Site icon SingleFlyer

Zipcar Commuter Plan for $199 a Month

Introducing the Zipcar Commuter Plan

UPDATE: ZIPCAR has discontinued their Commute Plan.  This is no longer available.

Zipcar, the car sharing company, is introducing a new monthly subscription that gives members exclusive use of a car during the work week.  Known as the Zipcar Commuter Plan, for $199/month plus $0.45/mile gets you a personal Zipcar from 5AM on Monday through 7PM on Friday.  Although not yet publicly advertised, I found a working link here.

More and more Americans are giving up car ownership.  Myself included.  Living in a big city (Seattle), I have to deal with traffic and high costs of car ownership.  A parking spot in my apartment building runs $250 per month.  I gave up my car 4 years ago and haven’t looked back.

It helps to have memberships in car share services like Zipcar (owned by Avis), Car2Go (owned by Mercedes-Benz), and ReachNow (owned by BMW) in addition to ride share services like Uber and Lyft.  When I need a car, I can get one.

This week I received an invitation to sign up for the Zipcar Commuter Plan.

Cost of the Zipcar Commuter Plan

The Zipcar Commuter Plan costs $199 per month (plus taxes — 17.8% in Seattle).  On top of that, you pay $0.45 per mile that you drive during the work week.  If your commute is 5 miles (one way), that is an additional $100 a month, assuming you aren’t driving it for any other purpose during the week.

Compare that to the standard Zipcar fee of $7.50+ per hour.  Or $70+ for a 24 hour rental period.  All of the standard rentals include 180 miles per day (whether your rental is an hour or 24 hours).  It is an additional $0.45 per mile over the 180 mile limit.

What is included?

For the monthly cost plus the per mile fee you get the following:

What cities?

Currently it looks like the Zipcar Commuter Plan is available in the following cities:

Does it make sense?

First, it the Zipcar Commuter Plan only makes sense if you live by a Zipcar.  This means you have to live in a somewhat dense/urban area.  For example, there is a large part of Northeast Seattle that is not serviced by Zipcar.

Second, you have to be commuting to a place where you can find parking.  You only get one dedicated spot (unlike Car2Go or ReachNow that can park for free even at metered street parking).  If you work in downtown, you would have to pay for parking near your work place on top of the Zipcar monthly fee.

I suppose you could sign up to have a Zipcar that is parked near your place of work so you have a dedicated spot there.  This would mean you would have to bus or Uber down to the work/the car on Monday morning, take it back to your home each evening, then drop it off on Friday and bus or Uber back home.

I work downtown and am able to walk to work.  However, if I got a job in another part of the city with poor bus service, I could see the Zipcar Commuter Plan making sense for me rather than buying a car.

If I were to buy a car, I would likely be playing $200+ a month for the lease, plus $250 for a parking spot, plus gas, insurance, maintenance, taxes…. The $300-400 a month for the Zipcar Commuter Plan seems pretty reasonable.

Signing Up

If you are interested in the Zipcar Commuter Plan, visit the sign up page.

However, some commenters have noted that they are not receiving a response from Zipcar about their request.  If that is the case, please feel free to email me at info at singleflyer dot com and I will connect you to the Zipcar representative that I am connected with.  Just include your name and phone number.

What do you think?  Is the Zipcar Commuter Plan a good deal?  Would it be cost effective for you?  

Exit mobile version