Timed Travel
Ever been to a city with those loaner bicycles? What if a company rented automobiles that way?
What: Rent cars by the
hour
Who: Robin Chase of
Zipcar
Where: Cambridge,
Massachusetts
When: Started in 2000
Wallet: Projected $1.5 million
sales for 2001
A man looks around a parking lot, spots a green Volkswagen Bug,
walks up to it and magically unlocks the door by placing a special
card on the windshield. He slips in, and off he goes.
A high-tech car thief? No, just a Zipcar customer.
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Robin Chase, 42, co-founded the car-sharing company in January
2000 and rolled out its unique member-based service six months
later. Since then, the company's taken the Boston area by
storm. It's no wonder: Members can use their rented cars for as
long as they want-even if it's just an hour-as long as they
return them to designated spots by the time indicated on their
reservations. They can charge gas on their handy gas card (billed
directly to Zipcar) and don't have to worry about insurance
(it's taken care of with a refundable insurance security
deposit).
"The only real criteria [for a potentially successful
market] is that customers live in a densely populated area and
don't need a car every day," Chase says.
Customers pay a $25 application fee and a $75 annual fee to
become members. Once they're signed up, rates are $4.50 an hour
and 40 cents a mile to use cars from a fleet that consists of
Volkswagen Beetles, Golf Hatchbacks, Jettas and Passat Wagons.
Members can reserve the vehicles of their choice online as much
as two months in advance. The most frequent time users reserve cars
for is two to four hours. Zipcar charges all fees to the
member's
credit card at the end of each month.
The company's fan base is growing every day-600 members and
35 cars so far-and, at press time, Chase planned to open Zipcar in
Washington, DC, by late spring.
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