Our First Zipcar Experience: The Great Solution to not Owning a Car

This weekend we conquered driving in the UK. We had some family coming in to visit and we didn't want to make them take the train to get to us. We started researching car options (rentals, etc.) and that's when I rediscovered Zipcar.

What is Zipcar?

For our readers that may not be familiar with Zipcar, it's essentially a company that owns a fleet of vehicles placed throughout major cities. Zipcar users can rent cars near them by the hour or the day—all online. There's a set hourly rate that includes gas and insurance. There are different shapes and sizes of cars depending on your needs. Essentially, they're hoping to make it so city folk don't need a car - they can just Zipcar whenever they need a vehicle.

Zipcar is available around the world! You can find them in 9 different countries including the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

I had looked at Zipcar a few years ago, but at the time you had to sign up and wait for five to ten days to get a card in the mail before you could start driving.  I needed a car the next day and ended up going with a traditional rental car company.

It seems Zipcar has fixed this issue and now users can sign up and get approved in as little as a few hours. I signed up, uploaded my American driver's license and driving information, and was approved in just a few hours. I downloaded the app and had a car (Mackenzie) reserved within a few minutes.

Our First Zipcar Adventure

Mackenzie (all the Zipcars have names) was the nearest automatic Zipcar and took us about 15 minutes to walk to. We found the car clean and with a 1/4 tank of gas. We didn't feel like conquering lefthand driving and stick-shift on our first outing but there are a lot more options in London if you expand your search to include stick-shift.

Tip: Bring a phone charging cable and a cell phone mount if you want to use your phone for navigation.

I found driving on the left to be fairly easy to adapt to overall. It helps that there are other cars around that will help you quickly calibrate (and make it very clear if you're going the wrong way). The only time I messed up was turning right into a Costco parking lot (yes, they have Costco here and it's just as amazing as in the U.S.). Pulling into the parking lot I went in the wrong direction. Fortunately, no one was there to see my mistake and we carried on, as you do in Britian.

Unlike a rental car, you're not guaranteed to find the Zipcar with a full tank of gas (it should have at least 1/4 a tank though). It comes with a fuel card that you can use to fill up the car without having to pay for it on your own card.

Tip: If you rent a Zipcar and need to fill it up with the fuel card make sure you note the mileage and the plate number before you go into the station. They'll ask for that to charge it to the fleet card.

Thanks to a long customs line, our airport pickup took longer than expected and we were going to miss our drop-off time. Zipcar charges £35 per hour you're late to ensure you don't disrupt someone's plans. Fortunately, I was able to extend the reservation in-app. I added 30 minutes for £10 (a much higher fee than the original £9/hour). It became clear that 30 minutes wouldn't be enough, so I had to extend it yet again (another £11). All this to say, you'll save money by giving yourself extra time in the original reservation. They charge you a premium for each extended reservation.

Tip: Get £25 in free Zipcar credits when you use this link! You'll also help sponsor our next Zipcar adventure—so we'll thank you too.

We completed our errands and dropped Mackenzie back at her dedicated spot in Belsize Park before walking home to Hampstead. Overall, this experience was much easier than renting a car. We'll likely be using Zipcar for all our short-term rentals moving forward!