UPDATE: Car sharing has turned out, for me, to be really interesting. I’m working on a database of insurance information by company, so be sure to stay tuned. You can click the boxes at the top right to subscribe to my blog’s RSS feed if you’d like to know when it’s up on the site.
Thanks! Hil
One of our visitors, Greyman24 commented about car sharing on the rideshare post:
Greyman24
Dec 27, 2007 at 3:37 pm
What do you think of vehicle sharing services, like Zipcar? There’s a local alternative, here in Chicago, called iGo, but they charge by the mile in addition to the hour.
To be completely honest, car sharing - other than the city car project being worked on by MIT - well, was flying below my radar. Not surprising since there are no car sharing programs within roughly 6 hours of home. Chicago’s iGo has gotten pretty good reports from drivers, as has ZipCar, but - as with anything - there are problems.
This article by Liz Pulliam Weston @ MSN Money offers a good overview of the benefits, and has a graph listing 40+ cities with car sharing programs.
Basically, the company or group has a community car that is available to people who sign up for the program. Fees include a monthly or yearly fee plus another fee for car usage. Many of the cars are hybrid or otherwise eco-friendly vehicles, but there are SUVs and luxury rides for when they’re more suitable. The best part of this - seemingly - is the fact that you don’t pay for anything but your usage fees. Gas, insurance, registration, maintenance, etc is all handled by the car sharing organization.
Personally speaking, this kind of thing would work pretty well for me because I like checking out different kinds of cars, and quickly get tired of the same old thing. Also because the additional expenses of owning a car can become overwhelming. I was bummed that nowhere nearby participated in one of these programs. At the same time, I knew there would be two different opinions on these services, and it didn’t take long for the cons to start creeping out.
Complaint #1: Ineffective Insurance
To be sure, ZipCar is the only one I’ve found people complaining about being deceptive or fraudulent in terms of insurance. ailinblog points out that ZipCar (and possibly similar companies) have an endless list of miscellaneous fees you might not know about.
felixsalmon.com offers readers multiple posts on ZipCars lack of adequate insurance coverage, stating the company (and possibly similar companies) offers the minimum insurance they have to according to state law, and that drivers will be left holding the bag if there’s a problem … and various other juicy gossip.
You can also read how poor zuska over at parens binubus was charged the full $500 deductible for a tiny dent without any evidence the company had even filed with insurance.
I’m not sure how all the other companies handle this issue, but it’s certainly something to look into. Sometimes you think, “I’m a great driver. I have nothing to worry about.” Not true. My friend’s car exploded a few months ago due to a faulty part on her car. She took out EIGHT other autos … and her insurance is refusing to pay any of their claims because she didn’t cause the explosion. All but one driver had full insurance, but that one person is out a car with no one looking to cover her loses.
It freaks me out that a company which provides such nice cars for car sharing doesn’t offer full coverage, but this is an issue to research with each one of the companies. Not that I would let that turn you away, but I would need a secondary source for insurance to feel comfortable driving. I don’t believe rental insurance through your credit card company would work in this situation.
Of the three kinds of car sharing programs - commercial, non-profit and small community based - it seems commercial outfits, like ZipCar, have the best selection in autos, while iGo offers the benefits of feeling good about non-profits and smaller programs may not be as expensive, or formal, as a larger one. Determining which is best is a matter of what’s available in your area, and your personal preferences. Overall, I really like the idea but I’m worried about financial liability.
RESOURCE LIST
Location list from CarSharing.Net
Dave Brook’s car sharing blog
About Dave:
Founder of Carsharing Portland, the first commercial carsharing company in the US in 1998. Later my company joined Flexcar and I had various responsibilities with them, including setting up their San Diego operation. Since 2003 I have been an independent consultant.
Share This
