Are You Worried Avis Will Change Zipcar?
The car rental giant will purchase the Cambridge-based car share company for $500 million. Are you worried Avis will change Zipcar for the worse? Or do you think the move make sense?
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Car rental giant Avis will buy local car-sharing service Zipcar for $500 million. Avis and Zipcar both said the car sharing company will remain in the area (Zipcar has plans to move from Cambridge to the Boston Seaport), and that the start-up culture remains an important aspect of Zipcar.
Zipcar users are famously loyal and protective of their service, which allows users to rent cars for as little as an hour at a time. Zipcar users hold their membership card over a card reader when they pick up a car and drive off. That's a far cry from the time-consuming, paperwork-heavy method of traditional car rental services.
Are you a Zipcar user? Are you worried that Avis will ruin the service? Or do you think the marriage of car sharing and traditional car rental will give you more options? Will ownership by a stable, traditional car rental company provide Zipcar with the financial stability to grow in Boston? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
Tony
7:39 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
It remains to be seen. The present owners will benefit. You don't know what these large corporation will do?
Amanda Bedford
10:32 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
The only thing I could hope that they would change is the rule that you have to have your license for a year before joining Zipcar! I just got my license and was so looking forward to joining! (Yes, I'm an adult.)
Phil Lindsay
11:20 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
I'm sure it will change for the worse. It already had been since they went public. I recall the green VW bug days and helping to scout out locations in Dorchester. However, if they put Zipcars on Nantucket Avis will get my vote. Sort of doubt it though as the rental guys out there like their market the way it is...
Christina
11:48 am on Thursday, January 3, 2013
the only good thing would be if Zipcar/Avis had a frequent driver point program... I use zipcars pretty much every day for work and it's kind of frustrating because so many others use rental cars and then benefit from tons of points to be used personally.
Bill Davidson
12:38 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Zipcar seems to need help in two areas, fleet maintenance and customer service. Hopefully Avis can provide a positive influence.
David England
4:50 pm on Thursday, January 3, 2013
Avis should enable Zipcar to expand more rapidly, but I can't see how the Zipster culture continues, now that it's owned by a mega-corp. A lot of shareholders who bought at the IPO price and held will lose about 1/3 of their investment. That's a big hit for their loyalty to the concept.
Kathy G
6:36 am on Friday, January 4, 2013
Without knowing what changes Avis will make it's difficult to speculate. I agree that it would be good to have a points program. For awhile Zipcar gave points for Amtrak which was great. I too remember the VW bug days - Members knew the staff and it was small and exciting but also dirty cars and cars that needed maintenance. Things have improved since then.