Sunday, March 13, 2011

SHAME ON YOU ZIPCAR





On December 15th, 2010 I rented Makeup, a Mazda for an hour and a half. While driving from the Mission District I got caught in heavy traffic around 5-5.30pm. I stopped at the traffic behind a BMW X5. Thinking the lights were about to turn green soon, I gradually took my feet of the brake pedal and softly touched the back of her car bumper. Instantly I pulled the car back and got out to inspect the situation. Like any responsible driver, I gave her my driving and insurance information. Both drivers made a thorough check on the cars. There were no signs of damage to either of the vehicle which did not warrant for a call to the police. A picture of the back of the BMW was taken before I drove off to record the incident and to provide an alibi for myself.(see the pic)


I returned the car early and neither myself nor the subsequent drivers that rented Makeup, could tell the damage, that Zipcar team is accusing me of occurred during my rental period.

Around a month after that fateful second rental I received an email from Zipcar accusing me of damaging the car and I was subsequently charged a $1953.33 fee for the damage. It is appalling customer service to be accused of doing something I clearly didn’t do.(see the second pic)


This whole experience soured my view of Zipcar's sharing concept by highlighting a serious flaw in their system. Zipcar lives on the street or in a public car park and the person renting it is responsible for any damage that occurs to the vehicle until the next person takes the car. Unlike a traditional car rental company, there is no employee to check the car when you return it. The car just sits unattended in a public car park where anyone can damage it after it has been returned and the last person to use the car gets the blame.

In all unfairness Zipcar is slapping me with the responsibility of the repair store charges which has no absolute relation to the above account of the incident. I have been totally cooperative and helpful in resolving this issue and hope that they will contact me soon and fix this issue because it has been already couple of months. They are making me wait and see what damage the other had. Since i have a pic of her car, what they are trying to do !???? i will never ever use zipcar again.

Best Regards
N. Aybars Turan

5 comments:

  1. i am going through a zip car nightmare very much the same as yours.

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  2. I haven't gotten any news from them yet. its been over 6 months. I tried posting everywhere. Its truly nightmare.

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  3. I just got news from the Claim service of Zipcar and they want me to pay $2634.25 for this incident. I have no idea how they can still try to charge me.

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