ZipCar www.zipcar.co.uk

The 1 star goes for the service used so far.

Please avoid it at all costs if you end up in disputable fines. The Zipcar violation service basically doesn't work.

For the past three months, I have been waiting for a refund after providing proof that the fine has been cancelled. There is no transparency or form of getting in contact apart from e-mail. They might reply to the e-mail once but with no further follow-up.

I will stop using the service forever. I would recommend you do the same. The other reviews attest to my experience as well.

First of all, I must say that I have been with Zipcar for over 5 years now and didn’t have any big issues until this year.

Since 2022 I have been experiencing all kind of issues with the app, meaning that I was unable to book cars or access my account, and when I did it showed no active trips. It also happened not one time that when I modified my trip, I still received a ‘we missed you and charged you’ message on the original day of the trip. I escalated these issues for 2 times, never heard from Zipcar.

Finally, I rented a van for moving houses, and I thought to have lost the keys (which were found in the end in the renting day), but when I talked to a night shift man at Zipcar, he couldn’t explain any emergency process but was very keen to suspend my account before the renting period ended. Which was obviously a big mistake on his end as the keys were found, and I gave back the car in time. However, it’s been more than 2 weeks now and my account is still suspended without any cause and any explanation or email correspondence from them. I called a few times, got just confirmation back that the case has been handed over to a local team and that’s it. No calls, no apologies, nothing.

I cannot use their services because they decided that I cannot which is violating my customer rights and breaching their terms and conditions to suspend me without reason (which is the case) and then keep my account blocked and restrict my rights to use their services without any cause again. They didn’t do any efforts to resolve this situation since the day my account was suspended which is outrageous.

I brought my business elsewhere in the meantime, and I am considering to ditch Zipcar alltogether for the above reasons.

Their behaviour is unheard, unethical and very unprofessional. At this point I would recommend choose other competitors if their services are more reliable.

Final note: I also experienced other issues which are minor compared to this case now. But it needs to be mentioned that there are increasing number of issues with Zipcar which I haven’t experienced in the years before, and I am therefore disappointed.

Zipcar failed to notify me about a penalty ticket which was then passed to DEBT COLLECTORS. Which I found out 12 months (!!!) after the incident.

I ended up paying c.£300 for the offence I was not even aware of.

August 2021: I had a rental with Zipcar. Apparently, had a traffic offence which I was not notified about back then.

August 2022: I'm getting a paper letter from a debt collector agency saying I have an outstanding debt of c.£300.

It turned out that Zipcar failed to notify me about the penalty ticket back in 2021. Therefore, it was not paid on time and ended up with debt collectors.

Which I figured out only in August 2022, 1 year after the incident.

Zipcar support was absolutely horrendous.

First, they general support were taking ages to connect me to the relevant team (violations), even though I had a hard deadline with the collectors (1 week left) which I emphasised to them several times.

And them the violations team showed no interest in and understanding of my situation, even though it was clearly caused by a flaw in their notification procedure.

Needless to say, it took us 5-6 email interactions until I finally saw the scanned copy of the actual penalty ticket I had to pay for.

CONCLUSION: I have been Zipcar customer for nearly 4 years, using them very often and spreading a good word within my circle.

They've now effectively robbed me for £300, and have made me through humiliating experience of having and paying the collectors' debt.

The worst of all, they did not even admit any flaws from their side, and showed no respect and compassion.

With regret, I'm now closing my account and will make sure my case is known to as many existing users as possible, so that they are aware of what risks they are actually exposed to.

I'm happy to provide the debt collectors' enforcement notice and the penalty ticket with dates and all the details upon request.

Terrible service

I recently got two payments (apparent fines) deducted from my account by zip car. Apparently I got fined for parking somewhere where the signage was not clear. However the council said if I paid within 21 days I would pay half of the fine. I didn’t realise I had parked wrongly as I missed the cameras. Zipcar would have received notifications immediately. But Zipcar only informed me of the violations 3 months later,l! by then the fine had doubled, plus Zipcar charged me an admin fee if £15. I called and complained and even wrote to them an email to say their delay in informing has cost me money. They did not respond. What a useless company! Avoid if possible.

DO NOT USE THIS APP OR SERVICE! They rejected my application because I renewed my license recently and it only shows 6 months of driving. I am 61 years old and have been driving for 40+ years. But how do I prove it? They refuse to refund my application fee. I wonder how much money they make from taking fees and rejecting the application? DO NOT USE!

Charges £30 fee when 2 minutes late - despite there being no reservation following mine and the app allowed me to extend the reservation. Terrible customer service - shows complete lack of any compassion. Encourages phone use while driving. DO NOT BOTHER USING THIS COMPANY - GET A TAXI INSTEAD

Poor quality vehicles that are poorly maintained, dirty, some time unsafe and in bad condition. Appalling customer service, that is too slow, rude and unhelpful. Basically it is unreliable, it has been a constant disappointing experience and at the end of the day it is very expensive for what they offer. I have cancelled my account and I WOULD NOT RECOMMENDED!

This is the worst company I can think of. Their customer service is ignorant and unable to provide any assistance. Emails are rude and they never answer questions you may have. I do also suggest serious discrimination at work in their application process.

I'm a professional driver with 20+ years of experience, no points or endorsement (no adverse record whatsoever) registered to vote, sent everything from driving licence and record through DVLA to proof of address and bank letters and copy of passport, had cars insured in my name, after which was refused with no explanation. Staff at customer services rude, several times suggesting that I should withdraw my application and not registering the complaint. Obviously they don't like complaining or people not born in the country.

For anyone who is considering signing up with Zipcar, be aware that when you sign up for what they refer to as a “rolling monthly no commitment membership plan” in their FAQs they will actually lock you in for a 12 month period even though this is not explicitly made clear on their website. When I asked to cancel my membership after a few months, they made a one-off charge to my credit card for the membership fees that would have been paid over the remaining months. They could have called me to explain that it doesn't make sense to cancel my membership as I would still be billed the full amount but would not have the benefits of membership, but no, they decided they should get to have their cake, and also be able to eat it too. Greedy, greedy business....