Zipcar, a membership-based car-sharing and rental company, was recently acquired by car rental giant Avis. Soon after the buyout Zipcar has announced a no-fee membership option that will start in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver from January 4.
The service from Zipcar is a pilot program called ‘Access Plan’ which charges no annual driving fee. This is very similar to the companies ‘Extra Value’ membership plan without the minimum requirement of $50 in driving every month. ‘Access Plan’ has the same hourly and a daily rate of the ‘Everything’ plan and does not charge a $65 annual membership fee.
There are restrictions to the new Access Plan. Members can only get cars from Monday to Friday. The weekends are not part of the deal which lets Zipcar get more customers into cars when they are readily available during the week.
Toronto and Vancouver have very good public transport systems which should be cheaper than Zipcar car rental. The move by the company may be to attract clients to available cars other than weekends and also counter moves from European competitors, car2go, which has recently set up shop in the Canadian cities.
Car2go has developed some very interesting weekday and in-city driving options. The company allows one-way trips along with no reservation requirements. The European company lets city commuter take one of their Smart cars to work and then return it at any public parking lot.
That is why Zipcar wants to attract members during the week with a no-fee option. The ability to try the service without a commitment may attract consumers that are on the edge and need a little nudge to see what the compaby has to offer.
Source: TechCrunch
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