zipcar or igo?

Now that I no longer own a car, I was wondering if anyone had any insight on which service they prefer to use. Prices and locations seem similar.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on February 25, 2011 at 7:39am

Neither one.

 

I looked into it and for our situation it works out better to rent a car occasionally for an entire weekend. And during that weekend we'll run all errands at once. You can get good deals if you shop around, especially if you are willing to pick up outside the city limits.  (Skokie, Evanston, etc) The rates at Enterpise in Skokie are often 30-40% lower than Enterprises located within city limits. 

Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on February 25, 2011 at 7:39am
I use I-GO because it's both locally owned and a non-profit (it's actually a Center for Neighborhood Technology project).
Permalink Reply by igz on February 25, 2011 at 7:44am
as for pricing...many festivals during the summer have tents set up with either service and they often drop their signup fees as a promo.
Permalink Reply by igz on February 25, 2011 at 7:47am
i got a $12 a day rental deal in the burbs (schiller park). i called the local rent-a car-place of the same company in the city and they honored the deal even tho they werent offering it

Duppie said:

Neither one.

 

I looked into it and for our situation it works out better to rent a car occasionally for an entire weekend. And during that weekend we'll run all errands at once. You can get good deals if you shop around, especially if you are willing to pick up outside the city limits.  (Skokie, Evanston, etc) The rates at Enterpise in Skokie are often 30-40% lower than Enterprises located within city limits. 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on February 25, 2011 at 7:52am
Thanks for that tip. I will try that the next time I need a car.

iggi said:
i got a $12 a day rental deal in the burbs (schiller park). i called the local rent-a car-place of the same company in the city and they honored the deal even tho they werent offering it

Duppie said:

Neither one.

 

I looked into it and for our situation it works out better to rent a car occasionally for an entire weekend. And during that weekend we'll run all errands at once. You can get good deals if you shop around, especially if you are willing to pick up outside the city limits.  (Skokie, Evanston, etc) The rates at Enterpise in Skokie are often 30-40% lower than Enterprises located within city limits. 

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on February 25, 2011 at 8:07am

I use both services.  It's awesome that we have so many options.

 

IGO is close to my house. 

 

Zip has Audis, BMW's, Mini Coopers, etc. which is nice when I am taking out clients.

 

Currently IGO has disabled their interior lights, which is a bit annoying since I'm notorious for leaving things in cars.  Since I often times bike to the spots I simply use my bike light if I need to find something.  

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on February 25, 2011 at 8:09am

Both I-Go and Zip Car will be at the Swap tomorrow if you want to learn more.

We work partner with both organizations and Active Trans has a corporate account with I-Go for business trips where bikes, walking and transit aren't possible or feasible.

 

Personally, my wife and I use car-sharing (I-Go) for 5-7 hour shopping or vet trips and find it reasonably priced. We rent cars for longer, weekend trips.

 

Ethan Spotts, Marketing & Communication Director, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by BalloonBiker on February 25, 2011 at 8:28am

When I was carless, I would rent a car for the whole weekend.  It just worked out better since if I needed a car it was usually for several hours or even for the weekend.  If a trip was only an hour, then with a bike and a trailer, there wasn't much that I couldn't do.

 

I actually really enjoyed renting from Ace-Rent-A-Car on Mannheim.  Their location made it easy to bike to by taking Devon straight west.

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on February 25, 2011 at 8:52am
I have an I-Go membership that I rarely use, since I usually use the bike. I keep it just in case, and since I-Go has more locations near my apartment, it is more convenient to me than ZipCar.  Also, most of my trips never involve more than 1-2 hours, so it was more convenient and cheaper for me to do the plan that lets me pay as you use it.  I would say go with the one that has the most convenient locations, as it helps to have alternative locations nearby just in case another member doesn't return the car on time.
Permalink Reply by Liz on February 25, 2011 at 8:54am

I signed up for Zipcar when they ran a groupon offer of $30 for application, 1 yr membership and $30 in driving credit. 

 

Currently (through the end of march) zip car is offering a weeknight "sleepover" promotion.  If you pick up after 6pm and return by 9am the next day its $34 overnight.  Not to bad and you can pick up a car near work, use it and drop it off in the morning on your way in. 

 

The biggest cost to rental cars for me is insurance.  While I can usually find deal from $9-20/day for the car itself you still end up paying an additional $10/day minimum for insurance.  

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on February 25, 2011 at 9:50am

What is the reasoning behind this?  Is it because people are leaving them on and killing the battery?

 

I would think this would be a safety issue when getting in and out of a car -especially one that that other people might have/had keys to. I can imagine all sorts of scenarios where people could hide in the back of a dark vehicle waiting to accost/assault their vision-impaired victim.

 

If it is just a battery drain issue there are other systems that could be employed that would over-ride a power drain like this before it killed a battery.

 

It seems strange that they would do such a thing.

I'd be more than annoyed. My wife has a Miata and there is no "dome" light as there is no dome to mount it to.  The light is instead on the dash and very low.  It's one of the most annoying "features" of that car.  Even so, it's better than nothing.  Getting in and out of a dark car is so 1917.

 


Julie Hochstadter said:

 

 

Currently IGO has disabled their interior lights, which is a bit annoying since I'm notorious for leaving things in cars.  Since I often times bike to the spots I simply use my bike light if I need to find something.  

Permalink Reply by Melanie K on February 25, 2011 at 9:59am
When did they start disabling interior lights? I have a membership, but I think I use it about 3 times a year, so I am unaware of this. Last time I used IGo the interior lights seemed to be fine. Wow, interesting. Maybe contact IGo on that to see what the deal is. Sounds very strange and time consuming to disable the interior lights, not to mention silly.

Julie Hochstadter said:

I use both services.  It's awesome that we have so many options.

 

IGO is close to my house. 

 

Zip has Audis, BMW's, Mini Coopers, etc. which is nice when I am taking out clients.

 

Currently IGO has disabled their interior lights, which is a bit annoying since I'm notorious for leaving things in cars.  Since I often times bike to the spots I simply use my bike light if I need to find something.  

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