Zipcar is an American membership-based carsharing company providing automobile reservations to its members, billable by the hour or day. Zipcar was founded in 2000 by Cambridge, Massachusetts residents Antje Danielson and Robin Chase, and is now led by Scott Griffith, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

As of May 2012, the company has 700,000 members (called "Zipsters") and offers a fleet of over 9,000 vehicles in urban areas and college campuses throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.^[2] Zipcar offers more than 30 makes and models of self-service vehicles by the hour or day. Zipcar has major operations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington D.C. and Vancouver. The company also has presence on over 230 college campuses.^[3]

Members can reserve Zipcars online or by phone, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Reservations can be made minutes or up to a year in advance. Zipcar members have automated access to Zipcars using an access card called a “Zipcard,” which works with the car's technology to unlock the door, where the keys are already located inside. Zipcar also offers an iPhone or Android application, recognized by Time magazine as one of the "Best Travel Gadgets of 2009,"^[4] that allows members to honk the horn to locate a Zipcar and unlock the doors.^[5] Zipcar charges a one-time application fee of $25, and an annual fee of $60, depending on the market, and reservation rates start from $7.50 per hour and $56 per day. Rate prices vary by market, time of day, day of the week and the make and model of the vehicle being reserved. Gas, parking, insurance, and maintenance are included in the price.^[6]

In the fall of 2007, Zipcar merged with Seattle-based rival Flexcar to create a car-sharing company with national scope.^[7] In December 2009, Zipcar announced their participation in a round of financing with the existing owners of Catalunya Carsharing S.A., a Spanish limited liability company, known as Avancar, based in Barcelona. Under the terms of the agreement, Zipcar acquired a minority interest in Avancar, a Zipcar executive joined Avancar's board and Zipcar was given a year option to increase the company's ownership stake.^[8] In December 2010, Zipcar extended their option for another year, through the end of 2011, and provided a monetary loan to Avancar, which is convertible into equity if Zipcar chooses to exercise the option.^[9] A year later in December 2011, Zipcar exercised the option to increase its ownership stake in avancar to a controlling interest of 60%.^[10] In April 2010, Zipcar bought London-based car-sharing firm Streetcar in its latest bid to expand across Europe.^[11] The company's IPO was in April 2011, and the common stock trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "ZIP."^[12]

Membership details[link]

The Honda Civic Hybrid is part of Zipcar's clean fuel vehicle fleet.

Members, which the company calls "Zipsters", are able to view vehicle availability and reserve a self-service car via the internet, iPhone and Android applications, or telephone, in increments as short as one hour and pay only for time they reserve. Zipcar vehicles report their positions to a control center using in-car technology.^[13] In the U.S., each reservation entitles the members up to 180 miles (290 km) for each 24 hour period,^[14] while Canadian members receive up to 200 kilometers with each reservation for the first 24 hours, and 15 kilometers per each additional hour beyond the initial 24.^[15] Individual members can sign up for one of two different plans, the "Occasional Driving Plan" and the "Extra Value Plan".^[14]

Members are given a "Zipcard," an access card containing a wireless chip that will open the vehicle they have reserved only at the time they have reserved it.^[13] The reservation includes driver's insurance, a gas card for the car, reimbursements for fuel obtained at gas stations that do not accept the included gas card, and up to $15 in reimbursements for typical car maintenance items like car washes and window wiper fluid refills. A member can reserve and use a Zipcar in any Zipcar city.

University, organization and business partnerships[link]

Zipcar launched its Zipcar for Business program in early 2004 to provide companies with discounts on Monday-Friday driving. Since the launch of the program, Zipcar has signed 10,000 small, medium, and large sized businesses, as companies are increasingly adopting car sharing as a cost-saving alternative for employee travel.^[16] Zipcar also provides campus car sharing in North America, and more than 225 colleges have made car sharing available on campus through partnerships with Zipcar.^[3]

Zipcar launched FastFleet by Zipcar in April 2009. FastFleet is a new service that enables government and other fleet managers to save money, reduce risk and promote sustainability by optimizing their fleets. With FastFleet, fleet operators can leverage the same technology that powers Zipcar’s consumer fleet, resulting in fewer cars needed, better data about utilization and better tracking of costs. Washington, D.C., which is the first city in the country to adopt the system, estimated savings of more than $1 million in the first 12 months.^[17]

Zipcar fleet[link]

The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid is available to Zipcar members in Boston.

Zipcar offers more than 30 makes and models of vehicles, including BMWs, Volvos, MINI Coopers, Prius Hybrids, pickup trucks and more. Each vehicle has a home location: a reserved parking space located on a street, driveway or neighborhood parking lot in the member's area, to which it must be returned at the end of the reservation. The locations of all Zipcars and models available at those locations are available at the Zipcar website.

Zipvan[link]

On November 29, 2011, Zipcar announced the launch of Zipvan, a van sharing service closely modeled off its existing car sharing platform.^[18] Zipvan allows Zipcar members to share Ford E-150 cargo vans by paying either an hourly or daily rate, which includes the cost of fuel, insurance, and 180 miles.^[19] Initially launching as a pilot project in San Francisco, Zipvan plans to offer roughly 15 vans in San Francisco and Oakland by early 2012, with further expansion to other Zipcar cities possible depending on member response.^[20]

Embedded technologies[link]

Zipcars have RFID transponders located on the windshield that communicates with the card to lock and unlock the doors of the vehicle. Each vehicle records hours of usage and mileage, which is uploaded to a central computer via a wireless data link. The location of the vehicles is not tracked during a reservation for privacy reasons but is trackable and all cars are equipped with a "kill" function that allows the company to prevent the car from starting in the event of theft (it does not cause the car to turn off, for safety reasons).^{[citation needed]} Zipcar also offers the embedded Information Technologies it has installed in its fleet as a fleet optimization service through its FastFleet service.

Plug-in vehicles[link]

Zipcar's converted plug-in Toyota Prius recharging at a reserved public charging station in front of San Francisco City Hall .

In February 2009 a pilot project was launched to promote plug-in hybrid vehicles in Zipcar's fleet in the San Francisco Bay Area. This pilot is a partnership between Zipcar and the City of San Francisco. The vehicle showcased during the announcement was a Toyota Prius converted for plug-in capabilities with range of up to 30–40 miles of electrically assisted driving on a single charge.^[21][22] The program is aimed to provide Zipcar members with a convenient and cost-effective way to test drive PHEVs.^[22] The city installed a plug-in charging stations in front of San Francisco City Hall that can be used by the existing fleet of municipal plug-in vehicles and also for plug-in hybrids available through Zipcar and City CarShare.^[23]

As part of the demonstration program being carried out by Toyota Motor Corporation since 2009, the carmaker delivered eight pre-production Prius Plug-in Hybrids to Zipcar in January 2011. Three markets were selected to make the plug-in hybrids available to its members, Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts with three cars, another three in San Francisco, California, and two in Portland, Oregon. Similarly to many hybrids in Zipcar’s fleet, the Prius PHEVs can only be reserved by the hour at an hourly rate of US$7.^[24]

Since May 2012, and for six months, the Vauxhall Ampera plug-in hybrid is available through Zipcar in London, Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford.^[2]

History[link]

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A zipcar T-shirt

Zipcar was co-founded by Antje Danielson and Robin Chase based on existing German and Swiss companies (see also Mobility CarSharing) in January 2000. In June 2000, the first Zipcars hit the road around Boston, MA. In September 2001, the Washington, D.C. office opened. In February 2002, New York City office opened In February 2003, Scott Griffith replaces Robin Chase as CEO. In April 2005, Zipcar partners with XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) to provide satellite radio in all Zipcars. In July 2005, Zipcar secures $10 million in funding led by Benchmark Capital. In August 2005, San Francisco office opened. In May 2006, Toronto office opened. In May 2006, General Electric's Commercial Finance Fleet Services (NYSE: GE) gives Zipcar $20 million in lease line financing. In September 2006, Toronto market is named fastest growing new market in company history. In November 2006, London office opened. In April 2007, Vancouver office opened. In May 2007, XM Satellite Radio ends partnership with Zipcar and radios will not be available in Zipcars any longer.^[25] In October 2007, Zipcar and Flexcar executives announce a merger of the two companies, with the Zipcar brand and headquarters replacing that of Flexcar.^[26]

On January 23, 2008, the merged Zipcar/Flexcar canceled service for the Southern California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego without providing advanced notice to customers in those areas. Southern California college operations are left intact.^[27] On July 11, 2008, Zipcar announces it doubled membership in past year, including the Flexcar members it acquired, and now has 225,000 members^[28] On August 28, 2008, Rice University announced the introduction into the program in their goal of achieving as low of a carbon footprint as possible while providing additional transportation options for employees that carpool.^[29] On April 8, 2009, announced a partnership with Zimride to allow Zipcar members to automatically post rides for carpooling on Zimride.^[30] On June 8, 2009, announced iPhone application at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference. The application is capable of honking the horn and unlocking some Zipcars.^[31]

Expansion[link]

On October 31, 2007 Zipcar and Flexcar announced their intentions to merge.^[32] The merged company retained the name "Zipcar" and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[26] Zipcar's chief executive, former Seattle-based Boeing engineer Scott Griffith, is Chairman and CEO. Flexcar CEO Mark Norman is President and Chief Operating Officer.^[26] The merger combined Zipcar's fleet of 3,500 vehicles in 35 markets with Flexcar's 1,500 cars in 15 markets.^[26][33]

In December 2009, Zipcar announced their participation in a round of financing with Avancar, the largest car sharing company in Spain, based in Barcelona. Under the terms of the agreement, Zipcar acquired a minority interest in Avancar, a Zipcar executive joined Avancar's board and Zipcar was given a year option to increase the company's ownership stake.^[8] In December 2010, Zipcar extended their option for another year through the end of 2011, and provided a monetary loan to Avancar, which is convertible into equity if Zipcar chooses to exercise the option.^[9]

In April 2010, Zipcar announced that it had acquired London-based car-sharing club Streetcar.^[11] This brought the number of Zipcar members to over 400,000.^[34]

Insurance[link]

Zipcar drop/pick up area downtown Washington, D.C..

Zipcar provides $300,000 per accident in liability coverage for members over 21 years of age. Members at fault are responsible for the first $500 of costs related to the repair, recovery, and loss of use of any Zipcar vehicle.^[35] However, members can purchase no-liability insurance for an additional $75 a year. Members involved in accidents where fault is not determined (such as in a hit and run), must pay the first $750 of these costs. In other words, if the member is at fault in an accident, or it is a no-fault accident, Zipcar will cover from $750 up to $300,000 in property damage or bodily injury. For members under 21, Zipcar provides insurance coverage at state-mandated levels.

Insurance coverage may vary depending on the region of use. For example, Canadian members in Toronto, ON are provided with $1,000,000 in liability coverage.^[36] Vancouver, BC members are provided with $2,000,000 in liability coverage.^[37] Both regions in Canada also include comprehensive and collision coverage in addition to liability insurance. It should also be noted that Zipcars traveling into Canada from the U.S. requires members to obtain a special insurance card from Zipcar.^[38] Canadian Zipcars traveling into the U.S. do not need the extra insurance card.^[39]

London, UK members are covered by a full comprehensive loss, and unlimited personal injury / bodily injury liability policy. Third party liability is covered up to a maximum of £20,000,000.^[40] Similar to Zipcar U.S., traveling abroad requires a special 'vehicle on-hire' certificate which can be obtained from Zipcar.^[41]

See also[link]

• Carsharing
• Plug-in hybrids in California
• RelayRides
• U Car Share
• The Hertz Corporation^[42]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zipcar

• Zipcar official site
• Inc. Magazine profile