cars frequently do not have gas cards so if you're refilling the tank for the next customer be sure to use your debit card (I paid cash and they would not refund me, though I did scan my receipt and it showed the time of the filling which was during my rental period). Additionally, you often feel like you're racing the clock when you check out a Zipcar for a short errand. It's a useful service if you don't have a car, but there's lot of room for improvement.

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 21, 2021

I truly believe in the idea and mission of the shared economy. I wish that this concept of sharing items succeeds as it uses resources in many senses more wisely. The problem is us, the human being! Some of us just don’t seem to care about common goods. They treat shared cars/scooters/apartments not with the necessary respect (leaving trash, smoking, speeding, driving against traffic,… ). If we don’t improve our behavior the concept of the shared economy will eventually fail.

For the time being I think that companies like Zipcar need to pay more attention to things like cleanliness, safety-issues, and the general maintenance of their cars. Renting through Zipcar is not cheap, and if the rented item is not up to the promised I will reconsider my choice in the future and go back to old-fashioned car rentals from Hertz and the like.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 17, 2021

I was deeply disappointed after I reinstated my membership following 2 years of a hiatus. After renting a car that was filthy (cigarette ash everywhere inside the car) and smelled like **, I reported the incident. The customer service rep on the phone was very sympathetic and given there was not another car available he offered to credit me the vehicle. Also worth noting the car was only filled half way with fuel and there was no gas card in the vehicle. After spending 25 minutes detailing the car myself I had to drive my family 2 hours in this vehicle.

The following days afterwards I found out I was charged for the vehicle 3 times. There clearly was a mistake. When I inquired I was told that I was given credit and had to pay one of the charges, over two hundred dollars. Despite explaining the promise I received that the car would be credited and pointing out the mistake the company made in over charging me they would not budge. They happily charged me and also did hesitate to cancel my membership when I shared my disappointment and intention to cancel my membership. It was so very unprofessional and saddened me to think that this company would not do the right thing but instead seemed okay losing a customer, and worse, over a mistake they made.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 29, 2021

Terribly run business - always have issues. The cars often break down, and the company does not call you or email you ahead of your reservation time if there is an issue with your car. There have been 3-4 different instances when we have had issues. Most recently, we had a reservation for 11am and the car was still not returned by the prior user by 11:45am. Zipcar never contacted me. When I called, they rebooked us and the only option was over 20 minutes away. I asked the customer service representative to confirm that the car was there and ready to use and he confirmed. By the time we got there, the car would not unlock. We had to call back again.

The whole ordeal took us more than 2 hours and they could not offer us another car. So we were stranded and it ruined our weekend plans. What did Zipcar offer? A $20 credit toward a future trip. We will not be using them anymore and would strongly discourage anyone considering it. This is not the first time this has happened to us.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 15, 2021

I love using Zipcar. It is so convenient to be able to just book the car on my phone when I need it and I can almost always find something available within a 10 minute walk for me (I live in a big city). One thing I don't love is that a lot of the cars I get into have "low tire pressure" warning and it's never clear to me if I should be messaging the app or if someone else has done that. It makes me wonder how often they check on their cars...

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 6, 2021

I’ve used the app multiple times and Zipcar has worked well until recently. The app has given me issues and cost me money because of it. The last 2 times I have not been able to extend a trip when I knew I needed the car longer. When entering the app I either did not have the button available to extend a trip or it said my trip was no longer in progress even though I had time left. The app lets you know when time slots are reserved. Both times, no reservations were booked after me. Paying an extra 30 minutes of time is fine and I have done it before. Because of the issues, I have been charged two $50 late fees. I have sent issues to Zipcar with no response. The lack of response is concerning. The $100 is ridiculous. I will probably use Getaround exclusively because of this.

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 3, 2021

We recently decided to sell our car as we live in a very urban area and thought we would join Zipcar to use a car when we needed to. We called their customer line and was told we have 22 cars in our area. So my husband joins = uploads his license and selfie as requested. Pay the $25 fee and decided to do the month to month membership. Zipcar website clearly states most people are approved in seconds and can go ahead and book a car. No, we ended up having to walk 3 miles to the airport to hire a car from a rental car place.

We have called Zipcar about 6 times in 2 days and each time we are told, "We will escalate your application up the line." Still waiting. We both have impeccable licenses with no restrictions ever. Now I am worried who actually has this information - we try and log on to the website and all it says is verify your zipcard. We don't have a zipcard. I spoke to a manager, Fred, this morning who was just unhelpful and said he was happy to refund the monthly fee - said no you can refund the $25 but he says this is a different company so I asked him to send me an email with this different company's email address so I can contact them direct - he says yes; but another lie from this company.

Their website is very misleading. Based on the reviews I have been reading this company should be put out of business and probably charged with fraud. If you have a driving license you can walk into a car rental and hire a car. If you have a driving license you should not have to be scrutinized. I am going to contact my credit card company and have this $25 cancelled. I do not like to be mislead. The last time I called this company another person there said it can take 5 to 6 days to be approved. Seriously do not join this company.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 2, 2021

Fraudulent activity was noted on my account in January 2021 and my account was frozen. I have been trying to "unfreeze" my account since then (today is 5/2/21) with no success. I called Customer Service today and was told that it was still under review and that I would receive an email when the issue is resolved. I paid for a full year of Zipcar service in advance and now can't use it. I have NEVER had a more horrible experience than I have had with ZipCar. If I could give them a negative 500 stars, I would. Stay away from this company.

12 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 2, 2021

I put a cosmetic scratch on a Zipcar and reported it to them. They’ve frozen my account indefinitely as a result. I spoke with their insurance company, Sedgwick, and they confirm they’ve paid the claim. Yet, each time I call Zipcar, they simply say they’re still collecting paperwork about my case. I’ve written several emails and the reply is clearly a bot answer because it’s the exact same reply every time and doesn’t answer questions about my specific case. The lack of transparency is appalling. This is going on 3 months now and I’m now shopping to buy a car—quite the opposite of the company’s stated purpose. Two of my friends also ended their Zipcar memberships and bought cars due to lack of flexibility and availability of Zipcars. Zipcar is a great concept if all the stars align perfectly to enable you to use one.

8 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 29, 2021

I signed up for this service not fully understanding that you aren't immediately approved for a rental car. I was intending to use it on my vacation. Less than 24 hours later, I canceled and they still took my application fee. So I paid for nothing. Very disappointing.

5 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 21, 2021

1. I have to pay a $10 convention fee EACH TIME in the Boston area. If I rent a car for an hour, the total fee will go up to $24+! CRAZY!!

2. I called customer service within 30 minutes after I signed up for Zipcar. They can only refund the $7 membership fee but NO $25 APPLICATION FEE even though I only open my new account for 30 min!!

3. Customer service is unprofessional and sounds like she needs to sleep after hanging up my phone call!! :(

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 15, 2021

Everything was a hard to deal with and I ended up with extra charges because of it. I immediately closed my account but I just found out that they are still charging me membership even though I closed my account in disgust 6 months ago. Stay away from Zipcar.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 9, 2021

I was repeatedly charged with fraudulent fees in excess of hundreds of dollars. The customer support DOES NOT respond to the open tickets. The customer service phone calls are repeatedly ignored. The business is simply abusive and fraudulent.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 15, 2021

I try this company when they were new, they weren't ready yet, I decide to give them another try, it's even worse now, they charge me an application fee, did not even bother to send me a zip key/card, customer service is just non existent, I cancel as this just another headache waiting to happen, forget this company.

16 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 3, 2021

I have been an avid user of Zipcar, and I have to say they are SO convenient living in New York City - which is why despite the major inconveniences been thrown my way, I have still used them in a time crunch. (Even though quite honestly, you can get a rental car from Avis, etc for the same price and just have the car for 24 hours!!!!)

I have a separate experience that is still awaiting fixing that just happened 2 days ago, but the one that really sticks out before is: I had a doctor appointment in New Jersey that I had to be at by 8:00am that was scheduled 3 months in advance. I rented a Zipcar for this trip. When I got to the area the car was SUPPOSED to be in at 5:30am, it wasn't there. I called Zipcar, and they said it was in a different location. I then was taken to another Zipcar almost a mile away. Running to get to this next zipcar location (to ensure I could still leave before NYC traffic set in), THE NEXT CAR WAS NOT THERE EITHER!

Freaking out because I really needed to leave soon, they said there was a car around the block. I confirmed it did NOT need the actual zipcard car because I unlock with my phone, they said yes it doesn't need the card: just open via phone app. When I get there, it says that the car needs the card. I was livid at this point. The next Zipcar rep told me they could find me another car, another mile away.

I demanded to be refunded for this because I was running around the city, now almost 30 minutes later around Brooklyn trying to get to a car that could take me to New Jersey for this appointment I absolutely could not miss. This particular rep was so rude to me, kept telling me it's all they had, and they would not refund since they found me a car. When I said I am now running to these different cars and have a condition where I shouldn't be doing this right now (literally had a doc appt for this), he hung up on me. At this point, I remember screaming profanities loudly in the street and like classic New Yorkers do, they looked, observed, and went on their merry way.

I called now I believe was the 4th or 5th time. I was crying, terrified I would be late for this doctor appointment that I reserved 3 months ahead of time. This rep was much nicer. They got me a car and I ended up being 25 minutes late to the appointment and they still took me after I told them what happened. I say this story because, I have never, EVER EVER had customer service so terrible as Zipcar. If it weren't for that last rep who was a glimmer of hope for this company, I would have never rented from them again (and I just did 2 days ago and was involved in another horrible horrible incident which I won't go into detail now because I'm still processing it). Please rent from a different company. They really, really don't do what is best for you. I wish I knew who the higher ups were in this company so I could egg their own car or something. Convenience is great for locations, but if you can, rent elsewhere. ELSEWHERE.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 21, 2021

It had been several weeks since I reserved a Zipcar when none of my reservation attempts would go through. I called and they said my account was “under review” for “suspicious activity”. I can only guess that someone had broken into my account but I haven’t gotten any more detail than “suspicious activity” and keep in mind - Zipcar never contacted me about this before I called them. I was told it would be 3-5 days to review the accounts, but here we are six weeks later and they have done nothing to contact me or resolve the situation. And they keep charging me the monthly membership fee while I wait!

12 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 29, 2021

Poorly Maintained. No reimbursement of out of pocket expenses. Hidden fees. Never use this service. There are better car share options, such as Gigcar. If not, a commercial car rental is a better deal, and less hassle. I used this service once, but never again. On top of a monthly "membership fee" Zip car charges about $.50/minute, so overall a two hour trip cost me almost $100. It was difficult to find the car. Once I found the car, it was difficult to find the keys within the car (Finally I found them buried in a pocket of the middle console). Zipcar cuts corners by having the "members" do all of the maintenance on the cars, while they are paying for rental time, and will charge you a fee if the gas tank is under a certain amount.. So, I had to fill the tank while I was paying a by-the-minute rental fee. There is supposed to be a gas card in the visor. It was missing, so I paid out of pocket. Zipcar never reimbursed me for the gas I filled the tank with before returning the car.

The inside of the car was gross. Someone left combs in the glovebox and garbage in the middle console. I called customer service to complain and close my account, and was told I would be reimbursed for gas and extra time used to fill the tank, clean the car, and find the keys. However I was never reimbursed. Even worse, my account was never closed, and I have been billed $16 monthly ever since. This is a horrible service. Do not be fooled.

Zipcar: Remove the application fee and monthly "membership" fees. Hire someone to maintain the vehicles, keeping them clean and full of gas. Provide more options for car drop off locations. Potential Customers: Do not use Zipcar. Use Gigcar instead. If that is not available in your area, take a Lyft or Uber, or just use a commercial car rental, like Hertz or Budget. You will spend much less money and receive better service.

18 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 23, 2021

I used Zipcar for a reservation and then finished the reservation before the end time. I went to park it in the designated spot but there was a car there. I called the customer support and an agent assured me I could park it close to the spot and just leave it and he would make a note for me. More than two months later, I received £600 in fines for parking in the wrong spot out of the blue that were just charged to my account. Even worse, I have tried to contact the company daily since this occurred with absolutely zero response. Their customer service is appalling. Do not sign up for this service. Since this happened to me I have seen many other accounts of them doing this to other people since December 2020. Beware!

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 30, 2020

I fall for the "immediate" membership since I need to rent a car on 12/20th, and have an "Zip Station" a block from my place. I paid the fees, took the driver's license front and back pics, and also the "selfie" requested, followed the instructions, and then the nightmare started. I have no immediate response (they are careful announcing that "most" is approved right away, not all).

Today is the 29th, and I have already spoken with many people in the customer service, that always say will escalate the process (right now should be getting to the top of the Himalayas). Cannot say too much about the workers, most were really educated and nice, however, the main point is to find solutions, and I believe they do not have access to almost anything (or do not care). Anyway, one of the options I received was to cancel the membership (that have not even started), for that I would lose the $25 fee. It is just a pizza pie in NYC, but it is "my pizza", and I will see the end of this (let see, $25x1, $25x10, 100, or 1000, or why not 100,000 and make $2.5M on a easy - not saying it is the case, not just because their legal dept, but just because).

12 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 17, 2020

The idea of Zipcar works great when it works how it’s supposed to schedule a time, pick up the car, pay the one time price for renting it and then return on time with no problem. You paid for the rental that’s it right? No. You wake up the next morning to a few of anywhere between 50-300 has been the most they tried to rob me for supposedly stating you bring back the car way past the time. Even with GPS somehow their system makes this mistake you would think they would fix it immediately and you go on you’re way. The first time maybe but shouldn’t have to keep dealing with this “glitch”. No it happens again and again and if you don’t pay attention to your card you get robbed.

Call in to explain a problem that should be resolved easily being that they have GPS to know when and where you are but no. They tell you they can’t fix the problem and have to escalate it. You have to wait 5-6 business days and if you need a rental that day too bad you gotta pay the fee. Then on top of rental costs and wait 3-5 supposedly for a refund that I have never received instead more fees going up and down. God forbid. You need a quick rental and have a limited amount of money. They rob you and tell you there's nothing they can do. Wait 3-5 for an email and refund. I never even got the email. I call again and they have attitude with me as if I’m wrong for being frustrated for being robbed. Wish they weren’t so greedy with fees and trying to rob you even if you do nothing wrong. It would be great if it wasn’t for the literal highway robberies.

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Dec. 3, 2020

Beware of trying the service, they will charge you year after year even if you never use the service, no refunds available if you cancel, and you can never get a customer service person to talk to. Also, one of the more expensive services available.

9 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 28, 2020

My first two experiences with Zipcar were pure bliss. The first car I rented was Honda Civic, only 5 minutes away from me and it was the best car ever. No issues getting into the garage at all. The car was in immaculate condition, almost as if it came straight from the factory. Car was perfectly clean, operated perfectly, smelled great and new. I did end up having an issue with the car disconnecting from my account, which made it malfunction. It wasn't operating properly but, thank goodness I was in a parking spot in a parking lot. I called Zipcar customer service and they were able to fix the situation expeditiously. They were able to restart the car for me remotely, and it began working in perfect condition again.

My second experience was also great. Different car different location, slightly older model. Only one problem which was that, the car did smell like cigarettes. I drove back home to get a Febreze bottle and sprayed the inside, which didn't really help. But, the car was working perfectly, was clean for the most part. I drove the car for hours and it was great overall!

I realized that Zipcar has student memberships and discounts, so one morning I called them to switch my account over from a standard account to a student account. Took less than 1 minute to get someone on the phone, took less than 10 minutes to do over the phone. I was getting discounts immediately after! The discounted rates for students is excellent!! I paid a MUCH lower price for cars with my student discount which I'm very happy about. Through all of this Zipcar never let me down. Every time I called customer service it was great and they always fixed my issue.

Zipcars in my area are plentiful and people never seem to use them back to back (I guess because demand for cars is lower here). There is always availability not too far, for all times of the day and week. I love having lots of options to choose from. Will be recommending to people I know! I seriously don't understand all of these poor reviews. Thank you Zipcar for giving me my first driving experience alone!

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 27, 2020

I used this service for 2 years since I live in NYC and don't own a vehicle. I was an account Educator and Facialist for a few skin care brands and my accounts were from Vermont to Philadelphia. I only used their cars for work purposes as it was seemingly the most convenient car rental service with no hassles...There were some issues I previously had experienced with their lack of customer service back then but, didn't really ever have the time to sit down and write as I was travel/working 60+ hours a week. The last time I used this service was right before lockdown began in NYC from the Covid-19 Pandemic. I only had my corporate card attached to my personal Zipcar account but, I was furloughed on March 23, 2020 and have yet to be hired back to work since no one in any industry is hiring educators especially skin care providers during this unprecedented global pandemic.

Fast forward to June 2020, I started noticing emails from ZipCar but, assumed it was just an advertisement since I hadn't used their service since early March. I opened the first email in September and it read that my ZipCar account was past due. When I read further, I noticed all these charges from trips I took near the end of February and early March. ZipCar hadn't charged my corporate card back then so, now they're charging my personal account for all these random work trips I took, 6+ months ago.

They even tried to charge me for a parking violation that occurred after I had already parked my vehicle. (Obviously the parking attendant had moved the car, incurred the violation yet, I was charged for it since I was the last one to use the vehicle). The last and final blow was that they had the audacity to charge me their yearly annual fee of $70 when I haven't used their service in over 6 months and sent me that bad boy while I'm in the middle of sharing thorough communication with them about these grievances. (I felt like it was like a big middle finger to me, from ZipCar).

I tried calling several times to resolve all of this and the first time I was informed by their telephone rep (with a very heavy accent, a script, vague responses and obviously no clue how parking violations and much more actually work here, in US) that "maybe the police officer didn't process the paper work until later on in the day and that's why the time on the ticket was later than when I dropped off the vehicle". After an hour of trying to carefully make her my friend and get her to help me, she agreed she would escalate my complaint to her supervisor. Later that week, I received another vague, scripted email response from her "supervisor", about only one of my grievances and no way to have a rational conversation with that person about the other issues.

This happened 2 or 3 more times before I realized that I'm not going to further try to maintain my membership with brand who has proven to me that they don't value their customers and or their own brand by not taking a more personable, carefully, thought-out approach to their business tactics, especially post-covid-19. Living off unemployment alone it is impossible to pay my bills, let alone try and pay my rent. Having to pay old invoices from ZipCar which, if the charges had been issued promptly, 4-6 months prior, would have been easily satisfied by the corporation I was working for at the time, is absurd and utterly preposterous.

While most of the rest of the world has been at home with their heads down trying as hard as possible to survive, reflecting on life and how to move forward after being financially destroyed and no job in my entire industry to return to, in the foreseeable future, ZipCar has been busy sticking their heads far up their own posteriors, trying to find ways to charge customers who are no longer in positions to utilize their services. All I have left to say is after months of being ignored, wrongfully charged for fees that should have NEVER been placed on my account and then threatened with closing my account, I'm done with ZipCar.

12 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 26, 2020

I tried to rent the vehicle TipToe on Friday 23 Oct. I received a notice that it was ready to be picked up so I took an rideshare to the vehicle location. It was not present. I immediately called help and was on hold for 19 minutes. During this time I walked the entire parking lot to ensure it wasn't improperly parked. When my call was finally answered, the agent left me on hold for another 7 minutes. When they returned they said the car was at another location and there was nothing they could do. I asked that this trip be refunded and they said they couldn't do that.

I informed them I had movers waiting and an elevator reservation, that this trip had already cost me and now I would have to rideshare further and I expected to be compensated for my costs since the vehicle wasn't available as agreed. I was told there was nothing that could be done. I asked to speak to a supervisor and the agent hung up on me. I called back and was on hold a further 12 minutes before being disconnected again. As a further indignity, I received an email the next day saying that I was being charged for the missed trip. Since I was unable to use the movers during the time scheduled I was charge the cancellation fee $120 and had to rebook everything. All together this cost me $25 in rideshares and $120 in mover cancellation fees, plus the $43 I was charged for the trip. The emails from support simply stated that they were sorry the situation wasn't better but there was nothing they could do. Be wary when using this service.

11 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 7, 2020

Until this experience my previous experiences and those of my family have all been outstanding. That was until our last vehicle. Issues started that the vehicle wouldn’t open and it took over an hour to get help. Among the myriad of issues the one that stands out most is that while driving I saw something drop from the ceiling. We pulled to the side of the road and turned on the interior light to see roaches coming out the light fixture walking along the ceiling. The roaches were there for the food that one of the earlier drivers had left, that Zipcar didn’t clean out. The trunk wouldn’t open due to a prior rear ending that the vehicle had endured and the “dinging” of the open door alarm wouldn’t end.

I reported my issue and was told I “might get” a credit for my next rental. I tried to impress upon their uncaring fm CSR that there would be no next time if this was not resolved. Zipcar response, nothing. Billed and then silent. No Follow up contact at all regarding the issue and my family has used this service a lot. Perhaps other car companies might value a loyal customers but Zipcar is not one of them. Take your business elsewhere.

19 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 4, 2020

Updated on 10/06/2020: In addition to the concerns expressed in my recent review, there is also the problem of communicating with Zipcar service reps, once one has finally responded after extensive waiting times. While I understand the need for having a bilingual staff, this is no excuse for employing persons whose frequently very heavily accented English often makes Zipcar employees very difficult to understand. This is a particularly serious problem because customers may be in situations where their safety/comfort may be at risk.

Original review: Zipcar consistently refuses to put manuals in its cars. This inexcusable failure resulted in a potentially very unsafe situation on my most recent rental. On that trip, I had to wait nearly 17 hours to have a disabled Zipcar towed. Other problems include unacceptably long waiting times when calling their service line, and frequent difficulties in getting their gas cards honored at many gas pumps.

12 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 27, 2020

For starters, the car was not clean when I entered the vehicle. Second, over an hour before my ride was due, I attempted to extend my time as traffic and weather conditions were preventing me from getting to the dropoff location on time. When I attempted to extend, it stated that someone had the vehicle immediately after me. I never knew someone had the vehicle after me until I tried to extend it. When I called Zipcar customer service, I was on hold for a long time and the agent was very rude.

When I expressed my concerns in regards to not cleaning the vehicle prior to me transferring it to someone else (as this is in direct violation of Massachusetts COVID-19 guidelines), she was extremely dismissive and said if I don't get the car back on time, I'll be fined a late fee. When I tried getting to a gas station to fill up the gas, the gas card was not working. I tried multiple locations and found out the gas card was not working. I was told by the agent at this point to just return it "as is" which I did.

Once I returned the vehicle, I was charged for all the mileage I had to expend to find a working gas station plus a late fee (which after talking to four different agents, they finally said they would refund the late fee). I can honestly say with all the negative comments online and my personal experience, this ruined my anniversary with my partner and I will never be using Zipcar again and will be informing the Massachusetts Department of Health immediately of their lack of due diligence for sanitizing the vehicle in between each usage.

16 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 27, 2020

I have no words how disgusted I am with this company. Absolutely disgraceful. In my whole entire 32 years of life I have never experienced customer service like this. I paid for a brand new Mercedes Benz to take my daughter to her ceremony and the morning of her event, I was told the car was unavailable and that I was to collect a different car for a completely new and FAR location

So out of desperation I go to the new location which took an additional 1-2 hours to get to and oh my god. The car they gave me was the most disgusting and unsanitary car I have ever seen. This car had not been cleaned in what seems like years and years. I honestly do not know where to start. During Covid times, I felt so unsafe riding in this vehicle but again out of desperation and no choice, I had to use it. I have been complaining and on hold for almost two hours and all I have had so far with disrespectful and completely rude service from the roadside assistance.

I have uploaded photos because words do not do it justice. Filthy!!!! The car looked as if someone had been living in it for a while. Brown stains all over the seats. Crumbs and crust all over the chairs and floors. Bird crap covered outside the car. Windows so thick with dirt I couldn't see out of the car and had to pull over in the motorway to clean my windows for 10 minutes solid. There is no regard to hygiene whatsoever particularly during covid 19. This company needs shutting down. Just read the reviews online!

PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE. I promise you will regret it. Rude manager who hung up on us. Rude supervisor who said the filthy and unsanitary car we rode in was our fault and that we shouldn't have accepted the car even though they cancelled the brand new car we ordered and paid for the morning of the pick up. They left us with no other choice but to use this car out of sheer desperation. The minute we got into The car to drive to our destination we wrestle already late for, we called customer service and was put on hold for 30 minutes twice then hung up on. How is this company still going????

19 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 18, 2020

I have been using Zipcar for over 4 years, but in recent few years, they cancel my rental in few hours, and then I can't find any car that available. It's getting more frequently. It's not acceptable. I am cancelling the membership.

18 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 14, 2020

Rented a car weeks in advanced. They cancelled an hour before. I know this happens but over a week later and still no refund. They also haven’t answered any of my emails and no one to answer the phone when I call. Just tried calling at 10am and it said they are too busy and won’t be able to answer my call and it hung up. No way to get ahold of customer service.

18 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 14, 2020

I signed up for Zipcar over exactly one year ago. They charged me $15 for the annual fee, and then said my "Zipcard" would arrive in the mail shortly. Several weeks and many hours on hold later, my Zipcard never arrived. I tried to cancel my account and forget about the experience. Yesterday, a charge shows up on my bank statement: $15 for annual Zipcard fee. I find it fairly audacious for Zipcar to charge me the annual fee for a card I never received. I tried calling customer service, but an automated voice informed me they received too many calls that day, and then hung up on me. I opened a request on their help website, which still has not been answered. If at all possible, find another company to provide you with a carshare.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 4, 2020

Just to reiterate the feedback from many people here, Zipcar have atrocious service. My rental was cancelled by them the night before I was due to collect the car. Which is inconvenient but I figured these things happened. But the idiotic thing is that 2 weeks later they still haven't refunded me the money, for the rental THEY cancelled.

24 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 3, 2020

Zipcar provide useful services to the needy people. They give low rate rental for their selection brand cars. Cars are in almost good condition. This company provide charming and friendly drivers in case if we need drivers. Zipcar rent fast cars with very affordable rates. We, the customer of zipcars help us to satisfy our need of urgent cars. I often used cars from this company as they can deliver and use their cars for a pleasant and nice ride. Affordable, cheap and luxury cars of zipcars can give very satisfying wonders of the wheels. No need to compete with other car rental company if you use zipcar once as they give more advanced and fast feature that are deliver to happy customers like us.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 23, 2020

A company that does not care one bit about its customer’s safety or experience. I genuinely have argument and am consider seeking legal counsel due to the atrocity of this company. How it remains as a business is high questionable and I strongly believe this company should be dissolved. I gave Zipcar four chances. Four more than I ever should have.

On one occasion, the car had weed laying inside. On two occasions, the keys and gas cards were missing. The car would only occasionally turn on during one of my trips. I was stranded without any help from customer service. They provided no solutions and refused to attempt to provide me with a key, even though I had the car for over a week yet. Another time, in the height of COVID in NYC, the car was absolute filth. This was after they had changed my specific reservation 2 times. The dashboard was splattered with foods, empty containers throughout, and the strongest stench of weed.

Out of my four experiences, I NEVER, not once, entered into a clean car. No excuse, especially during these times, that it couldn’t have been cleaned. The truth is, however, that zipcar NEVER cleans the cars. They are filth and trash. You pay high prices for extremely poor customer service availability and embarrassingly low standards of cleanliness. Do not waste your time and money. I assure you, no “convenience factor” or “app” will make up for this awful company.

26 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 18, 2020

Two weeks ago, I reserve a Mercedes GL for a day trip with my wife. The first day in working six weeks straight. To take her out of the city, somewhere nice. Shortly before my reservation time, I receive an email that my reservation was switched from the Mercedes GL to a Honda Civic. How would you feel if you went to a restaurant, ordered a NY Strip Steak, and got served a Veggie Burger instead? I called, the rep found me another Mercedes at a different location, and we were finally able to take off. Only to find out that a) there is no gas card in the car, b) no EZ Pass (consequently having me stuck in the EZ pass lane with half a dozen of cars honking behind me), c) the car is banged up beyond belief (both sides had serious dents, and the bumper had come off), and d) the car smelled like cigarette smoke. Anyway, we were focused on our trip, Zipcar refunded me $60, and I almost forgot about it, until... today:

I rented a Honda CR-V to transport heavy items from A to B. The day was planned around the trip down to the quarter hour. Car was reserved from 12:30pm until 4:30pm. I was ready to activate the car at 12:15pm at the garage, but to no avail. No reaction. A guy standing next to me said: "I've been calling them all morning. They have issues with their system. And now they just switched me to this car here." Points at 'my' car, taps his card, gets in, and drives away. In the car I had reserved, and had walked half an hour to the garage for. I checked my email, and at 12:14pm, I received an update I had been switched to a similar car IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PART OF TOWN. It would have taken me half an hour to get there, and my time-table would have been completely screwed up.

I cancelled the reservation, and can only shake my head in disbelief. Who does that? It's like booking a flight to LA, and then the airline decides to fly you to Pittsburgh. What is going on? Reading the comments here and on Instagram, it seems the issues are systemic. Ever since Avis bought Zipcar, the number of cars available has been reduced, the maintenance has been terrible, and the customer service department seems to have been culled down to the bare minimum below the minimum. I will be canceling my membership. There is no value in being treated like this.

19 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 17, 2020

Zipcar is a larger than life disaster of a company that epitomizes horrible, opaque customer support practices. I rented a car from them for a weekend in the Poconos. The person who had the car before me arrived 15 minutes late. I was on hold with Zipcar the whole time to ask where the car was, but hung up once it arrived (never got a real person). This was an omen for what would happen next.

The car drove okay to the AirBnB and I took it for a short drive the next day. Then on Sunday, I go to drive the car home and it shuts off as I'm pulling out of the parking lot. The alternator died. It wouldn't stay on longer than 60s before turning off again. I called Zipcar and was on hold for 30 minutes before I could even talk to someone. They had me do all this dumb stuff like unlock the doors with the phone as if that's going to fix this busted car. They put me back on hold for another 15 minutes and then another guy made me do all the dumb stuff again before I told him it wasn't going to help. He said he would call a tow truck and call back in 5-10 minutes. HE NEVER CALLED BACK!!

Oh yea and during this time, I checked the state inspection stickers and they were expired! This vehicle they rented me was literally illegal to drive in the state of Pennsylvania and breaking down because it was in need of inspection. Oops! We called again, another guy picked up, I told him to skip the dumb stuff, he said he had to call someone else and would call back in 5 minutes. HE NEVER CALLED BACK!!

In total, we spent 2 hours standing in a hot parking lot with zero confirmation that anything was being done on their end. There was a parking lot attendant who I explained the situation to and she gave me a pass to put on the car so no one else would tow it. I gave up on getting a call back and took a $173 Uber ride home which they said they would refund me for. I emailed them the next day and it's been 13 days and no response. I'm calling them again as I write this review. I've been on hold now for 45 minutes. Will I ever get my refund? Who knows. Avoid this company at all cost.

28 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 10, 2020

We live in NYC, upper west side. Have used Zipcar in the past. On the last trip, the driver window would not move up or down so we had a windy trip, but I thought this was just a fluke. But today's experience suggests that it was not a fluke and that this company is tanking: 1) They changed the car and location, except no phone number for the garage, I had to figure out on my own how to call the garage is, and it turned that the location given by Zipcar was wrong and that this garage "does not do Zipcars", thankfully he gave me the location of the garage I actually wanted;

2) Got to the correct garage, found the car with correct plates, but my card would not open the car, I called Zipcar, they said they "could not communicate with the car" to unlock it, and to "ask the garage attendant to open it with his card", but the attendant said his card didn't work on the car either; 3) Zipcar offered me an alternative car 1.5 miles away to the south on foot, I declined; 4) Zipcar offered me an alternative car a car 1.7 miles away to the north on foot, I declined; 5) Zipcar said "Oh, there is a white Mercedes 300 Zipcar in your garage, tag # starts with E79" but the attendant said "No such car here";

6) Zipcar then said I could take the Subaru Zipcar in this garage, tag # starts with JJJ, I found the car but my Zip card would not open it; 7) Zipcar now said "Ask the attendant to open the Subaru with his card and drive it out of the garage so I can communicate with the car", however the attendant said he was not permitted to do that. At this point our timed entry to our destination museum would have expired so I cancelled our trip out of town. They did cancel the charge but in my opinion, they should have given me credit for a free trip. We will not be using them again.

18 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 8, 2020

This company is garbage. One of the worst experiences I've ever had with a rental company. Here's the story: I sign up for the $70 membership plan, get approved, reserve a car for 3 days, and take a $25 Lyft to get to my car. Once I get there, I discover the right low beam light is busted out. No worries though. I pull up the app and hit the unlock button. The car won't unlock. I have great cellular reception. Restart my phone, etc. It still won't unlock. After waiting over 1 hour - to no avail - on the phone to speak with someone from Zipcar (mind you, I'm just standing idly outside in an unfamiliar neighborhood), I decide to take another $25 Lyft home. I decided to cancel my subscription and cancel the trip.

Two problems though. 1. You can't find the cancel subscription anywhere on the damn site or app. 2. I can't get a full refund because the company's policy is if you book a trip longer than 8 hours, you need to provide a 24 hour notice in order to receive a full refund. How am I supposed to provide a 24 hour notice when I am canceling within 1 hour of booking my trip? I literally can't provide a 24 hour notice and the company should know that. Trash company. Do not recommend!

14 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 5, 2020

Reserved a car in an ideal location near my home a month in advance; two weeks later it was changed to an inconvenient location with no apology or offer of driving credit to compensate (I would have had to Uber to the location). Then, THE DAY BEFORE the trip, I was notified the reservation was canceled. Again, without apology or offer of compensation. When I called I was told that car had been in an accident and the only other car available was a half-hour away. They could have had an employee drive it over to me, but that wasn't offered. Instead I got a measly $50 of driving credit, which increased to a still measly $75 when I complained. What do I pay for a Zipcar membership for if a reservation is meaningless? The day before a weekend trip midsummer, there are very few other options that weren't several hundred dollars more for the rental.

Now reading other reviews, I'm shocked to see others have experienced the same thing - I thought this was just very bad luck on my part. How do they not have extra cars for occasions when cars break down, get in accidents etc? I'm also disappointed to see others have experienced getting smoky, dirty cars. It's not like they are a cheaper service than car rental firms, the only reason I do it is because the cars are nearby. But after years of membership I'm now reconsidering, because I've never had a rental company car that smells gross, and I've definitely never heard of a rental car company randomly canceling a reservation where a deposit has already been paid! So disappointing now that they have a monopoly on this type of service, they clearly don't care about customer service at all.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 23, 2020

Everything about this service is bad. There are never cars available when you need them. If you are lucky enough to find a car when and where you need it they will just change the car or the location of the car which defeats the purpose of the reservation. Also their customer service is virtually useless. The 2 times I was actually able to reserve a car... One of the times the car was dirty and smelled like cigarettes and the other time the gas card did not work. I would in no way recommend using Zipcar to anyone. You're better off paying more to rent a car from a car rental place.

11 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 20, 2020

I reserved a Zipcar more than two weeks in advance and when I arrived to pick it up it was not in the garage. Zipcar Customer Service did not offer a solution, had me waiting on the phone for over two hours. No help. Do not use them!

17 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 18, 2020

I reserved a car for hot summer weekend in advance. I got to the place where car was supposed to be parked, it was not there. 40 minutes later (was on hold for all this time and disconnected several times), find out that my car was parked 2 miles away. Had to take an Uber. I could not find the car, one hour later after multiple phone calls to Zipcar (representatives just hung up on you and then need to dial back and wait on a line for at least 15 min for the next representative) I find out that place where car parked locked till next morning.

Zipcar representative was trying to help and booked the other car, after we hung up, it turned out that my zip car was booked only for a night (from 10 pm Friday till 9 am Saturday), my original reservation was till Sunday night. I had to call back to zip car, after another half an hour I learned that no zip car available for weekend (it was already late Friday night). All my plans are ruined and zip car staff can’t help. This is a nightmare. Zip car customer service is terrible and I would not wish anyone to be in this situation.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 10, 2020

Updated on 07/11/2020: So the representative said I was abusing, they were quick to suspend with still 80 or 78 dollars still in the account. They didn't call to speak to me but they quick to suspend. Been calling them since yesterday. Now on hold for over two hrs for something that wasn't my fault at all, they deleted my video. All I want is my money back. They are so unprofessional.

Original Review: Ok been with Zipcar little over a year. So every time I get in a car is either broken, beyond dirty seats, stains, full of trash at times even the outside. At times no gas card. 98 percent of time cars don't have registration, I spend more time speaking to them on my trip than actually doing what I'm supposed to do. Zipcar will take hrs to answer. When they do they really don't want to help if you call constantly, yesterday was the last blow with zipcar. Rented a car 1 one, broken shield meaning a crack, seats were suppose to be creamy color but they were black.

That's how dirty it was. Ac was not working. Took the car at noon. Was almost 5. Still no answer. I called over 21 times, so they finally changed me to another car. Omggg the car had no keys but had roaches in the glove compartment. I recorded it but zipcar went to my media and deleted it???? The day before I had a car for one whole day. Almost 2. As soon as I dropped it off someone picked it up. Ok soo when is the cleaning service coming? They also deleted that video, when I went to park the car another vehicle there so I get charged for late fees???? For something that was not my fault, but they take money in less than a sec but weeks and hrs to resolve your issue, another thing prices on app are not the same. When you ready confirm $75 day. Cars actually 96 or 98.

They not fair. Horrible and they get mad because I'm constantly calling. Ok fix my problem, return all my money and we are ok. But people don't carshare with zipcar. They nasty cars. They will go into your media meaning pictures, texting, voicemail and they will delete it. Trust me when I'm saying they deleted the video I had well 2 of roaches in the car????

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 8, 2020

I have had several times where the car was not there. The key fob was missing. It smelled, was dirty. One time I found tissues and condom wrappers. I've been on hold with customer service 40 minutes, over an hour... I called to report the car was inoperable. The chassis was on a slab of ice. The wheels weren't touching the ground. A week later I rented the same car, but it was still in the same condition. I reported it again. They never took the car off of their bookings. And I've been billed for cancelled trips - because the car wasn't there. I'm quitting! POS company.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 5, 2020

I am a new customer for Zipcar. I booked my first reservation to pick up the car on July 3rd and had my farm tickets ready to go to the farm. In the morning at 6:50 am I received an email that my car reservation was cancelled. There was no way for me to make another reservation due to July 4th busy week. I called to speak to a representative, he takes forever to pick up and they decided to give me a 25 dollar credit. I then decide to give it another shot and booked again with them for July 5th. The morning of July 5th 6:50am my car reservation was cancelled again. This is ridiculous and frustrating and I won't definitely not recommend Zip car to anyone.

19 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 3, 2020

The morning I went to pick up my Zipcar at the garage, I was advised this car was in an accident the day before and no longer available. I received no notice either by phone or email from zipcar. I called their customer service line three times for assistance and placed on hold a total of 40 minutes each time. On two of these calls, the call was mysteriously dropped while talking with the representative. On the third call, I was advised that there were no replacement cars available that day in Manhattan. I had to take a subway, railroad and cab to my destination 50 miles outside of NYC and was three hours late. How does a company strand their customers like this and remain in business. A truly horrible experience.

10 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 3, 2020

I would not recommend Zipcar to anyone. Every time I rent a car I have an issue. The car is dirty, smells like weed etc. I booked a car on July 4th for a trip with my family and they completely ruined it by canceling my bookings without disregard. They didn’t even bother to look for another car of for me. Zipcar is the absolute worst. Be careful with booking with them this might happen to you.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 2, 2020

On 07.01.2020, I reserved a car for the day. On the day of the car was not there. After waiting on the line for over an hour, the Customer Service Rep informed me that the vehicle was reported to be having car issues by the person that rented it before me. At 10:23 am on 07.01.2020, I received an email that stating my reservation was cancelled. Later that same day, I reviewed my Zipcar account to see if I was being charged, I had not been.

On 07.02.2020, I checked my bank account to my surprise, I had been charged. At that point, I called Zipcar again and waited yet again for over an hour before I was able to speak with someone. After a long a circular conversation, they've stated that it will take 3-5 business day before I can get a refund. My concern is the length of time. As previously mentioned my Zipcar account has a $0 balance. So why was I charged in the first place. If you are not a member of Zipcar, be cautious. Note this is my third time renting a car and this is the second time having issues with them.

7 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 28, 2020

Do not become members of this car share rental. Zipcar should be completely shut down. I've been a member for a few years. Twice they screwed me on the 4th of July weekend. 1st time they inform me the day before of my rental not being available. They manage to get me a car only because I was highly pissed off and was literally screaming and cursing through the phone. Today June 28 2020 six day before my family gathering I was forced to cancel my car rental and on top of all that I have rented a house for over $2000 which I may not be able to go if I don't find a car in time.

If I don't go to my family gathering I will not get my house rental funds back. NO REFUNDS ALL BECAUSE OF ZIPCAR! Zipcar did not notify me about my car not being available. No email, phone not even a text. When asked why was I not notified I was told a bogus excuse which really pissed me off. Zipcar literally forced me to cancel my rental. I terminated my membership with them right there and then never will used them ever again.

21 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 27, 2020

As a 15 year member of Zipcar, I'm horrified by the deterioration of their service and reliability. We've been messed up every time we've reserved over the past several months, and it's virtually impossible to contact customer service. I've had enough and hope we can find a good alternative in NYC.

20 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 22, 2020

I rented a car for 4:30 to see my father on Father's Day. The car had not been returned and so after 1 hour on hold with customer service, they said, "Oops, we had to change it, so we changed your car to 7!" So, we waited around for 2 hours to get the next car at 7 and guess what, it never got returned so there was no car for us to use! We spent another hour on hold with customer service, never spoke to anyone, waited 45 min. to see if the car got returned and then, having wasted 3 hours we cancelled our plan. What a horrible Father's Day and what a horrible company. We still have not been able to get anyone on the phone for over 3 hours. Even if it were free, I would not use them again, unless I actually want to miss my outing. The company should be shut down.

18 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 20, 2020

In the 3 weeks since we signed up for Zipcar, we have had 2 cars cancelled the morning of our trip, and 2 cars not at their garage when we went to pick them up. The customer service line is useless - because by the time you wait multiple hours on hold (seriously), you’ve probably already missed out on your trip. This service is an absolute disaster right now in New York, and is basically stealing your monthly fee. Please, stay away and avoid the headache of having to cancel your membership.

17 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 18, 2020

I've only used Zipcar once, REPEAT ONCE!! And the car was EXTREMELY unsafe to drive. Check engine light was on, steering wheel shaking, it was 56,000 miles PAST an oil change, I called. They only credited 10 dollars toward my next trip which I never used because I wasn't going through that again (this was May 28th) THEN never used it again but they were still charging me 141 dollars here and another 247 there that I NEVER AUTHORIZED! I even called Zip and spoke to a supervisor who also DID NOTHING! Thank the Lord my bank disputed the CHARGES. Overall ABSOLUTELY do not recommend not even for one hour, they don't care about their customers nor have common customer service knowledge. You have better chance getting Uber and Lyft even A TAXI!

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 14, 2020

Zipcar has disappointed me five times in the past months; this included me picking up cars to find such issues; huge dents, a shattered side mirror, interior filthy, sticky; with ** odor. THE LAST CAR I DROVE NOT TOO FAR HAD A DONUT FRONT LEFT TIRE. I’ve had cars switched to another location a few hours before my pick up. The last few times I called to complain, I’ve been on hold for 30 mins to get a $20 credit toward the next reservation. If you need to make an appointment or plan to attend an important occasion skip this service; you may find yourself screwed. There has to be better monitoring on these cars.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 12, 2020

-No such thing as a car in minutes, because there are never any cars available; and when there is one, it's an hour+ to get to it. -Advertises as low as $10/hr or $88.25/day. I've seen nothing close. F-

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 10, 2020

Zip car has been a nightmare for me for the past 5 days! First I go to pick up my car and it’s not there. It took 4 hours for me to get through to customer service and once I did they gave me a refund and $20 in driving credit. An hour later I booked another car so I could get where I needed to go only for me to go pick up the car and discover that the battery in the car was completely dead. This company is nothing but a scam trap!! I plan to cancel my membership immediately.

7 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 9, 2020

These cars don’t get maintenance checks, I took a Uber to a location have being told the car was good. I got there to a dead car, I walk to a gas station to put fuel bc they told me that was the problem. The car still didn’t turn on. I wasn’t reimbursed for the gas, my Uber or the inconvenience. But they have the nerve to charge a $20 membership. Beside that wait times to get someone on the phone is over 30 mins. God forbid an accident.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 1, 2020

Worst Customer Service-Cars are FILTHY (during Covid outbreak and before)- Cars are NOT maintained!! My husband and I have been using Zipcar for years and if I could give it O STARS I would!!It was bad enough that before the Corona Virus pandemic would we get cars that were absolutely filthy -both interior & exterior.

However, during the Pandemic, we were told that the cars were would be cleaned and sanitized after every use- NOT TRUE!! Today- June 1st- we went to pick up a car that was not only filthy, but filled with garbage from the previous driver! In addition, every single light lit up (low tire pressure, issues with brakes, steering, etc.) This is NOT ACCEPTABLE especially during the pandemic when keeping things clean and sanitized are a matter of life and death. After waiting 30 minutes, we reached a customer rep and were disconnect with NO CALL back! This will ABSOLUTELY be our last time renting from Zip Car. I would rather pay a bit more and know that I am getting a well maintained, clean, sanitized car.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 23, 2020

I have been a member of Zipcar for the past 9 years. Since this fall, I have reserved 3 zipcars and have had major problems with all of them! In the fall, I was out of town in the car when I got a message that the car booking was canceled, then rebooked for a new car that was back in the city. I was somehow charged for both and had to spend loads of time with customer service sorting this out!! The gas card also never worked.

Then today, my car was somehow randomly canceled for a reservation we made a week ago for tomorrow. When I called and requested a new car, they said they had none available that could hold 12 people and the van that we had reserved for 12 people could never hold 12 people in the first place and is just a cargo van, even though the website said and still says that it has 12 seats! How could the system be so incredibly bad and the excuses be even worse! I'm disgusted by this! And they even canceled my booking and then charged me my membership fee on the same day!?!

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 27, 2020

On the website it stated you can add a driver at no cost to me the (primary account holder). Not so. I was charged for a $25 application fee immediately and I couldn’t even finish the application because the website stated there was a bump in the road try again later. They refused to give me my money back so I cancelled my membership. I never got to rent not one car but been paying the membership And insurance fee for the past 3 months. I’m glad I never rented one after reading how bad the cars are. I’m glad there are other options. Hello Enterprise.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer Verified Buyer
Original review: April 25, 2020

I signed up for a $50 "pre-paid" per month account in 2016 to get 10% off my rides. Since this year, in 2020, I'm going to be using them less, I called them to switch plans. That's when I noticed that none of the $50 monthly charges had ever been applied to rides I had taken -- for four years! They had charged me about $2400 that was supposed to go to rides but then double billed me. At this point I thought Zipcar would admit they made a mistake, apologize and refund my money. When I phoned the person on the phone agreed that they had overcharged me for years. The person on the phone then applied the current month's $50 prepayment to a ride I had recently taken and said Zipcar would get back to me in a couple days. They didn't call, they didn't write.

When I called to find out the status of my refund, not the $50 but closer to the $2400 they had overcharged me over 4 years, they emailed and said they were looking into it further, would give me a $700 credit for future rides, and get back to me. Logically, this was imperfect, because I might or might not want to take these rides. Why credits? What business overcharges you and when you point it out they don't return the money but instead give you a gift certificate for a smaller amount? However, this gave me some hope. I tried to reply, but it was a no reply address, which in this case should have been a red flag. They never got back to me. So 3 days later I phoned.

My trust in them was now low and diminishing. I said it was closer to $2400 and that I wanted the money back, not the credits, because this money was never theirs to take in the first place. The deal was unless I didn't use Zipcar in a given month, the $50 was supposed to be used as pre-payment for rides I took. Although I took rides every month with few exceptions, they never deducted $50 for any bill except this last month when I pointed it out. This had gone on for about 4 years. Finally, I asked, even if it was going to be credits, why $700 and not closer to $2400? They said the case had been marked closed, so that's why they'd not gotten back to me. Another red flag. However, the person I was talking to said they would reopen the case and mark it the highest priority, because they saw my point. So, again, they said they'd call and sort this out, this time for sure, but I never got a call, or another email.

I noticed that in all these calls, they never apologized, and they never called back, even though on the second call, the person on the phone had said, the $50 charges (every month for about 4 years) "were supposed to go to your account but they did not...I understand you need your money back." The fact that Zipcar 1) never apologized 2) were dishonest about call backs and 3) are still refusing to return the money they took. Naturally, I no longer trust this company. Their taking my money dishonestly and refusing to return it is not an accident. It appears to be part of a dishonest business model. They lie and steal for profit, and this is why their credits are worthless to me. I will not drive in a car that is owned by a company that I do not trust, a company that steals your money and refuses to return it when caught. Can you imagine how you would be treated if you were ever in an accident? Do not use Zipcar. It is not worth the risk.

3 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 3, 2020

I signed up for Zipcar so that I could rent a car for my trip the following day. Upon completion of registering online, I was told that a physical card would be mailed to me within a week. I immediately called a Zipcar to see if I could have my membership ID over the phone so I could unlock a car with the app, and when he said that wasn't an option, I asked him to cancel my account since I would be unable to use it as planned.

Come to find out weeks later, I was charged a $25 application fee, which that support rep failed to inform me about. I called back to request a refund on this due to my previous conversations, which they declined and then I requested to reactivate my account since I already paid the $25 fee, which they also declined. Said I'd need to re-apply.

I have never been felt so taken advantage of by a company. Fortunately it's just $25, but after a Google search I'm noticing there are tons of people with the same story. Hope this review helps someone else make more informed decisions than I was. Better yet, hope this review steers others to use more ethical companies for car rental needs.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
Verified Reviewer Verified Buyer
Original review: March 16, 2020

I rented a car from Zipcar out of Union Station, Washington DC. Two parts to the review - problems with Zipcar the company, and problems with Union Station. First, there were no signs anywhere in the station saying where Zipcar was located (although there were a handful of signs for other companies and competitors!). The app told me the car was on the 3rd level of the garage, but there were no Zipcar signs on the third level. And two Union Station employees had no clue - one of them sent me down to the first level. Finally after I called Zipcar they set off the car alarm remotely and I found the car.

But the car transponder was weak and the lane's exit arm would not raise when I drove up. So I called Zipocar, they had me call Union Station, which went to voicemail. I drove around and found another exit lane and there was an employee who paged the manager and they remotely opened the arm so I could drive out the lane. But two levels down there was another exit lane that did not work. This time I buzzed on the speaker and someone let me out. 35 minutes delay. Exiting onto H Street the traffic light did not work so after 5 minutes several of us went through the red light to exit the station.

Upon return there were NO signs for Zipcar (again there were signs for "rent-a-car" and other companies). There was a problem and Union Station employees were manually telling drivers where to go - iafter being misdirected and told to back out, I was told to go in the standard entrance and take a ticket, which I did. I returned the car, 1 minute early. Zip car at Washington DC has NO staff, NO signs, and limited support. I have rented from Zipcar in DC in the past without a problem, but this time was the worst. BTW the car (Honda HR-V) was fine. Never again from Union Station (even though I know the drill now, it's not worth it).

2 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 1, 2020

Using Zipcar over the course of the last month has been a nightmarish, kafkaesque farce. I used zipcar prior to the acquisition in 2013 and found it use easy to use and convenient. Remembering that experience, I recently re-activated and thought I'd give it another try. My mistake. I have rented two cars from zipcar since then, or rather tried to rent two cars. Zipcar saw to it that I didn't actually get either of them.

For the first rental, I had somewhere to be early Saturday morning. As I was heading out the door at 7:30 a.m., I got a call from zipcar informing me that my car that I had reserved weeks in advance was, in fact, not available. There were no cars available in Manhattan, but I was free to pick up an alternative car in Staten Island, two hours away. Thankfully, a professional car rental service (i.e., not zipcar) had plenty of cars available, and I was able to complete my trip. Thanks, Dollar Car Rental.

At this point, I foolishly decided to give zipcar one last try. I think you know where this is going. I went to my scheduled pickup location at 6 p.m. last Friday, which took an hour to get to. My zipcar was not in the assigned spot. In fact, it was not anywhere in the parking lot. Weird! I called zipcar, who seemed slightly confused why I was calling. Their attitude seemed to suggest that it was my problem, not theirs, if the car that I had paid hundreds of dollars to rent was not (technically speaking) available to drive. They offered to call the current renter of the car to figure out where it was and get back to me within 15 minutes. I don't think I need to tell you that I never got a call back or heard anything further about where this car was despite multiple follow-up calls. I hope they've located it, and the drivers did not use it for some sort of "Thelma and Louise" type scenario.

Although several hours late at this point, I finally agreed to backtrack an hour into Manhattan to pick up an alternate zipcar. When I arrived in Manhattan, my card did not unlock my replacement car. I spent 30 minutes on the phone with various representatives who -- if this is possible -- were even sassier and less helpful than the representatives I spoke to before. Finally, we were able to get this car unlocked. I was repeatedly promised that this car would be billed to me at the price of the original car, not the replacement. I think you will be unsurprised to learn that when I looked at the bill this morning, it was at the (much higher) price for the replacement car. It took two weeks of calls threatening to file fraud charges to get this overcharge reversed. As soon as it did, I immediately canceled. I have never been happier about never having to use such a worthless, fraudulent service again.

15 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 29, 2020

Their service is horrible. There are never cars available and just when you think you found 1, you book it only for it not to be at its destination and a sorry from a representative saying there was nothing they can do. No cars were available anywhere else. No notifications saying your vehicle was not returned by the previous renter. I was so upset I had to reschedule my whole trip. I canceled my membership, I will never re-activate my Zipcar membership.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 25, 2020

I subscribed Zipcar to rent a car but as soon as I was charged 25 dollars for their "application fee", their website went down and the service wasn't available anymore. As I had to rent a car through another platform I asked them to refund me but they answered me with an automatic message that "the application fee is nonrefundable". I replied that I don't accept their answer as the site was down and they never answered me again. I feel upset and I has never been treated like that in the US. The only thing I can recommend you is to run away from this awful service.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 20, 2020

I could have cut and pasted most of the review by Melissa of Cambridge. I loved Zipcar at first, but now:

1. Substitutions are constantly made for cars I reserved.
2. Zipcar has cancelled 2 of my last 3 reservations with only 24-hours notice. With that little notice, any possibility of getting a substitute car have evaporated.
3. The gas cards don't work on some of the modern pumps.

4. The cars are not properly maintained and warning lights are frequently lit.

I would like Zipcar to work. I hope they can get their act together.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 6, 2020

My husband and I have been Zipcar members since nearly the beginning. The company started in our neighborhood and we thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. It enabled us to get rid of both of our cars, live more environmentally consciously and save money. But now, I absolutely hate them and the fact that there are no competitors in our area. If there were, I would dump them in a second. It pains me to say this because I was such a fan and promoted them to all of my friends for years.

It has gotten to the point where I cannot trust that I will actually be able to get into a car when I reserve one. The last several times I have reserved a car, I get there only to find that it will not open and they have no record of my reservation. Sometimes it goes over to my husband's account and other times it just disappears, or they have cancelled it for some inexplicable reason.

My last reservation was the absolute worst. I was unable to unlock the car, so had to call customer service. The poor man who answered got the brunt of my frustration and, as much as he tried, wasn't able to get me into the car for 45 minutes. I stood out in the cold all this time and ended up late for a doctor's appt. But it didn't end there. When I went to get back in the car to get to a second appt., I was locked out with all of my stuff inside. This time, the customer service agent I got was not at all interested in helping and just kept repeating that he had no record of the reservation, even though the car was clearly in a different location. I ended up have to take a Lyft to and from the other appointment and then calling Zipcar again so I could get into the car to get it back--a call that took another 25 minutes.

I asked that customer service agent to have a manager call me so we could resolve this issue and so I could arrange to be reimbursed for the Lyft. Nothing. When I called, I was told that they couldn't even talk to me. My husband, as the main account holder, would have to call. We have a joint account! When I asked if they could give me the name and direct line for a manager so he would not have to wait on hold, they said they could not. I asked the agent to pass along my feedback to his manager. He simply said, 'no'. Zipcar, if you are reading this, get your act together. These two long-time customers are planning to drop you and switch to good old fashioned rental cars.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 29, 2020

I just signed up for the annual membership thinking this was going to provided unlimited usages, however that’s not the case. You pay for a membership and then you are charged hourly or daily for the vehicle. The website wasn’t very clear about this. I thought it was you either pay for a membership or you select the hourly/day rate. After I called Customer Service as I could not figure out how to reserve a car, I was informed I had to wait 5-7 business days to active my account, which was not stated and I needed the vehicle for today.

After getting all the information about how Zipcar works with its rates and not being able to get the car in a timely manner I requested to cancel my membership and I felt I was misinformed about what they were offering. Come to find out they was also a $25 application fee that I was also not aware of and is nonrefundable. I asked if they could waive that fee as I based my purchased on unclear information by Zipcar, and they informed me they was nothing they could do. Very disappointed with customer service and this overall experience. If they would have provided clear information on their website I would have never signed up.

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 22, 2020

I never received the card you need to use their cars, so I asked for a refund. They only refunded the $7 monthly membership fee (which would've already been available with their 30 day trial) but they will not refund the $25 application fee, for a service I was never able to use because of them. They could do this for every new applicant, keep the fee and never actually do anything. Insane customer service.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 22, 2020

Unless I reserve a car days in advance of need, I rarely find a Zipcar car available. Too few cars kept near my home to make my membership practical. I have called Zipcar over the past three years to complain of this issue, but vehicle available has not improved.

6 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 9, 2020

I have been a Zipcar member for over 10 years and reserve cars maybe a couple of times a year. I must have forgotten my password or typed it in wrong and decided to change my password and create a new one. I went through the steps, created a new password, logged in just fine and then when I attempted to reserve a car for the next day morning, the webpage did not allow me to and told me to call zipcar. When I called I was told I should be receiving an email in a few hours and my account is under review. I asked why and what issue is there for my account to be locked and under review. Customer service told me that the "support team" is reviewing and they have no further information.

I asked what the email, what solution would come in my email inbox to allow me to reserve a car for the next morning. Customer service had no answer. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She said the same thing- that I'd get an email in a couple of hours but there's no guarantee of when the email would arrive. 3 hours passed, I called again. Customer service then told me that I'd be getting an email in 1 or 2 business days with more information. I can not believe that because I simply changed my password to my account that I can not get any info from customer service as to why my account is locked. I appreciate security steps but I also expect efficient resolution and information when I call customer service.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 5, 2020

Had the worst rental car experience ever with Zipcar over the Christmas period. In anticipation of the holidays, we reserved a car for 3 days (December 23-26) three weeks in advance. The day of departure, we logged into our account and saw that the Honda which was assigned at time of booking was no longer assigned to us. Upon calling, we were told that the car is no longer available.

From there, we spent nearly 4 hours speaking with five separate customer service representatives, including two supervisors. Time after time, we were told there were no other cars available, even though there were cars available currently, just not for the duration of our reservation. We inquired why we couldn’t receive one of those cars since the company then had a minimum of 24 hours to find an alternate vehicle for the other party. Time after time, we were told they (even the supervisors) don’t have that authority. When we asked to speak with someone who DOES have that authority, we were told that person doesn’t answer phone calls. Continuously, we were put on hold with no warning and had to wait 15 minutes at a time for the representative to return. When we asked about it, they just said “we’re busy.”

Since it was imperative we leave that evening, we then asked to be reimbursed for an alternate vehicle—whether that be another rental car or an Uber. First we were told they’d only cover $100 (even though our reservation totaled $400) and then we were told that we’d have to submit a receipt from our travel for CONSIDERATION to receive a reimbursement.

Through this whole ordeal, Zipcar accepted no responsibility for their error and make no effort to rectify the situation. They simply repeated over and over again pre-scripted phrases that offered no solution. When we were told they’d refund us the $400 reservation fee, only half was refunded, and we now need to call our bank to refuse the charge. To say Zipcar ruined our Christmas is an understatement, and I would warn any customers to beware of relying on Zipcar because they clearly have no qualms about simply cancelling your reservation for no reason.

12 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Jan. 2, 2020

I cannot emphasize how horrible Zipcar is, especially their customer support department. The first trip that I had ever reserved through Zipcar was a disaster. I reserved a car for about 6 hours, and upon beginning my trip, the car I reserved would not unlock. I immediately called support and they told me that the car had no service, so they subsequently canceled the car. I was left with no car and no way to get to where I needed to go. They completely screwed me over as this all occurred at the very absolute last minute.

After a few more phone calls, a customer service rep told me that I could take a Lyft to my location and back, and so long that I send in proof (the receipts), they would reimburse me the exact amount because it was their fault my car was out of service and that there were no other available cars at the time. So, I did exactly that. I ensured that the service rep took note of EVERYTHING so that they wouldn’t tell me something different later, and I submitted all of the proof. Someone got back to me within 48 hours and said my refund has been processed and it will appear on my credit card in 3-5 business days. Perfect, right? Well, no. He lied. He gave me DRIVING CREDITS, not a refund even though I explicitly noted I wanted a refund made to my credit card on file.

I quickly called Zipcar support once again. They escalated my situation. They got back to me shortly and gave me a bullshit excuse about why they couldn’t refund the money, which was because their system would not allow them to issue a refund that large because I didn’t have enough reservations to equal the amount of the refund. I called once AGAIN, and they escalated the situation once more, but this time with high priority. They told me someone should get back to me in 3-5 business days. Guess what? That never happened. So, I called again.

They escalated it once again. Of course, NO ONE GOT BACK TO ME AGAIN within the allotted time. So, I called again and again and again. I have called back many times — about 5 to 7 times — and I still have not talked to a single person who can issue me my reimbursement and I am so, so, so, SO flustered and beyond livid because the amount of the reimbursement is $150. I literally just want my money back, and no one has been able to do that for me. I was promised my money back, and they continue to lie and let me down. I would not recommend Zipcar to anyone — not a single soul.

If you have an “Out of Pocket Expense” Policy, how the hell do you expect to reimburse large expenses if your regular customer service representatives aren’t allowed to make such refunds??? Make it make sense. Give your service reps access to such tools, and more notably, don’t fucking LIE to your customers, especially when you guaranteed something to them.

9 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 22, 2019

I was involved in a accident with a Zipcar. I had the damage waiver. The claim department closed my case zip. Months later zipcar still have my account under review. No one in the company know what is going on with my account. I would definitely not recommend to anyone.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 15, 2019

Zip Car is a great option for weekdays. They have a great overnight flat rate Monday through Thursday. Plus so many location options to get a vehicle. Their telephone customer service leaves a bit to be desired as you can wait twenty minutes on average for assistance.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 14, 2019

I have been a Zipcar customer for years, and have always found the Zipcar service to be extremely valuable to me. I currently live in San Francisco, and although I don't need a car day-to-day, on occasion I have rented cars to take trips to nearby hiking locations, etc. When I discovered that Zipcar offered a monthly several months back, I registered thinking I would get a lot of use out of it. I saw no risk in doing so either, given the fact that Zipcar advertises their membership as one that you can 'easily' cancel any time. Unfortunately, however, I found myself not ever renting Zipcars like I thought I'd would, and after 7 months of being a member, I decided to cancel. I log in online to my account to do so, and am told I must call the customer service line in order to complete the cancellation. That was over a month ago.

The first two times I called last month, I waited on the line for over 30 minutes each time, unable to reach any representative. At the time, there was no callback option. I called a third time, waited on the line for over 20 minutes, and eventually gave up. Feeling frustrated from that, I decided to attempt to get in touch with Zipcar in other way. My efforts proved futile, as I could not locate any email or customer chat function. I eventually left them a message on Facebook. A few days later, someone replied to my Facebook message, and notified me that someone from customer service would get in touch with me momentarily. A couple days after that, I received an email from customer service, notifying me that I would have to call in to cancel my account! I could not believe it.

But, I've tried to be cooperative and play nice. I have tried calling Zipcar customer service several times since that email...still unable to reach a representative. They now have a 'call back' feature, which claims that someone will call you back once an agent has become available. I have requested three callbacks now, and still have not received any. I am at a loss for what more I can do. I have successfully contested the most recent Zipcar charge on my credit card statement, but is this something I will have to do every month, solely because Zipcar is IMPOSSIBLE to get in touch with? Fair warning to everyone, do NOT sign up for Zipcar's monthly membership unless you want to be trapped in a membership FOREVER, even though their policy tells you that you can 'cancel' at any time. What a scam.

11 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 9, 2019

This has to be the worst experience I have ever had renting a vehicle and dealing with customer service. Zipcar booked me a car that was clearly damaged and UNSAFE to drive. When I tried to report this in the app, surprise! - the app doesn't work. I called customer service after this and they told me someone had already reported this damage before me which means they went ahead and booked a badly damaged vehicle.

7 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 6, 2019

I requested the free trial month, didn't use it and kept getting charged because I didn't cancel it (understandable). However, you HAVE to CALL in order to cancel the service but it's difficult to even do that because it takes far too long to have someone pick up the phone. I also emailed about this issue and about receiving a refund and the response for that was a little over a week. I can't imagine what I would do if I actually used the service and needed to emergency contact someone from Zipcar. Save yourself from the hassle of trying to use this service and go with Turo like I did - you'll deal with the owners of the car instead of a car service that is difficult to get in touch with.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 5, 2019

I reserved a Zipcar for this past Saturday in Brooklyn (a week prior). The car was nowhere to be found, was on hold attempting to reach a Zipcar representative for 50 minutes with my toddler impatient and crying after having lugged all the stuff ready for a day trip. I now have An anxiety disorder from having to call them again today and sit on hold for 44 minutes to cancel my membership. Person on phone totally indifferent. Zipcar is trying to implode by treating people who need a car in this callous manner. I will help with that process by never using them again and telling and posting to social media to warn others. It needs to be out of business. There’s needs to be another car sharing company available for the public.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 3, 2019

Zipcar is inconsistent and unreliable. Not only is Zipcar always cancelling my rentals but they constantly move the cars to other inconvenient locations. 10 blocks is fine, but to other boroughs? The last time I had a rental it was on 107th street on the east side of Manhattan and it was moved to 181 st on the west side of Manhattan. Zipcar offered to paid to the cab. 25 mins later we arrive at the location and the car is unavailable. We wait 20 mins and Zipcar now offers to go to the Bronx to pick up another car? Zipcar is disrespectful and inconsiderate. They tell me to just cancel my order as if I did not have plans that day.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 3, 2019

Zipcar customer service is woefully bad. You have to call every time you have a problem (and you WILL have problems) as the Zipcar app is very limited. While my first experience with Zipcar was OK, the second was really awful. The car I’d booked wasn’t in the allocated spot, then after long phone waits Zipcar sent me to THREE different locations and each time there was still no car, then when I finally got a car it was filthy with cigarette ash and a punctured tire. We wasted an entire day between trying to access a car and Zipcar phone wait times - DO NOT use Zipcar!!

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Nov. 1, 2019

Like many others have said, Zipcar is fine until you have an issue... Then it's just incredibly frustrating. Each time I've had an issue, car not there, extended trip, incorrect charges etc, the app and online portal are very limited so you have to call. The hold times are always super long (20 min at least) which is extremely frustrating. I once waited an hour, then gave up. It's amazing that a company that lends its automobiles wouldn't have people standing by ready to help at any glitch. So I finally wanted to cancel my membership and I wasn't surprised that calling in was the only way. 40 min later and I succeeded. I own a subscription business and the first thing we did was add a cancellation button to the service. It's asinine that this wouldn't be an option on their membership page. This company needs to disappear.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 25, 2019

I used Zipcar several times. It is good although it is expensive. However, the last experience made me not to use zipcar anymore. I met a broken car which could not start. I think it was because the former driver forgot to turn off the lights and the car was out of electricity. I called the number and waited for more than 20 mins. Nobody answered. If nobody around the phone, why not just leave a message? I did not know how to make my money back and it charged me. It was not my fault. Why I paid for it?

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 23, 2019

Got an email from Zipcar saying that my upcoming reservation charges didn't go through, so I check my credit card details on file and they are all up to date. I then check my credit card account; I HAD BEEN CHARGED 3 TIMES and the Zipcar account still said that "account overdue". I call Zipcar and try to resolve the issue but they put me on hold for over an HOUR! And when finally a customer service rep picks up, she says "Hello" and then immediately cuts the call! This is terrible! I have been a Zipcar customer since 2014 and am really disappointed by their lack of customer care.

10 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 21, 2019

When Zipcar works it is fine. But when it does not, it's extremely frustrating. And once or twice a year, it won't work. For example... For my last zip rental, the latch system to get into the garage where my zip car was located did not work. I was on hold with Zipcar for 20 minutes, trying to get help, until my phone died. Eventually someone that lived in the building attached to the garage let me in through the basement, but the zip car was not in its place! At this point, I’m late for a family gathering, and I do not have a car to get there!

And Zipcar's customer service is horrible, once they lied to me about a refund; they have not replied to my emails; and if you call them for help, you will be on hold for 20 or more minutes. (I am calling them now about my experience and am still on hold at over 35 minutes.)
I was an early Zipcar member. And I used to love it. But once they got bought by Avis, the service went down hill. Dirty car interiors and finding your car with less than a 1/4 tank of gas are the norm. And, as I wrote, once or twice a year, your reservation will not be there.

I can no longer recommend Zipcar. Plus, depending on your trip, an Uber/Lyft is about the same price, so why bother with unreliability and horrible customer service.

2 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 16, 2019

I’m so disgusted with this company. The very first call I made to them—after waiting over thirty minutes to speak to someone on the phone—I was calling to make sure that they indeed have cars in a town that I’m visiting, even though they claim on they’re website they do—just to be sure. The customer service rep asks me to sign up for a membership so that, in 3-5 days, I can receive my Zipcard—and only then, when I receive and activate that card, can I book a car. A week later—and now a week before my trip—I receive the card, I signup and attempt to book a car and, nothing... no matter what day, no matter what time, no matter what month, there is no car.

I immediately call to find out what’s going on and I wait to speak to someone for an hour before finally giving up. This is completely unacceptable and I wanted to immediately cancel my membership but, it gets worse: there is no other way to cancel your membership, to stop the membership fees or otherwise, unless you call in. How is one to ever cancel their membership if you never get to speak to them?! Not freely enabling someone to easily cancel their membership at will, is about as shady as it gets. Why would any company force their customers to wait for, what could amount to hours of wasted time on the phone, to simply cancel their own membership? If that’s not an example of shady business practices, I don’t know what is.

Since that first conversation with them, I’ve never been able to speak to someone since. I’ve randomly called so many times over the past week, in an attempt to reach someone at various hours and, no one has ever picked up the phone. Again, as I type this, I’ve been waiting over thirty minutes on hold to speak to someone. This company has no right being in business if it can’t provide the most basic, fundamental service: customer service!

Be the first one to find this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 11, 2019

This is my worst experience with Zipcar. I have applied for Zipcar membership on 26th Sep 2019 and uploaded the relevant documents. My account says "Oh no! Your driving record check is delayed". So I waited for it. But I haven't heard anything yet. I have called them two times and after a long wait, the customer executive said it may take 3-4 days to process. The worst part is I am calling them again today and I am on hold from last 26 minutes listening to the same line "A member of our team will be with you as soon as they can". If there is any problem with the documents then Zipcar team should inform me or they should inform me how much time it is going to take. It is most irritating to wait.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 10, 2019

I became a member and I was told I would receive Zipcar in 5-7 business days. But I didn't receive even after 40 days!! I was already charged membership fees. I was not even able to reach them. They were not replying to mails also.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Oct. 8, 2019

Do no attempt to use this app. They robbed me 80$ plus the reimbursement payments. They suspended my account without notified me that, they don’t "pay for gas." The gas card doesn’t even work. Here’s the proof.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 19, 2019

They are the most incompetent and unreliable company on the planet. They charge my card and approve my account. Yet, they can't figure out how to use the postal service to mail my Zipcard. It has been 3 months and yet no card. Unbelievable companies like this exist in this day and age. COMPLETE SCAM!

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 17, 2019

Well, try creating an account. Failed - 3 help desk call later they eventually get it to work. Get told that, "Ye we have problems in our back end." Next, they charge me insurance, hay I don't even have a Zipcard yet! So call up to find out what's happening. Go through 3 drop-out calls, one infinite logic loop with a call centre agent, who was totally unhelpful. Give up, cancel membership... Jeez do these people want customers?

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 14, 2019

Paid for membership for my daughter. She has not received her card and when I called to find out when she would receive it, they refused to tell me. According to them, I am not their customer. I paid them and they charged my credit card but I am not their customer. The supervisor, Ishmael, was no help. He was smug and rude. Zipcar needs to hire better people if they want to stay in business. I, their customer, will be cancelling my membership.

2 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Sept. 2, 2019

Signed up for Zipcar based on their map of locations. When I went to use it for the first time none of the locations near me existed. Called the company to ask why I do not see the locations and was told that they have parking lots but no cars at these locations. Cancelled my subscription, they will refund my payment.

2 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 30, 2019

Booked a car for the whole day. When I went to pick it up, the car was not present. After calling them, they told me that the car was out for maintenance. I was not given any intimation about this and top of that the person who helped me first said they would try to find out about the car and call me back. That person did not even have the courtesy to call back. I had to call back again to follow up. Ridiculous. Never again am I going to use Zipcar.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 24, 2019

The second time that I rented a Zipcar the car wouldn't unlock. (The receptor on the windshield blinked and buzzed but that was all.) I called Zipcar and was put on hold for twenty minutes before an operator in the Philippines with a difficult-to-understand accent responded - - - and offered no help whatsoever. I have canceled my Zipcar membership.

3 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 23, 2019

I reserved the car for August 23 12:00am, I get to the car and it's damaged and does not unlock. I call it in and the lady redirected me way out of the way to O’Hare Airport for a replacement vehicle so we moved the reservation time to 2:00am. I get to the vehicle finally, and the vehicle has no signal. I call it in and they said there is nothing that they can do, so now I'm stranded over 45 miles from home with no more and no way home because I put it all in the car so now I'm stranded at 3:31am on August 23 at O’Hare airport with no way home, no money and no help. I am willing to take this further if needed.

9 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 21, 2019

I booked a car 2-3 weeks in advance for my vacation in Denver. 24 hours before I was scheduled to pick up my vehicle, Zipcar told me my reservation was cancelled because of a mechanical/safety issue with the car. They automatically switched me to a lesser car (without 4WD and a Park Pass) for the same price. I talked to customer service and they eventually switched me to another vehicle that was comparable to the original. 2 hours before I was scheduled to pick up my vehicle, I received ANOTHER call saying my Zipcar was not returned by the previous user and no other Zipcars were available in Denver. The customer service agent couldn’t care less about the inconvenience, and didn’t offer much of an explanation or apology. I’ve now wasted several hours of my vacation getting a new rental car sorted out when I thought I had taken care of this weeks ago. Do not rely on Zipcar! They will leave you stranded at a moment’s notice.

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 18, 2019

I reserved a "Honda Civic" with license plate number "**" on 8/14/19 which would be picked on 8/17/19 at 10:00am and returned on 8/18/19 at 10:00am. I received a reminder on 8/17/19 at 8:57am regarding my reservation, so I thought for sure the vehicle was returned from the previous member/customer and ready to go. Upon my arrival I noticed the vehicle I reserved wasn't on site; which was strange because I received a reminder beforehand. There were plenty of vehicles and when searching the parking lot, I seen another "Honda Civic" with license plate number "**". I immediately called customer service to inform them the vehicle I reserved was nowhere to be found and how there's another Honda Civic with a license plate number similar to the vehicle I was supposed to obtain. The customer service representative tried to send an alert to locate the vehicle I reserved and nothing was heard.

He stated he doesn't know where the vehicle is which made me livid because I had plenty of things to do. While on the phone with the representative my wife noticed the "Honda Civic" license plate number "**" across the street in another parking lot with a flat and a spare tire. (Zipcar had a NONFUNCTIONAL vehicle on the market that could not be in use). I asked to speak to his manager and that made matters worse due to the fact that he insisted on canceling my reservation and returning my funds within 3 to 5 business days. I then asked where can I obtain another vehicle due to their discrepancy and he stated there was nothing he could do besides canceling my reservation and returning my funds because all vehicles were reserved in my location. As a Zipcar member I felt so disgusted and mostly certainty angry, so no I do not recommend becoming a member or a customer; I am canceling my membership.

Be the first one to find this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 13, 2019

I read a lot of very unsettling reviews of Zipcar *after* had already signed up for a yearlong membership. So I was very apprehensive about using the service. Since, Jan 2019, however, I have rented a car with them 8 times and I have had very positive experiences each time. The stories in reviews about dealing with customer service sounded nightmarish, but there were three times when I needed assistance that the people I spoke with were incredibly friendly and helpful. In two cases, they offered MORE help than I was anticipating. The wait to talk to someone was LONG, though.

Now, I live in a mid-sized city, and I have a feeling that in bigger cities, where the cars are being used a lot more and more people trash the cars, there may be just more chaos to deal with. I guess I'll find out, since I'm moving to a big city in about two weeks. But when my 20-year-old Honda Civic bought the farm, and I just did not have the funds to replace it, having this option was *very* welcome. I'm moving to a new job this fall that will triple my income, but for environmental reasons, I'm going to keep using Zipcar and public transportation. I hope my experience continues to be positive.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 12, 2019

Okay, so I booked car June 25 2019 and picked up car July 13. When I booked car I paid at that time for 3 hours at the price of $10.50 a hour for a Volkswagen's Golf. I arrived 20 minutes early, the car had a few good size scratches which I took pictures and sent to Zipcar. Also car floor mats were very dirty and the brakes needed some work. So, I had car for 3 and a half hours, so I owed for a half hour which I was charged at their new rate of $16.50 an hour. Actually they re-charged me for the whole time at the new rate, I did car them and they refunded me the difference but only after I complained. So, prices going up 65 percent in 3 weeks is a little crazy!

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 12, 2019

I reserved a vehicle 2 months in advance. Was charged right away. Got to my vehicle on the day and time reserved and it would not unlock. Called customer service line - waited on hold 20 mins to find out that the car was not safe to drive and no other cars were available. I was not notified of this prior to calling and was told I should get a refund some time in the next two weeks!! Never again.

2 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 7, 2019

We decided to try Zipcar while in New York. If I could give a minus score, I would. Unlike regular car rental agencies, Zipcar charges a $84 fee if you want to cancel in advance. We decided to keep the reservation and for six hours, we paid over $188 US. The car was not in the described location (we were given an intersection). It was in an underground parking lot. The windows were dirty and there was no window wiping fluid, so driving home in the dark was extremely hazardous. The drop-off location was locked so we had to wait for someone to come, and for the overtime we were charged another $75. Attempts to cancel “with the 30-day money back guarantee” were refused even though we had only signed in two weeks before. Terrible car and service. We’ll never use Zipcar again.

2 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Aug. 3, 2019

Consumer Beware! We set up a Zipcar account for business and the entire experience has been absolutely horrible. From the rude customer service to the uncaring management to vehicles that are not at the location described and maintenance lights always coming on, this company is lacking in all areas of service. As if that weren't enough, they charge consumers' account prior to using their service and if you return the vehicle early there is no refund or adjustments made to the account. We've decided to return to Enterprise Car Rental and drop Zipcar. What a horrible company.

4 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 19, 2019

Zipcar was almost great. It was convenient, and easy to book, and exactly what I needed. However, one of their policies was so outrageous that I cancelled my account. If the user before me does not return the car on time, then the lost time is simply lost. I had a car reserved for several hours, and the previous user returned the car two hours late. I called customer service at the start of my reservation, and they offered to switch me to a nearby vehicle. Unfortunately, there were no available nearby vehicles. They refused to give me a refund for the lost time, and said there was "nothing they could do." Long story short, I paid for 6 hours of use, I got 4 hours of use. And apparently their "policy" doesn't allow for anything to be done about this. So absurd.

9 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 16, 2019

I have been using Zipcar for about a year, and up until now have loved the service. There have been some issues, but customer service is usually able to resolve and compensate without any aggravation other than a long wait time on the phone. However, last month, I had a reservation for a car for the full day. I reserved this car a month before that, as I knew the smaller cars are rarely available for a full day without planning in advance. A day before my reservation, I got a notification that the car I reserved was not available anymore and that they had switched me to a different car in the same area. This seemed ok, but when I went to pick up the car at the reserved time, it was not there. I looked around other parking spots for it, tried using the app to beep the horn (which didn't work; the server was timing out, implying the car wasn't there), and then called in.

After waiting on hold for a while, the agent I spoke to first tried to see where the car was, also to no avail. He then looked for a car to switch me to, resulting in what I already suspected: nothing available for the full day. With absolutely no remorse or care, he told me all he could do was cancel and refund my reservation; the one I made a month in advance for a commitment I could not miss or be late for. I asked to speak to his supervisor, who seemed a bit more concerned about the issue, but also said he could do nothing... since no other cars were available, all he could do was refund my reservation.

After spending 45 minutes in a circular conversation about how ridiculous it was that they couldn't do anything to help me, I hung up and, for the heck of it, checked the app myself to see if anything was available for the whole day... turns out, there were several! I have no idea why an agent and his supervisor both told me otherwise, but we ended up with another car an hour and a half after the original reservation. Unfortunately, due to looking for the missing car and dealing with the unhelpful agents, I ended up almost 2 hours late to the commitment I had planned a month in advance.

Now, after all that, I called in and requested a refund on that second reservation, the one on the car I reserved after two agents had told me there was nothing available. After everything I had dealt with that morning, I felt I deserved some sort of compensation for my time and frustration with the lack of service.

I was told that the request would get sent in and someone would reach out to me in 1-2 days.

That was now a month ago, and, despite having called several times since then, I have still not heard back-- I am told each time I call in that it should take 1-2 days, but if it takes longer, they're backed up. If they're backed up, no one knows how long it will take to hear from anyone. Apparently, there is no direct contact between agents and the local service team, nor is there a way for the customers to contact the local team directly. I am still waiting for a refund or even any contact regarding it.

I am writing this detailed review in the hopes that someone from the company sees; I find it absolutely ridiculous that a business as widely spread as Zipcar does not have a more efficient and timely process to respond to customers. I understand they are busy and probably have a whole pile of requests, but the fact that they can't even make contact to say they have received the issue and will get back to me seems like a huge oversight hindering the business' success. I will hesitate to use Zipcar in the future because it seems not only am I cannot guarantee my reservation, but they are also unable to respond promptly in the case of an issue. I hope, if anything comes of the time and frustration I've spent dealing with this, that it results in Zipcar re-evaluating their organization, communication and protocol in their customer service teams.

11 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 7, 2019

Was charged an additional $70 of illicit service fees. Then, called customer service and talked to four call representatives to get hung on each time while explaining the situation; and they said they cannot reimburse anything. Finally, after the fifth call with a representative with explaining the situation again for the fifth time got my full amount back. Will be canceling the account now. Plus, the cars smell bad and the seats are dirty.

5 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: July 2, 2019

I used ZipCar 3x. Two out of those three times we had some sort of an issue... Gas tank did not open, car could not be started after pulling over which made us get late to our event that was 50km away from Ottawa. We used ZipCar for Canada day and car was dirty and missing gas card.. When we tried to call them and report it, no one called back and no one answered.. When we called again the customer service was really rude to us saying it's our problem... I am canceling my membership and moving on with a different company. Absolutely not recommending it!

3 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 20, 2019

My hourly reservation increased three times within the first 365 days of my membership with no notice. From $10 up to $14. I've called customer service numerous times for explanation and have received nothing more than "We have the right to raise prices without notice". This is unacceptable and members deserve better. Customer service representatives were also difficult to understand and had zero compassion or human connection. I have also been unable to receive gas reimbursement on several occasions. Everything is difficult to navigate. Zipcar needs to do better. I'd highly recommend another car-sharing service.

4 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 17, 2019

I joined Zipcar with a promotion code ($35 worth) I saw at Surrey Central in March 2019. But they said it is invalid and I had to pay 28$ first joining member with an option of the monthly $7.84 after. When I called them fist, they denied and unwilling to the promo code I entered, but later in April, a manager emailed me to give the $35 credit back to my account.

Then I made a first car reservation after but the car is with a stick not automatic. So I couldn't drive and it was surprising that they have a quite old fashioned car inside. They made an apology and gave me more credit cancelling my reservation. so I ended up having about $65 credit on my account so far. After that I made 2nd reservation last month, but the car I reserved was not there. And they apologized for wasting my time and gave me another credit so it built up about $96 credit. I honestly so fed up with Zipcar and their poor service and don't need the credits they gave to me. I cancelled membership and trying to get my money back paid monthly fees in the past couple of months. DO NOT JOIN ZIPCAR EVER!

2 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: June 15, 2019

After satisfactorily using ZipCar quite a few times over the past two years, my recent experience was a disaster. First, they canceled my reservation without telling me or without giving me another car. I was able to reserve another car but at a different location. Cost to Uber there $20. The car itself, a Honda Fit, was a piece of garbage. The maintenance light was on. The coolant light was on--I checked the plastic coolant reservoir and it was empty. I bought pre-mix antifreeze for $11.00 and filled it up. Now coolant light was off. The windshield washer reservoir was empty. I bought a gallon at a gas station for $5.00. Worst of all, the car made a scary noise at any speed above 65 mph. Sounded like a cat being dragged (it wasn't) and the noise went away if I drove more slowly. Altogether, a most unhappy experience.

6 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 28, 2019

They cancelled my account because of payment issues though I had my wallet stolen and had to replace all of my cards and IDs. I even cleared up a $24 balance and they cancelled my account. Frankly, any place that would do that when I have made my payments and had a very valid reason for missing one month shouldn’t get any more business. They are absolutely trash.

7 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 26, 2019

The app which usually works fine wasn’t working. I called Jessica who reserved and charged me for a car. The car wasn’t there. We called: “unexplained”. Closest replacement? An hour away, in the wrong direction. I asked if Zipcar would comp the travel time and cost: nope. After cancelling the car I never picked up I received texts stating if we didn’t return the car... I had to make a third (in one day, about the same car, to an online company) customer service call. And was told “sorry”, and that a refund of the car I was charged for but didn’t get should be coming, “in 3-5 business days.” For our trouble, from Zipcar? ZIP.

5 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: May 25, 2019

Terrible customer service. I went to my reserved Zipcar on a Sunday to find that the side window was completely broken. I called Zipcar’s customer service line to let them know, only to be put on hold for +20 minutes before deciding that they weren’t going to answer. Through my own online research, I found that Zipcar’s customer service line isn’t operational on weekends. This was not stated when I called nor on Zipcar’s website! In addition, there was no email to reach Zipcar either! The only silver lining to the business is that it is quick to reserve a car, but the experience can turn into a nightmare if anything happens to your car.

3 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: April 21, 2019

They're incompetent and can't even provide a car. I reserved a car for a full day but it wasn't there when I picked it up. I called Zipcar for another car and they hung up on me. When I called back I was sent to a second location for another car but no car was there. I called Zipcar again and was placed on hold for 20 minutes and then was disconnected. I called back and was sent to a third location for another car but again no car was there! And for some reason the third car was only reserved for 1 hour instead of a full day. This was Easter Sunday and it completely ruined my kid's holiday. I was never able to get a car and my 6 year old son missed his Easter egg hunt.

13 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 27, 2019

I have used Zipcar numerous times. This past experience was horrible. I am still waiting for my refund. My car wouldn’t start and I actually had to pay to extend my rental until car got towed which took them 3 days to pick up. And that was after I harassed them on social media. I paid $300.20 for a horrible experience. No one has called to confirm when my refund will occur. No one has even apologized. I contacted my state attorney office and BBB and even they can’t get in contact. I now have to dispute these charges with my bank. Zipcar please just give me my money back!

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 19, 2019

I rented a Zipcar for the first time in Costa Rica. At the Resort Las Catalinas. The Front Desk Concierge helped me with the paperwork because it was all in Spanish. My husband and I just wanted to drive around for 45 minutes to an hour, so we rented the car for a 2 hour time period. We returned it in less than an hour. Never even got out of the car. Since I was new at using this service, I stopped by the Front Desk to tell them we were back and the car was returned.

It looked on my credit card liked they charged me appropriately as there was an immediate $15 charge (to join I guess) and $12.60 rental. Lo and behold about 2 weeks ago, (2 months from when I rented the car) I get an email and see that charged me another $200. They said I had the car for 2 full days. Said I didn't close it out properly online. I will NEVER use them again!! Now that this has happened, I read a bunch of reviews and I can see how negative they all are.

8 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 14, 2019

Who cares for such a filthy Organization? “Thank you for your email. All Zipcar membership applications must be processed through our internal eligibility checks. Your membership application has been declined. Unfortunately there is no further information we can offer you regarding this matter. Please refer to the eligibility section in the Help Centre. “3.2 Satisfying the foregoing criteria does not automatically give an applicant the right to become a Zipcar Member. Acceptance of the applicant's membership is subject to approval by Zipcar in its sole discretion. In addition, even if approved for membership, a Member may be restricted from driving certain Zipcar vehicles based upon the Member's driving history and experience.” We apologize for any inconvenience caused. Please be advised this matter is considered closed.” Kind regards, The Zipcar Team.

5 people found this review helpful
Verified Reviewer
Original review: March 3, 2019

Have been with Zipcar for several years. The cars are not in best condition but it is a convenient service if you live in the city and don't want to buy a car. About 4 weeks ago, we were hit by another car. Even though the place the car was hit, the damage was there from before, we still decided to call the police and report the accident to Zipcar. I have called several times and I keep on been told that it takes 5-7 business days to review, it's been 4 weeks. At one point, Zipcar told me to call a 3rd party claims department. When I called them, they told me they were waiting for documents from Zipcar.

When I call Zipcar, they said that they can see that some documents are pending but they can't see which ones. That went on for about 2 weeks, until I took it upon myself to do their job. Found out which documents are needed, and informed Zipcar. 4 weeks in, my account is still suspended and they are still "investigating" but no one knows what is taking so long and/or what is still pending. There is not efficient communication between the department or with the customer.

5 people found this review helpful
profile pic of the author
Verified Reviewer
Original review: Feb. 26, 2019

I’ve used Zipcar for 6 years in NYC. Don’t bother unless you like to drive in cars that are not mechanically maintained, inconvenient and enjoy a frustrating & unsatisfactory customer service experience. I started using Zipcar because it was a convenient & effortless car sharing service. It used to be a great company until AVIS acquired them in 2013. The servicing of the vehicles has declined rapidly since that acquisition.

I’ve called into Zipcar to report services problem when I've picked up a car and then when reserving that car a week or two later had the same issue. Not small issues, major, like the passenger seat is unmovable and up close to the dash board which made it impossible to use since we were 5 travelers. There has been animal hair allover the seats that covered our clothing on the way to a wedding (animals are required to be in carriers). We’ve experienced seat belts that were not working, service lights on dashboard that were still there a month later.

There are lots of Zipcars and lots of Zipcar drivers in NYC so to get another Zipcar at the last minute is impossible if there’s something wrong with it. I understand that there will be issues occasionally…but this has become a REGULARLY occurrence. I now call in to ask if the car I’ll be using has any service reports before I use it. I thought this would help but it turns out that the majority of Zipsters can’t be bothered to call in service issues or is it that Customer Service has a policy to not let drivers know that there was an issue reported? Regardless or which it is, this has not work since I have very often this past year gotten to a car that cannot be started, has a broken something or other, service lights on or is filthy, really filthy…food scraps, stained seats and on occasion cigarette ashes (smoking is prohibited).

I have this past month (Feb 2019) called them 5 times to get answer to a question and was told that they would respond within 48 hours…the first respo