My First Zipcar Drive

We've made a few trips with a Zipcar in the last 7 weeks but Craig had made all the arrangements for us and drove the cars.  Today, I needed to run some errands so I reserved the 2010 Prius, called Pimpare.  This is an email I received just after making the reservation.

These ziptips will put your first reservation on cruise-control

Astrid, you've made your first reservation on Prius Pimpare from Bonisteel Blvd / Beal Ave in Ann Arbor, MI from Fri Oct 15th, 2:30pm to 5:30pm.

There are two Zipcars parked in Lot NC60 on the North Campus of the University of Michigan. Lot NC60 is at the juncture of Bonisteel Blvd. and Beal Ave. The lot may be accessed on Bonisteel Blvd. and the Zipcars will be parked in the first row on the right. Please be sure to park the Zipcar in the same space you took it from.

You've read the Six Simple Rules, you have your Zipcard, and you know how it works; now it's time to try it out for yourself. Don't forget to bring a copy of your reservation confirmation, just in case.

So, where can you go for help?

If you have questions now, check out our Help Center. When you're on the road, look in the glove compartment (after you've come to a complete stop) for the Zipcar Co-Pilot.

Also, our Member Services team is available 24/7 at 866.4ZIPCAR (866.494.7227) or info@zipcar.com.

Enjoy!

The team at Zipcar

It's catchy, all the little "zip" words - we are Zipsters, using a Zipcard to open a Zipcar, emails come from the Zip Team, with lots of little Ziptips.  Clever.

After lunch, I biked the 1.5 miles to UofM's North Campus lot where the car is parked.  The car was ready and waiting with 3/4 tank of gas.  It was a bit disconcerting at first, since this was my first time driving an electric hybrid.  When starting a Prius, simply push the "start" button.  When the car is in Reverse, it beeps, which was unexpected.  I was worriedly looking around for something to push or pull, until I realized it was just a back-up warning.

This is "me" taking a picture of Pimpare

 
I swung around to Huron High School and picked up Kathrin so she could complete the driver's license process at the Secretary of State, then onto Old Navy for a return and some sales.  Scored a great little black jacket, then to Domino's for pizza.  Drop it all off at home.  Drive back 1.5 miles to North Campus to park the car and pick up my bike.  Bike back home - devour a slice of pizza.

Old Navy jacket - I love the ruffled collar

I parked the car in the nick of time.  Any time over the reservation and there is a hefty charge placed on the credit card.  This is to deter people from routinely returning a car late and inconveniencing the next reservation.

A great day all around.  Kat and I both had our ITouch's with us and played each other our favorite music.

Astrid

..and another great reason to use a Zipcar

Returning from Run Woodstock Race in Hell, Michigan

..when you are done with your event and need to find the car in the back of a huge parking lot, it's the one with the huge, colorful Zipcar logo.  Sort of hard to miss!

Astrid

Don't forget....

...the lecture tonight

Pat Murphy , Executive Director of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions, Discusses Exploring Community Solutions' Plan C: Dealing with Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Rising Inequity

Tuesday September 28, 2010: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Malletts Creek Branch: Program Room AB

The Ann Arbor City Planning Commission and the Ann Arbor Energy and Environmental Commission are co-sponsors of this special event featuring Pat Murphy, the nationally-known speaker and expert on energy, Peak Oil, geopolitics, and lifestyle solutions. He will place special emphasis on the Ann Arbor area for this community presentation.

Pat Murphy, is the Executive Director of the Arthur Morgan Institute for Community Solutions. This non-profit organization educates on the benefits and values of small local community living and seeks alternatives to both non-renewables (hydrogen, large scale coal/gas-to-liquids, carbon sequestration, tar sands) and renewables (large scale wind systems, biofuels, solar) that are risky and intended to maintain unsustainable levels of resource consumption.

We'll be the family in the colorful Zipcar!

Astrid

Meet Our Newest Zipcar



Pimpare

Pimpare, a Toyota Prius, has just been added to the "fleet" at the Zipcar lot at the corner of Beale and Bonisteel on North Campus.  Up until recently, we had two cars to choose from - "Emily", a Ford Escape and "Deacy", a Scion xD.  Craig went back through our reservations and requested this car preferentially over the other two.  Can't wait to try out a Prius.  With Zipcar, reservations are made for specific cars, not from a pool.  A Honda Insight is also available on Central Campus and we'll try that car at some point too.

After having driven a 12 year old Ford Windstar, these new little cars are great.  There are so many new features that are probably standard on cars that we haven't experienced before, driving older cars.

My favorite "feature" is the Ipod hookup!  We all hopped in the Scion last Saturday, hooked up my ITouch and listened to my favorite tunes without the hassle of figuring out the radio system.  I don't think an Ipod was even available in the late 90's when we bought the minivan.

Happy Trails
Astrid

Our First Zipcar Experience

Today we used our first Zipcar, and it all went according to plan. 

Were able to reserve a car for the time we needed.  The car was ready and waiting, the door unlocked using the RFID card, and there was plenty of gas. 

Our philosophy is slowly becoming "why own when you can rent".  We used to seriously believe in BUY so you can have it all to yourself - buy and spend like you mean it - house, cars, toys.  We've now come to slowly realize that renting something only when you need it makes more sense for us now.  It's sort of like an airplane ticket - not many people own a jet and not too many people are embarrased to fly standard coach class when needing to jet across the country.  Why does the distinction of an airplane make a difference for a car?

Why buy a plane when you can buy a plane ticket?
Why buy a book or movie when you can borrow it from the library?
Why buy a car when you can reserve a Zipcar when you need some wheels?

Our first experience was soo noneventful, it was just what we needed and hoped for.  We now have Zipcar reservations for various outings through the Christmas holidays - going out for a lecture,  picking up folks from the airport etc. 

I'm a bit loathe to admit it but we also rented a Zipcar to dash out to the Pinckney Recreation Area so that I could run in a trail race.  I love the energy and enthusiasm of running events.  Signing up for a race every 3 to 4 months keeps me somewhat motivated to get some exercise a few times a week.

I ran the Martian Marathon in Dearborn Michigan last May and promptly signed up for the Run Woodstock race in late September.  In the meantime, we sold our cars!  While it seems a bit odd to rent a Zipcar to drive to a running race - it keeps me on the straight and narrow, exercise wise. 

The race this weekend was a lot of fun - I really enjoy the events and Running Fit puts on great show. 

Saturday's race was in the Pinckney Recreation Areas at Hell Creek Ranch.  I should have read the fine print and realized that we were TRAIL running, not pavement running - OMG!  Trail running is soo much harder than road running. I had NO idea!   Not only do you have to keep yourself moving forward in a race, but when trail running, you have to not trip on a stump, tree root, rock, creek, marshy bog, sand pit, whatever. 



I'm in the middle, bib number 273

The whole 5 miles I was reminding myself that at least I didn't sign up for the 1/2 marathon like I had toyed with - phew, that was a close one.  "just keep running, don't be falling, just keep running, don't be falling...."

I love the feeling when the end of the race is in sight.  This Woodstock run was in a wooded area along horse trails except for the start/finish which was in a smallish open campground area.  For the better part of the race, I trailed behind 2 women who were friends and both wore Vibram Five Finger running socks.  As we popped out of the woods, I passed one of the women which encouraged the second one and we laughed through the finish line.

Dash to the Finish Line - I'm in black wearing a hat

Now for the completion medals and snacks!  As it turns out, I placed 4th in my age group and 75th out of 143 for the 5 mile race.  Not too shaby for a middle age beauracrat.

Astrid

Gen Yer's Aren't Driving as Much

Kiplinger via Yahoo posted a story yesterday about Generation Yer's not being as interested in cars and driving as previous generation http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1523/generation-y-giving-cars-a-pass/ to the consternation of auto makers.

A few quotes from the article:

"Selling cars to young adults under 30 is proving to be a real challenge for automakers. Unlike their elders, Generation Yers own fewer cars and don’t drive much. They’re likely to see autos as a source of pollution, not as a sex or status symbol.  They’re more apt to ride mass transit to work and use car sharing services -- pioneered by Zipcar -- for longer trips. And car sharing choices are expanding, with car rental firms moving into the market, making it convenient for young folks to rent with hourly rates and easy insurance.  Gen Yers are a big potential market: At 80 million strong, they represent the biggest generation in U.S. history. Baby boomers are a close second, but millions of them begin turning 65 next year -- an age at which car purchases drop off sharply."

This rings true for my Gen Yer's in the family, how about yours?

Astrid

Our Car Math Story

I was reading the Yarn Harlot's blog the other day and she was making the point that the New Year should really start when kids go back to school - it feels more natural.  Her reasoning was that the season changes - she lives in Canada, and the kids are back to a sane schedule.  See her funny musings here http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2010_09.html  (Scroll down to September 7 for New Year story)

The same thing happens at Chez Larsen, the kids start back to school and Craig starts getting organized again after the summer sillies.  He managed to find paperwork and costs associated with our car ownership. 

We used to own two cars: a 1996 Chevy 2500 that we bought used in about 2003 and a 1998 Ford Windstar that we bought used in 2000, after our third kid was born.

1.  Depreciating the cars until last month, this cost us roughly $1500 per year.
2.  Amica auto insurance for 2 adults and 2 teens = $1430 per year
3.  Annual registration fees = $206 per year
4.  Roughly estimating gas/tire/oil/repairs = $1500 per year

For talking purposes, this is about $6000 per year to own two old cars or $500 per month. 

We can rent a lot of good looking Zipcars during the month and not get anywhere near $500 per month worth of fees.  It's a bit of added time and coordinationto get the Zipcar but not as much hassle as car repairs, licensing, insurance quotes etc.

This is OUR story - it makes sense to us for where we are at in our lives.  It's not meant to be a battle cry or make anybody feel bad about owning a car.  We don't have long commutes or little kids or a strong reason to own a car. 

A good friend apologized the other day for mentioning car-heavy vacation plans, feeling guilty about transportation choices.  There's no reason to feel bad or apologise, Car Free in Ann Arbor is chronicalling our story because we're having fun doing something different and wanted to share the experience.
Astrid

Zipcar Update

Image of a Zipcard

The Zipcard arrived today, it was activated and we made our first reservation.  Fast, easy, and efficient - perfect!

Astrid

Junk My Car Update No. 1

The first of 2 checks for our junked cars came with this mornings mail!  It's weird to think of a functioning 1998 Ford Windstar being worth only $115.  On the bright side, the car is not on the road anymore polluting the environment and it's not a drain on our finances - no title, registration, maintenance, gas, or insurance. 

First check from Junk My Car

The $115 more than covers the cost of applying for a Zipcar...the Zipcard also came with today's mail.

The adventure continues.

Astrid

We Are Almost Zipsters!

There will be times throughout the year when we will want to travel by car.  Over the weekend, we signed-up for a Zipcar membership and are anticipating our first trip.  We live about 1.5 miles from a Zipcar location, which means that one of us will bike to the car and bring the car home for the rest of the family or simply continue from the Zipcar parking spot to run errands.

After doing the math ourselves, using a Zipcar a few hours per month is still cheaper than car ownership.  Our experience with Zipcar remains to be seen but we are optimistic.  The concept of "car sharing" feels right for our needs. See http://www.zipcar.com/ for more information.

We anticipate using a Zipcar for the following types of trips

• Monthly shopping excursions for bulky items - 40 pound sacks of wheat, oats, beans, toilet paper etc
• The ocasional family outing - 4 to 5 people wanting to go a little further than Ann Arbor
• Kayaking on the Huron River
• Large purchases for home repairs and improvements when a Home Depot truck is still too big
• There are 22 Zipcars available in Ann Arbor, including a Honda Insight hybrid. We are excited at the possibility of trying different cars for different types of trips. 

The benefits of a Zipcar from the Zipcar website:

• Each and every Zipcar takes 15-20 personally owned vehicles off the road.
• After joining Zipcar, 90% of members drive 5,500 miels or less per year.  That adds up to more than 32 million gallons of crude oil left in the ground.
• 10% of the population is expected to adopt car sharing as their primary mode of transportation.
• Zipcar members save more than $500 per month vs. car ownership.

Astrid