One of the important things in Orange County is getting around the city. There are a couple of options including bus, Uber and Lyft; however, having your own car makes you feel more comfortable. You may think that it is expensive to buy a car; but Zip Car has simplified it for you! Zip Car is a type of car rental service which works on an hourly basis. It has a couple of parking lots at which its cars are parked; you can pick up a car from one of these places. Their cars have a Zipcar logo on them; the picture below shows an example of a Zip Car:
To start using the Zip Car service, first you need to register at their site and upload your driver’s license; once your driver’s license is verified, you may use their service. The student membership fee is 25$ (which is 10$ off the normal price). To register as a student, you can start from Zipcar website for UCI. After verification of driver’s license, your Zipcard will be mailed to you. Once you have your Zipcard, you can borrow cars from Zipcar designated parking lots. Your zipcard acts as the key for locking and unlocking cars. The main car key is located inside the car which is used for igniting the car. Each car model may have a different price per hour; but most of them are 8.5 or 9.5 dollars per hour, however, there are higher prices as well. There is a complete guide about how to use the car, and what are the usage rules; you can review everything at a glance by looking at http://www.zipcar.com/how.
For renting a Zip car, you first need to reserve one either on their website or mobile app. There are several Zipcar parking lots on campus; so, after reserving one, you can pick it up at the parking lot, enjoy your trip, and return the car back. You need to return the car to the same parking lot that you have picked up the car from, except for some cities that you may return the car to any Zipcar parking lot (list of these cities are provided in their website; however, Irvine is not among them). The rental fee is deducted from the bank account that you have specified at your account. If you need to extend your trip once it is started, you can easily do that using their mobile app. Just be careful about timing since if you return the car late, you will be charged with a late penalty.
Elham says
September 26, 2017 at 3:03 pmThere are a couple of tips, I would like to share:
-Before driving your Zipcar, investigate the car to make sure the previous user did not have an accident. If you detect any damage, call Zipcar and let them know so they don’t blame you for that.
– I recommend you to read their policy carefully, especially their rules about the insurance coverage, who else is eligible to drive a car, if you reserve it (when I checked the policy, at the time, just those who was a Zipcar member could drive a zipcar otherwise if something happens, the company does not cover the damage).