Zipcar Reviews

When I first started using Zipcar, it was easy to overlook the occasional dirty car that smelled like weed or didn't drive properly. Beware – the more you use this service, the more you learn that cleanliness and professionalism are not the standard, but the exception. My last few rentals have been completely filthy, and customer service is not useful because you can expect to wait 30 minutes to an hour even if you are currently on a rental. If you have places to be and value your time, this way of doing business is unacceptable.

ZipCar is unreasonable and awful. Be warned. I applied to the cost of £10 (about $12.50). Checked all the requirements. No tickets, no fines, safe driver, UK license since 2004. I was confident I'd get approved. After a few days I was told my application was turned down, they keep the money and - no - they do not have to tell me why my application was turned down. I asked them to reconsider, re-look at my application and I was confident a human would see I should be approved. A week later I was told via email my application would not be approved by the appropriate department and they were keeping the non-refundable application fee. They take the money, and give no reason. Because they say they can. Totally not right.

I am so frustrated and dissatisfied with Zipcar’s service and reliability. Since March 2022, I have used their service to get to school from Seattle to Bellevue once a week. Of the 6 times I needed mobility, only two worked without problems. Here is my experience: The cars were not in the assigned parking lot two times, even though I booked them one week in advance. Once, I was assigned to a different vehicle than the one I had booked previously without further information on the reasons. Additionally, it was almost out of gas.

Be careful with ZIP CAR that they take your $28.25 every time you apply. And it is NOT REFUNDABLE. AND THE FEE IS JUST FOR REVIEWING THE APPLICATION. (1) They only advertise their service when you become a member; there is not enough information or notices about reviewing your status if you will be qualified or not. (2) It is sole their decision whether you will be qualified to use the service or not. When you call and ask them about disqualification, they will keep saying your application review is just "rejected." (3) And it is NOT REFUNDABLE funds. Moreover, you will have to pay another $28.25 if you want to submit another application later.

ZIPCAR IS THE WORST. I remember when it was a great company... But now, service is HORRIFIC, the software DOESN'T WORK, tech support is by email only (no more help by phone), and if you have a technical support issue, nobody gets back to you for WEEKS. The latest example: We had an incident in a car (scraped some paint). Zipcar SUSPENDED our membership and said we had to file an incident report. But the incident report system is BROKEN. After a week, a tech replied to my call for help by saying 'we're aware of the issue'. Meanwhile, I'm told the incident can take 2 months to resolve -- but only after I submit the report, which I can't submit because the website is broken. Meanwhile, all my family members have been removed from my account. We're kind of desperate now, and there's no help in sight...

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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)

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.

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!

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

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?!

#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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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!!!!)

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!

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.

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!

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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;

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

-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-

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.