So… just found out Zipcar is closing down, and I’m honestly shocked at how quietly this has happened. No big announcement, no clear timeline, just a slow drip of emails and rumours that “services are winding down”.

For a company that pretty much owned the UK car-sharing space, this is wild.
I know they’ve had issues with vandalism, theft, and cars going “missing”, but still the whole thing feels messy. And if you relied on Zipcar for quick trips, IKEA runs, kid drop-offs, whatever… it’s going to cause chaos.

London especially is already impossible for casual car access. Ownership is a nightmare, ULEZ is ULEZ-ing, parking is ÂŁÂŁÂŁ, and now the main car-share option is disappearing with zero real replacement lined up.

Anyone else affected by this?
What are people switching to Enterprise Car Club? Ubeeqo? Just giving up and buying a 10-year-old Yaris like it’s 2009?

Would love to know what everybody’s hearing or moving to, because the silence from Zipcar is honestly a joke.

by Pitiful_Package_6807

25 comments

  1. Just saw this, super disappointing. We didn’t use them often but they were great when we did. Very keen to find out if anything replaces them- especially for flex and trips to the airport.

  2. Wow I’m actually saddened by this. I had to move about 7 times last year and zipcar was my trusty ride throughout that mess

  3. Framing it as a proposal seems kind of weird as well.

    Are they fishing for help from the government? Or are they hoping someone will buy their UK-operations?

  4. I just saw the email too, a real shame.

    Its the sort of thing I only used twice a year or so, but when I did need it, it was super convenient and easy. I’ve never had any issues with their cars. A shame to see them go, idk what I’ll use from now on.

  5. Being quiet could just be them being respectful to their people who are going through a redundancy less than a month before Christmas. Could also be shopping for a buyer or an employee take over by the sounds of the language used.

    Either way, shutdowns happen all the time with little to no fanfare and it’s not as if the company has to worry about customer relations going forward.

  6. Clearly the economics of it all aren’t great – see also DriveNow and Virtuo. Loved these services and have been a keen user of all three over time.

  7. I noticed maybe 6ish months ago that all the zip cars by my aunt’s house in Canning Town were gone. So I’m not wholly surprised, but thought I would’ve heard something about them struggling before now.

    I used it a few times and liked the idea that I could hire a car for a couple hours to go to the supermarket or the gym but ultimately it worked out too expensive and cabs were cheaper.

    Think it was around £13 an hour when I last used it and in that area at the time you couldn’t leave the car in any free Zipcar parking spot, it HAD to go back where you got it from. Makes sense from a logistics pov but ends up being quite expensive if you only need it for about a few hours to pop to the shops or something.

  8. Oh man I use zipcars pretty regularly, they are such a god send for getting to and from shoots, Ubers consistently see 2 peli cases and cancel.

  9. Ah that’s such a shame. They were so handy to use, and in general very reliable. 

  10. As a regular user I’m really disappointed. Can’t say I’m surprised though. It must be tough, squeezed between the “traditional” hire car market and Uber.

    I’d like to understand more about the decision. I don’t know a lot about the arrangements Zipcar has with local authorities. Do they pay for the right to operate, or do they get any concessions from the LAs?

    IMO Zipcar is a net benefit to London in terms of keeping private car ownership down. There must be a model which can work effectively, with sensible public sector support. 

    (Also, it’s possible that their owners Avis just see it as competing with themselves, and don’t value the business.)

  11. Er I paid £15 for the application fee last week and haven’t been able to use one yet, lovely

  12. Weird as it’s owned by Avis, but very disappointing as I used my local Zipcars regularly. Hopefully someone will swoop in and save the service.

  13. On one hand I’m surprised, but if I think about how the service and my usage has changed over the year, I’m less so.

    They seem to have completely fucked up the car:van ratio, to the extent that if you try booking anything for a weekend with less than a week’s notice, there are no cars at all but hundreds of vans sitting around unbooked.

    Those cars they do run are usually the cheapest shitboxes they can get their hands on, as opposed to the fleet of VWs and Audis they had when I first joined.

    Flex makes up for the availability issue a little bit, but not completely.

    Overall the deterioration in the service meant I stopped using it as much and stopped paying monthly. If a decent number of customers did likewise, it’s probably not financially viable anymore.

    Enterprise Car Club doesn’t have enough cars to replace Zipcar, so hopefully a new entrant sees an opportunity.

  14. Noooo! With the absolute collapse of uber and bolt and the like Zipcar has been my go to for late night journeys in the rain or quick escape from crowded events. Boo

  15. Oh man, this actually sucks.

    I use Zipcar fairly regularly; I’m in a band and Uber throws a hissy fit every time they see so much as a guitar case. In the end I preferred Zipcar; cheaper, no hassle and I drank less too! Gutted.

  16. Not quite sure how I’ll move house/ flat again!

    Moved 4 times in the last 5 years using their vans – super useful – and helped another 3 pals move with them too

  18. Shame really, it was the only thing keeping me from buying a shitbox, id use it a couple of times a month and zipvan was very handy.

  19. Availability of Zipcars is one reason why I gave up owning a car; there don’t seem to be any easy to access alternatives in my bit of the city.

  20. Terrible for the employees (though many don’t actually seem to be based in the UK anyway from my experience)

    I am however taking this as a personal victory after the month they spent repeatedly trying to take £300 from my bank account with no warning for “fines” they could provide no evidence of

  21. To be honest the fact that their Zip Car Flex service is not  widely known about is a crime because it is such a good service and honestly can see it having a huge impact on car use in London. 

    Marketing is terrible for it

  22. This is horrible news! I use Zipcar quite regularly for anything that requires a car, like popping to the garden centre, driving to IKEA, or collecting larger items bought on Gumtree/eBay.

    Having access to Zipcar has been huge in quelling any temptation of car ownership. If they cease operations, that might genuinely tip the scales in favour of buying a cheap car…

    We should make it easier for people to not own cars, not the other way around!

  24. I’m devastated, I use them sometimes once a week and it negates the need for me to own a car in London even though I do use a car quite often. Terrible news, hoping someone swoops in to buy them out 

  25. I wasn’t much of a user but the two times I’ve needed their immediate assistance, they answered the phone within two rings. Companies like that need to stay afloat and teach Virgin and the like a thing or two about customer trust. 

Comments are closed.