As Mike previously pointed out, Flexcar and Zipcar recently merged. Flexcars become Zipcars, and this week as a Flexcar member I received my official Zipcard to use when picking up a vehicle. While I did not have a chance to use Flexcar while they were here, I am a big fan of car-sharing and thought this would be perfect for the rare occasion when I need a car.
Unfortunately I can’t make a reservation for this Friday, when I need it. Talking to their customer service, I was told they are transitioning all the cars Dec 17 – 21. Seems to me that you can’t get a car from now (Dec 12) until sometime during their transition, worst case no cars are available from Dec 12 – Dec 21. Frankly this is disappointing. As I told them, with the holidays I would think there is more need for cars, not less. People have errands to run, family to visit, picking up folks from the airport, etc…
Edited to add this Update… I received the following via email today: “The latest update we have received from our fleet team who are trying their best to get these cars up and ready to drive ASAP is that unfortunately this won’t be until Monday.” So it looks like next Monday (Dec 17) or later the cars will be ready.
I don’t like to be overly negative, but the facts are the facts. If you were thinking of using Zipcar in the next week and a half, get together a back-up plan now.
Edited to add: if you wanted to use Zipcar in the next week, consider a back-up.
On the flip side, they do seem to be doing their best at making the transition as a user painless. I have always thought Zipcar’s web reservation map system was easier to use than Flexcar’s. With the merger you can now use Zipcars in more cities, which is good. And they do give us Flexcar users a credit on our new Zipcar account. So it’s not all bad.
A prior ColumbusUnderground discussion about Flexcar in Columbus can be found here. “Hodges” used Flexcar and gave his review in that thread, basically a big fat thumbs up.
It does seem like silly timing… it couldn’t wait until the new year? Who knows… probably some huge financial benefit to doing it now…
I’m a flexcar member in DC. We’re getting the switchover in January. I guess they’re more willing to inconvenience Columbus during the holidays than Washington, which is doubly silly because Flex and Zip coexist here (i.e., get your ZipCard and presto, there’s already 1/2 the fleet waiting for you). Sorry, fellas.
Steve, thanks for the info. Yea, I’m sure there are more users right now in DC than Columbus, but if Zip is already there then the transition should be smoother.
Here is the schedule for their changeover (and a list of the locations new to Zipcar members):
December: San Francisco, UC Berkley, Ohio State University, Williams College
January: Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Arizona State University, University of New Mexico, University of Wisconsin, Old Dominion University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Florida
February: Seattle, Atlanta, University of Washington, Emory University, Georgia Tech, Agnes Scott College, Portland State University, University of Portland, Willamette University, UCSI, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, MCRD, USC, UC San Diego
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