Dunnan on Dollars

  Personal Finance Tips from Nancy Dunnan

Zipping Around Town:
City Cars by the Hour

August 15, 2008 - If you're planning to visit your kids in college this fall or you want to rent a car in an urban area, here's a way to avoid paying the high rates charged by Avis, Hertz and the other major rental companies.

Locations

This relatively new Cambridge (MA) based company has fleets in major cities across the country, including: Atlanta, Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Columbus (OH), Gainesville, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (OR), San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Seattle and Washington (DC) as well as Toronto, Vancouver and London. More locations are continually being as you read this.

On College Campuses

ZipCar also has locations near many schools, as explained on its website. Among them are Amherst, Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Middlebury, New Haven, Providence, Northampton and Worcester.

Rates

Rates vary depending upon city and model, but are approximately $10.50/hour to $73/day. Payment is by credit card. Note: The growing competition from ZipCar is likely to force the major car rental companies into offering hourly rates; so keep checking.

Membership & Models

Membership is $50 a year and there's a one-time $25 application fee. Your membership card will be mailed to you or you can pick it up at a local ZipCar office. (Plan on 3 to 7 days for approval.)

Although you must apply for membership on line, you can actually make your car reservation either on line or by phone. You then walk to the designated parking lot (in most cities, they are scattered about different neighborhoods) and swipe your membership card across the sensor on the windshield to unlock the car. The keys are inside. Insurance is included as well as the first 180 miles.

You return the car to the exact same space.

You can select from 20+ different models, among them Mustang, Honda Accord, Toyota Prius, Mini Cooper, Mazda, BMW and VW's Jetta and Rabbit. Pickup trucks are also available.

ZipCar: www.zipcar.com, 866-4-ZIPCAR.

- Nancy Dunnan

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If you want to suggest a column topic for Nancy, drop her a line.

Like what Nancy has to say? you might be interested in the new edition of her book:
How To Invest $50 To $5,000: The Small Investor's Step By Step Plan for Low-Risk, High-Value Investing