Zipcar (Boston: condo, credit card, luxury)

[sausalito]

Has anyone actually used this service for an extended period of time?

I am considering living and working in Boston. I will only need a car intermittently (at most, once a weekend with an occasional weekday trip), as I will walk to work and use public transportation to get around the city.

When I calculate a budget, using Zipcar seems to save a substantial amount of money. Almost too good to be true. Is it true?

[whinton]

I use zipcars once in awhile, I think they are great!

[Theseus]

Zipcar has done a great job of putting a decent number of cars all around the city. I'm a Zip car member and there are probably three or four cars within a block of me and maybe twenty or thirty within three blocks. There's even a Zip car right behind my condo.

The online reservation system is very nicely built and intuitive.

Zipcar pays for the gas! Can you believe it? If the car gets below a 1/4 tank there is a special gas credit card in the car which is accepted at most gas stations.

Parking in the Zip car space is free... a luxury in Boston.

The only hesitation I have at using it more frequently is that at $9 - $12 an hour it is probably more economical to take a cab if you're going to be someplace for more than a few hours. The most cost efficient use of a Zipcar IMHO is for longer drives of a short duration, such as to run some errands that are located all across town. However, the convenience of it can't be beat -- and sometimes, like rainy nights, getting a cab can be tough downtown.