Zipcar to close UK operations

[Joe Paxton]

Just received an email from them ... must say it came as a bit of a surprise (to me at least).

Article on The Guardian:
Zipcar, world’s biggest car-sharing company, to close UK operation

The world’s biggest car-sharing company, Zipcar, has said it will close its UK operation, removing access to its shared fleet across London at the end of this year.

The company, owned by the US car rental group Avis Budget, said it would suspend new bookings through its app after 31 December, pending the outcome of a consultation on possible redundancies. The UK operating company had 71 staff last year, according to its latest accounts.
[...continues...]

Edit - added quoted excerpt from Guardian article.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agree that's surprising - I thought these schemes were doing well in London where car ownership is quite low compared to elsewhere in the UK.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Agree that's surprising - I thought these schemes were doing well in London where car ownership is quite low compared to elsewhere in the UK.

I suppose popularity doesn't inherently equate to profitability...

 

[telstarbox]

Agree that's surprising - I thought these schemes were doing well in London where car ownership is quite low compared to elsewhere in the UK.

If you disregard Zone 1 / the Congestion Charge area where it's very low then you still have around half of households with cars in Lewisham and Wandsworth (Zone 2/3). It's not noticeably more expensive to run a car in London than elsewhere, even if you only use it at the weekends because you commute by public transport.

 

[DelW]

Agree that's surprising - I thought these schemes were doing well in London where car ownership is quite low compared to elsewhere in the UK.

I suppose popularity doesn't inherently equate to profitability...

Per this BBC report, Zipcar had already retreated to serving London only, and last year lost £11.6m on turnover of £47m:

Car-sharing company ZipCar to end UK operations

ZipCar, which has more than 600,000 UK members, temporarily suspends new bookings on its platform.

www.bbc.co.uk

Zipcar closed its operations in Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol last year to focus on its core London market, where it has more than 550,000 members.

In its most recent company accounts for 2024, Zipcar blamed the "cost of living crisis", which was affecting UK customers, for revenues falling to £47m from £53m the year before, while its after-tax losses had widened to £11.6m.

 

[Jaydubya]

Despite being a member for 8 years I probably used them no more than 10 times for things like trips to B&Q. With more and more online delivery options since the pandemic it became increasingly a waste of time and money. The costs also made public transport and Ubers feel like very good value for money.

 

[Sonic1234]

It's not noticeably more expensive to run a car in London than elsewhere, even if you only use it at the weekends because you commute by public transport.

The weekend is the time to use a car in London. Far less congestion, and a lot of places (including some parts of Central London) has Monday-Friday parking restrictions.

 

[swt_passenger]

I‘d never heard of them. Too late now…

 

[gravitystorm]

I've been a member since 2009, when it was called StreetCar and before they were bought out by Zipcar.

In recent years the quality and availability of the cars available in my area had been steadily declining, and I put that down to them not focussing on the "legacy" offering (ICE cars, pick up and drop back to the same location) that was still the only option available in the outer boroughs like mine.

I thought they were focussing their energies on the flex service (electric cars, drop off anywhere in the zone) in the central areas, and I assumed that this was the future and they would slowly expand it outwards. But it seems like neither option was actually working for them.

I'd love to know more about what went wrong for them - I've heard mentions of insurance and electricity costs going up, but their finances appear to have cratered in the last few years.

Most of the commentary I've seen fails to distinguish between what I'd consider as the largely separate branches of the business - the legacy pay by hour cars, the pay by minute electrics, and their transit vans - to see which bits were working and which bits dragged the rest down.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I‘d never heard of them. Too late now…

Me neither. Seems they were operating only in the London area.

 

[BRX]

I've been an occasional user since about 2011. A big loss if no-one else steps in to fill the gap.

These car clubs are a critical part of trying to keep car ownership low in London. It's not really healthy to have the whole thing in the hands of one operator who can just suddenly shut up shop like this.

 

[FOH]

I've been an occasional user since about 2011. A big loss if no-one else steps in to fill the gap. These car clubs are a critical part of trying to keep car ownership low in London. It's not really healthy to have the whole thing in the hands of one operator who can just suddenly shut up shop like this.

They are definitely the biggest but there are others like Enterprise Car Club and Virtuo. There used to be Ubeeqo too which shuttered a few years ago.

 

[telstarbox]

Co Wheels have popped up in various towns too.

 

[Ken X]

We have had more than one Co-Wheels vehicle knocking around Horsham for some time.

Mind you, the one at the end of our road was sporting a large VOSA wheel clamp a little while ago so there would seem to be some bumps in the road.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I've been an occasional user since about 2011. A big loss if no-one else steps in to fill the gap. These car clubs are a critical part of trying to keep car ownership low in London. It's not really healthy to have the whole thing in the hands of one operator who can just suddenly shut up shop like this.

I agree and there should be some competition / alternatives but it seem the market can hardly support one company providing the spot rental service.

 

[sprunt]

If I were still living in London I'd be sad to see them go, but is it really likely that it will lead to a significant rise in car ownership? If someone's using them so much that the only alternative is to buy a car it feels like buying a car would be more economic anyway.

 

[BRX]

If I were still living in London I'd be sad to see them go, but is it really likely that it will lead to a significant rise in car ownership? If someone's using them so much that the only alternative is to buy a car it feels like buying a car would be more economic anyway.

It's not really about whether it's the "only alternative". It's about what people consider as convenient solutions; it's not just a cost based decision.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

These car-sharing services seem like a good idea on paper, but so many of them seem to collapse or limp from crisis to crisis that maybe there's a fundamental flaw with the business model.

Several posts on this thread from people who were members but only used the service on rare occasions, makes me wonder if simply renting a car the old fashioned way from the established names is the more sensible move.

What's the USP of a service like Zipcar that would make them a better choice than Europcar or Avis?

 

[Bletchleyite]

What's the USP of a service like Zipcar that would make them a better choice than Europcar or Avis?

That you can just grab one now for short term use, same as an e-scooter or hire e-bike.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

That you can just grab one now for short term use, same as an e-scooter or hire e-bike.

How does one sign up? Presumably you need to register, download an app, show proof of funds and that you hold a valid driving licence? How much did they charge?

 

[TFN]

It really is a shame. I was only eligible to be a member in September (Must have a full licence for one year). There were instances where because of Uber surge pricing, it was cheaper to get a Zipcar Flex.

 

[Mojo]

That you can just grab one now for short term use, same as an e-scooter or hire e-bike.

And of course you could pick them up and drop them up from convenient locations rather than from an industrial estate or somewhere that may be nowhere near where you're going to / from. I was a member of the BMW owned car club that offered Mini rentals and shut down a few years back (can't remember its name), and it was great, as a number of councils had signed up and you could drop them off in any residents' parking or Pay & Display bay.

 

[telstarbox]

It really is a shame. I was only eligible to be a member in September (Must have a full licence for one year). There were instances where because of Uber surge pricing, it was cheaper to get a Zipcar Flex.

Show your working please!

 

[sprunt]

How does one sign up? Presumably you need to register, download an app, show proof of funds and that you hold a valid driving licence? How much did they charge?

If by "show proof of funds" you mean register a payment card, then yes.

There were a variety of membership options when I joined - you could pay a membership fee and a lower hourly hire rate, or do as I did and pay no membership fee but a higher hire charge - the last time I used one I think it was about £12/hr.

 

[Jaydubya]

Zip car was an annual membership fee plus an option of an additional fee for collision damage waiver. Some new car free developments included a couple of years free membership of zipcar as a S106 planning condition of the development. Will be interesting to see what local planning authorities do with these kind of conditions now.

From my experience the book via an app and use in 5 minutes didn’t always work. One car the door wouldn’t open and then the person at the call centre got abusive and claimed I never even tried to access the car. Another time I had to stay on the phone for an hour to lock the car as the locking system didn’t work on return of the vehicle. That was the last time I used them!

 

[renegademaster]

What was the price for one Vs an Uber XL?