This is why Hudson County needs another car- Somebody has booked Jetta Josh in Hoboken EVERY weekend until April!!!!

It really is unfair to everyone else in the area, b/c now I have to go into manhattan, pay a toll and take the subway to get to a car that I can reserve for the weekend. Not to mention pay the NYC prices.

There have been atleast 10 requests on this board alone for a car in Jersey City. Or atleast one more in Hoboken.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2005

Answers

That's crazy! I'm sure placing a car in Jersey City (Newport or exchange place) would make a killer!

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2005

Some people really are taking advantage of the system. Reserving it every weekend is just rude. But nobody knows who it is, and their anonymity protects them from consequences. And their greed in turn inspires others to grab the choice reservations super early too, just in case some other jerk does the same thing. Then they can pick and choose just when they really want it at their leisure, leaving the rest of us to feed on the scraps. It feeds on itself, and is breaking down the communal sharing concept.

I live in Hoboken too, and perusing the listings it looks like all of the cars are booked at least partially on every weekend day until March.

I guess I'll just have to start making plans for shopping or fun trips 3 months in advance, or wait until 24 hours before the weekend to see if someone decided to cancel at the last minute. But since I can't count on that, I can't make any plans. The service is becoming less useful for me the more this happens.

Another car would be great, because that City Hall car gets booked by people from the city trying to get the cheaper rates. Or perhaps a limit to the number of future reservations someone could make.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2005

I am with you Hugh...I have called and emailed zipcar about it. I asked for another Hoboken car and Jersey City would be great. Now, I really understand they cant cater to ever single request for a car in a particular location, but the requests on this board are over whelming. Zipcar told me they had no plans to add cars to the area. That is discouraging.

For this weekend, I had to book a car in the city, and I was lucky to even get that, it must of been a last minute cancel. So now I not only pay a higher rate, but path, subway, and tolls.

I love this service, and I am not trying to complain too much, but when the car closest to me is booked solid (and always the same time booked?!) it really makes things hard. Do I have to plan on laundry and food shopping for April?!

The only time I book really far in advanced is if I know I have a trip planned (which is not often). I know I am going to VT in Feb. so I made sure I had the car. People are abusing, and I really dont see it getting better.

Out of curiosity, I went on the Boston site, there were so many cars available for last minute weekends. I hope they start to tailor the service differently for nyc.

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2005

just curious--how do you know it's the same person making the reservations? maybe it's just a lot of different people reserving the car in advance?

and to the person taking the trip to VT and using a zipcar--why? it's so much more expensive to use a zipcar for a roadtrip than a regular rental car. i rented a regular car last weekend and it was $63 for the whole weekend. yes, plus gas, but that's still cheaper than one day of daily rental with zipcar. as a fairly regular zipcar user, i find it annoying when someone has obviously reserved a zipcar for a whole weekend--i just don't think that is the point of zipcar. but i guess other people feel differently....

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2005

I am not saying I know that its the same person, it just seems weird when is is the exact same time every weekend for months. I dont use zip car very much at all, and especially not since the car near me is booked solid.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2005

Some people cant rent a car (under 25, no credit card, etc.) And I would like to see a car rental in New York City for $63 for a weekend! The last time I rented a car, it was well over $60 a day with the insurance.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2005

I actually gave up on Zipcar at weekends. I used the crab for short trips, and other car rentals for long trip...

Jersey City is like the 6th borough of NYC, how can Zip ignore this area?!

-- Anonymous, January 24, 2005

re: the insurance when renting a regular rental--i never get the extra insurance, because my credit card insures me when i rent. most do this-you should check on yours to save the extra insurance costs. i wasn't really thinking though about how expensive it might be to rent a car in nyc. in boston, i usually can get one (not at the airport) for ~$70 or less a weekend. it is a little less convenient than zipcar though because it involves taking the bus or subway to pick up the car.

zipcar took away the closest car to me and never put it back, so particularly at night (which was often when i used it, to drop friends off and save them the cab fare) i can't use it anymore because it's not safe to walk home from where the car is parked by myself.

-- Anonymous, January 26, 2005

A mid-sized rental in NYC for a weekend costd well over $160, and that's not included gas, insurance, tax... That's why there's a much big demand for zipcar here than any other area.

-- Anonymous, January 27, 2005

I agree with you Jenny,becouse i was their last weekend and i couldn't get this car so had to go to nyc to get zipcar

-- Anonymous, February 07, 2005

Have you tried Cheap Car Rental (http://www.cheap-car-rental.com/)? You can get cars for 60 dollars a day in NYC including one tank of gas, insurance (SLI also), taxes and all additional drivers. But you have to be older than 25 and have a credit card. I tried it once and it worked very well.

-- Anonymous, February 08, 2005

Back to the "car in JC" issue, how on earth that Battery park/wall street area is getting four cars (two now, two more later) but the whole JC/Newport has not a single car!!! I understand that JC has the highest stolen car rate, but come on, not even one car! Just Newport along has 10,000 residents for crying out loud!

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2005

"Have you tried Cheap Car Rental (http://www.cheap-car-rental.com/)? You can get cars for 60 dollars a day in NYC including one tank of gas, insurance (SLI also), taxes and all additional drivers. But you have to be older than 25 and have a credit card. I tried it once and it worked very well. "

It still costs $120 for a weedend in NYC. It's sad that we have to look for alternative to Zipcar because there isn't enough zipcars for the city.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2005