Zipcar UK Avis 3 296

A few problems

The fuel card wasn't accepted in the two garages I tried. The lock/unlock by phone has connection problems. Also need to factor in time (at your expense) to check in and out and to fuel, if necessary. I ended up paying for fuel in my card as my time was running out.

Support not great, a load of menus to navigate. A day's car hire would have been about the same as the 2.5hours I used.

Certainly will not use Zipcar again. Wish I'd checked trustpilot first.

Subsequent edit: I was contacted by Trustpilot who gave me three days to provide my personal details and a "reference number", without telling me where to I could find that number or what it relates to. I did not manage to reply within the time limit - this is the request for information Zipcar refer to below.

This has not changed my view of Zipcar. Will avoid in future.

Signed up for the service in the UK with an international number and then when I go to use the service am told I need a uk number. This was not communicated at the time of registration and when pointed out they still refused to refund my joining fee despite me not being able to use the service.

Loyal for years but you only realise how terrible a company is when issues arise. Overcharged for a flat tyre, on their faulty car, after they gave poor advice. No sympathy for a difficult situation. The worst customer service I’ve ever encountered - they simply don’t care and that is their business model. Zero empathy and no accountability from them. No interest in salvaging their abysmal reputation. I advise anyone and everyone to avoid these guys like the plague!! Cannot stress how bad they are to deal with - just shocking!! Waiting on them to come up with any resolution but I already know they won’t! Avoid avoid AVOID!

Worst company in this planet !
After you book a trip and pay all the money, they lock your account and force you to waste your money !!
The reason is your email address not including your real name.
These people are the most stupid and unintelligent, they are living in 100 years ago.

Absolutely impossible to use this service again !!

This company is fraudulent and could scam you at least 15GBP.

The point is: this malicious company has a very stupid rule: you need include your real name into your email address.
But they won't tell you before you pay. Then they say the membership fees are not refundable.

The whole process is like this:

You can create a zipcar account by using any email address and then provide your name by editing user profile, just like all other normal companies.

At this point, the system can easily find that your email address does not include your real name.
They can stop the registration and warn you.
But they chose to let you go through.
Then you upload your driver's license and your face photo.
Then you pay 15 GBP for registration.
Then you chose a car and pay insurance. This may cost you another 120 ~ 200 GBP.
Everything is smooth, you are looking forward to your new trip.

2 days later, they suddenly send you an email like this:

--------------------------
!Action Required!

We are reaching out regarding an issue with the email address on your account. It appears that your registered email address is not in your name, and as part of our policy, members are required to use email addresses that are registered in their own name.
As a result, your account has been temporarily suspended until this issue is resolved.
------------------------------

How do you understand this email?
You would change the alias of the email address to your real name and think this would be fine.
You send email back and show you did the correct action they required with screenshots for evidence.

But! they do not response to you even you send multiple emails !!
They could explain that your action is not correct.
But NO!
They do NOT response to you.
It seems that nobody read your email.
They say nothing.
They chose to be silent and waste your time for another 2 or 3 days.

Then you will find that your account is keeping locked, you could do nothing, and it is impossible to continue your trip.
Finally you lost your money, your time, and your expectation with deepest dissatisfaction.

If the company insists that all login emails must include the customer’s real name, they should remind users during the account registration process to avoid further time and money waste.
The system can easily detect that your email address and your name do not match.
And the system can easily show the rule and example about the format.
But they did nothing and let you pass the registration and car booking very smoothly.

Some people do not have such kind of real-name email address.
Some people do not want to create a new one just for one company.
We could chose other company.

Your login email address MUST include your real name. What a ridiculous rule !
There are thousands of email addresses like: Michael_Jackson_567.at.xxx.com, or Donald_Trump_888.at.com
Are these email address ALL representing themselves?
What a low IQ logic !
But zipcar believes this and adopts this logic and force user to do this.

During my over 10 years working experience in IT field and near 20 years experience in all kinds if IT service, I never heard such a stupid rule.
All of your personal information like name, address, telephone number, face photo, driver's license, are buddled in profile and linked each other. Email address is just one factor and it can not be used to identify or verify user alone. This is the most basic logic.
But they do NOT understand this principle, just focus on the format of email address and insists on doing it their way.

The worst and most malicious point of this company is they says nothing before you pay !
Their intension is to scam new users' registration fee.
Many users do not have the 'correct' email address after they pay.
A certain percentage of new users have to gave up the registration fee.
This process is keeping repeated for years, today and tomorrow.

Zipcar are doing this on purpose, and for many years.
They already scammed a huge amount of users' money.
They are cleverly deceiving money from people with low IT literacy.

I strongly advice each user scammed by this company report this case to
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

zipcar ought to be sued for fraud.

To any lawyer who see this post, you should consider filing a class-action lawsuit. This is a guaranteed win.

I recently attempted to register with Zipcar but was unfortunately declined—and to this day, I still haven’t been given a clear reason why.

My partner and I were trying to rent a car quickly last Thursday. At first, my application seemed to be approved. However, the following Monday, I received an email stating that my application had been declined. The message was extremely generic, offering no specific explanation.

I called customer service to understand what went wrong, and was told it might be because my name doesn’t match the driver’s license (as the license belongs to my partner), or possibly because my email address doesn’t include my first name—which honestly just sounds absurd.

When I asked for a refund of the £15 application fee, I was told it was non-refundable. The follow-up email, again, was vague and unhelpful.

To me, this feels like a scam. Charging people £15 for an application with no real feedback, no transparency, and no chance to correct anything is not how you build trust or treat potential customers. If someone is declined, they should at least be told why, and what they can do to get approved next time. Instead, it felt like a cash grab.

Very disappointed with the process. I would not recommend Zipcar based on this experience.

I have tried to register twice, and they first ask for money (admin fee) , and then the system does not work ( specially the initial code). Whether a UK number or a EU number I tried twice and not only the help line is very rude but noone helped to solve the issue. I think it is fraud to keep the money. They refused to return the admin fee that they made me pay for doing nothing. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT .

booked a car, it wouldn't open, not been returned by the previous driver even though i was stood in front of it! software issue apparently so it took them nearly 8 mins to resolve.

The guy says sorry about that ill give you an extra 30 minutes foc for your trouble.

So thinking my car was booked to 11.30 instead of 11, I returned it at 11.10.

Now tried to book the return trip, £35 late return charge to my account.

They refuse to credit it despite notes confirming the situation and emails.

Just buy a car instead.

Forget dealing with them through trustpilot.

I contacted their general manager via LinkedIn and received a full refund.

Im getting sick of repeated issue happening. Cars not where they should be, app not working, missing fuel cards so you have to pay and now days it takes a long time to get through to customer services. This used to be quick, fairly instant but now days you could be waiting half hour before connection to a person.

Sadly its becoming more hassle then its worth

I live in London and was doing a friend a favour helping him move house. The bay the car was meant to be in when I picked it up was full, so I picked it up from elsewhere.

When I came to drop the car off within the time, again the zipcar bay was full. There were also no spaces along the entire road, so I went along the adjacent road and there was one space but this had restrictions (permit holders only, between 8.30 - 5.30 Mon to Fri, and no more than 45 mins stopping). I had no other choice but to park here as there were 0 alternatives, so I rang them and informed her that I had to park there, what the sign said and she said it was fine.

2 months later, I received an email saying they've received a fine of £110, which they're charging to me with a handling fee of £30, so £140 total, for parking in a restricted area. This fine was given the morning after I dropped the car off.

I replied saying this was unjust and I'd spoken to them, but they argued that I told them I'd parked in a residential space (did not happen) and that is would have to pay.

The whole thing is unacceptable, and when I tried to ring them they refused to help over the phone.

Don't bother, it's not worth the risk. Such poor treatment.

Update: Please Zipcar, explain to me where the correct space would be that you've provided? If this is central London where every space is restricted/permitted and the Zipcar space is TAKEN by another Zipcar, WHERE is the correct space? You didn't seem to be able to tell me an alternative on the phone/give instruction. In fact, you said where I parked was fine. 0 accountability for your failure to your customers.

Very first time hiring a vehicle and it will DEFINITELY be my last! Outside of vehicle, dents, scratches, dirt/grime... inside..... I think homeless people have better cleanliness. Inside was full of stains, chocolate smudges, crisps, stain after stain after stain!

I emailed after my booking and they had cheek to say "you can use the fuel card and wash the car" OR call them for me to spend time getting another car from elsewhere! - their "goodwill gesture".... 1hr credit of driving. Absolutely disgusting company! AVOID! AVOID! AVOID!

This was our first time renting a car from Zipcar, and it will be our last. We were very disappointed with their ‘service.’ The car was very dirty when we picked it up, so we couldn't see if there was any damage. We rented the car for two days, and the bill ended up being more than £300 in total. When we returned the car and washed it, we noticed a very small chip in the windscreen. We definitely did not cause this and it was 100% already there, but it was not visible before because of the dirty windows. We had taken out the most expensive additional insurance, but despite this, we were still charged for the repair of the windscreen. After several phone calls and emails in which we explained that we really did not cause this, we were still charged for it. Very poor ‘service’ and Zipcar is definitely NOT a reliable partner for car rental. Be warned people, and don't rent a car from Zipcar. You'll regret it, end up with an empty wallet, and be labelled a liar.

Unfair £168 charge for a flat tyre I didn’t cause.
I provided photo evidence to dispute this and emailed immediately, but no response from the company. Extremely disappointing customer service — no one to speak to, no accountability, and I’ve been left out of pocket. Trying to speak to someone and no one responds. This is horrific service

Absolutely disgusting customer service!
Soooooo unhelpful, an issue with my application has been going on after over 20 call and 10 emails still absolutely no help or solution after 4.5 weeks of wait!
Do Not recommend !

DISGRACEFUL CUSTOMER SERVICE!

*Bare in mind I do not have a driving license*. I have tried to sign up in the past with my email and my phone number to help a friend setting up his account after his account was blocked and they urgently needed to get a car. Never completed the application, so they don't have my bank details, just my phone number and email.

We did not proceeded with the application because the issue was sorted so I never had to follow this up and kinda forgot about it.

Today I open my bank account, and I find out money has been taken from my account with no consent. I have never rented a car! I cannot drive! Somebody has used my card details! The worst part is, I CANT GET THROUGH THE CUSTOMER SERVICE because years ago I created the account (read above) and my number gets recognised by their useless system and a stupid recorded voice says to continue my useless application and hangs up on me! So there's no way I can find out WHO USED MY CARD, leave alone getting my money back!

Whoever used my card ALSO has the audacity to get fined so on top of the car rented, I have kindly paid £110 fine for them.

I'm writing this review in hope somebody can get back to me although I have lost all hopes at this point.

Absolutely appalling!

I hired a ZipCar van to help my friend move house from West to East London. Part of the process with ZipCar was that there is a fuel card included to purchase petrol for your journey; I collected the car and the fuel card was missing, meaning that I had to pay for petrol out of my own pocket. It is extremely obvious that checks are not carried out on these vehicles or else this would have been noted.

On returning the van, I believed I might have knocked the left wingmirror in so I reported this to ZipCar in good faith on the off-chance I caused any damage. Luckily I had taken the "before" photos of the condition of the van, because ZipCar came back to me attempting to charge me £1030 to repair the entire front passenger side bumper area!!! This van was nowhere near in pristine condition when I hired it, but I was then being charged to return it to pristine condition. I was emailing and phoning ZipCar every single day to sort it out and was told that ZipCar "don't have access to the system" to view the "before" photos of the van... (in what world does a company not have access to it's own system?!).

Eventually I managed to get them to send me the photos where I saw that I had indeed caused ZERO damage to the van and I returned it in the same condition as I received it. I informed ZipCar that they were attempting a fraudulent insurance claim and that if any money was taken from my account then I would be escalating the matter. They then came back to me saying that I would not be charged and that it "was a mistake"... It was very much NOT a mistake, and they would 100% have taken the money from me if I hadn't pushed back and argued my case. Absolutely disgusting behaviour against someone who was reporting a potential knock as an act of good faith and wanting to be honest where most people wouldn't have been. I still got charged £30 for an "admin fee" which Is ridiculous!

I will never be using ZipCar again and am absolutely appalled by the service.

It was a very frustrating experience with Zipcar when I rented a van for a day to move house.

The initial van I rented had an issue and they called me 24 hr before to switch me on another one further away.

This second van had a tyre pressure problem which was highlighted on the dashboard and visible in the initial car rental pictures taken. I was still able to use the van but after the booking they charged me for tyre replacement even though they acknowledged the issue was already present (their reasoning is I did not report the existing issue).

I hadn't used Zip car for a while and the check in procedure had changed. However, customer service very good in guiding me. The car itself was fine but I was somewhat alarmed by the dash board display which said System Fault, see owners manual as well as a couple of orange triangles with exclamation marks. I drove the car with some caution and initially there was a gentle bonging sound as well as the horn sounding from time to time. This all stopped after a couple of minutes and all was well. Still, I'm surprised they let their cars out in this condition and also that I haven't had a response after I gave them a zero for maintenance in their customer survey.

Very disappointed with zip car. We've used it a couple of times and both times we had issue with it. First time we booked a car that wasn't where it was supposed to be. After we called them they said the previous person still had it and they won't be back for another 4 hours. They offered us another car which was close by but it was a manual van. Initially we accepted but later canceled since we didn't feel comfortable driving it.
Now, we have recieved a violation parking fee for said van that we didn't even drive or move one meter from its spot. Absolutely ridiculous. We still haven't resolved the issue or gotten a refund. I wish I had read the reviews before using it, since a lot of people have had issues with unfair fines.

I rented and payed to have the car for 14h. The car had a pre-existing mechanical issue and was not safe to drive, as stated by the AAA mechanic who attended to fix the problem. As per customer care instructions I left the car unattended, parked off the street to await towing. I used the car for 6-7 h doing short trips as I was moving out staff, before it broke down. Not only zip car paid me a rubbish 22 quid to cover the hours I couldn't use the car for, but now they are also claiming I scraped the front passenger bumper.I have photo evidence of renting the car with a damaged mirror, both bumpers damaged and heavily scartched all over the place. They are trying to make me responsible for some new damage, sending me a pictures with no timestamps, that was not even taken at the location where the car was left awaiting towing. This new damadge could've occurred during towing or while it was parked after they ended my trip. When I requested GPS logs, post rental records, timestamped pictures from the towing company, Zip car didn't provide me with any concludent evidence related to my case to sustain their claim which is highly suspicious. Avoid at all cost. Update: I've been charged with £963.51 without any concludent proof. I'm taking this further to BVRLA and to court. I encourage all of you to not allow this company to scamm and intimitate you, make complaints to BVRLA, and seek a solicitor to look at your case.

Forced to sign up in order to see available vehicles only to find that there wasn't a vehicle meeting the criteria I needed. They were inflexible and unable to refund the £15 signup fee.