This post is part of a thread on 'collaborative consumption' - look out for a big feature coming soon on what exactly that means and a review of the book Collaborative Consumption.
Zipcar is genius. It saves you money, time and stress and is a more sustainable choice.
It's a car-sharing company. It's hugely successful and growing every year. In fact, a lot of people out there think that companies like this are at the forefront of a revolution in how we own and use things. In the UK Zipcar is currently in London, Bristol, Cambridge, Maidstone and Oxford... so far. In the US, it is in 13 states and has 650,000 members (as of 2011).
Here are a few insightful quotes from the book Collaborative Consumption to get you thinking about what Zipcar might really be about, other than sharing a car:
- Why is it that we spend so much time teaching children how to share their toys nicely but for adults sharing becomes a loaded concept?
- What you really want is the hole not the drill - Victor Papanek
- When you think about it, there is no rational reason behind the notion that sleeping in a hotel bed or using a towel that hundreds of people used is acceptable, but sharing a vacuum cleaner with neighbours is abnormal
So Zipcar is one example of what are known as PRODUCT SERVICE SYSTEMS. That is, a system that offers you the service which the product provides. Getting to your destination - not owning the car that gets you there.
It's not a new idea at all - think about hotels, libraries, gyms.
But there's a new perspective on it - about how we can expand it and save ourselves space, time, stress and money, and help create a sustainable planet too. It's a pretty good combination.
How does Zipcar work?
Zipcar say that the scheme is for you if you:
- Want to save money
- Mainly take public transport but sometimes need/want a car
- Don't want to hassle of owning a car
- Care about the planet
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| I don't think Zipcar have this particular model |
In return for your fees, you get your fuel, insurance, servicing and MOTs and in London, congestion charge all paid for. All the burdens that come with owning a car - taking it to the garage, pretending you know what the mechanic's talking about, worrying about getting the tax disc done... it's all taken care of, and you can still hop in and get where you need to go.
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| Nor this |
It's not only financial, stress-reducing and sustainbility gains you get from it either. Zipcar have many different makes and models of cars, so you get to try out different ones: one of the slogans they use in the USA is:
"Today's a BMW day. Or is it a Volvo day?"
To find a car, you can just search online (or on their App) on their map using your postcode. The key to Zipcar's success is that they have plenty of cars, so the likelihood is there are a variety near you. As an experiment, I just searched the map to see what was near me: within 5 minutes walk of my flat there are 4 Zipcars: 3 Volkswagon Golfs and 2 BMW 1 series. I'm even more impressed now!
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| Who doesn't want an animal-themed car? |
If you live in a city and don't need a car every day, this idea is well worth giving serious thought to.
youcanarguewithstupid
Further reading:
Zipcar's site is www.zipcar.com and is really user-friendly
Rachel Botsman, the author of Collaborative Consumption, did a TEDTalk - you can watch it here
