Zipcar is geared toward growth
Six years ago, Zipcar Inc. launched its car-sharing service in Cambridge's Central Square with a dozen Volkswagen Beetles. Today Zipcar has 65,000 members and a fleet of 1,600 vehicles in seven markets, including San Francisco, Chicago, and Toronto. The service is geared for people who live and work in the city and frequently use public transportation, but need a car for several hours a few times a month. Zipcar chief executive Scott Griffith spoke with Globe reporter Chris Reidy.
Q: At Hertz or Avis, people can rent a car by the day or the week. At Zipcar, members can rent by the hour, $8.75 an hour in many cases. But you hate the word rent. Why?
A: We consider `rent' a four-letter word here at Zipcar. We prefer `use' or `reserve.' It helps to reinforce we are a new category. Our typical $8.75 rate includes gas and insurance. All inclusive pricing is a unique aspect of our business model, and it's a wow factor.
Q: Do high gas prices make people more willing to try Zipcar?
A: We ask people to tell us on their application forms, `Why did you join Zipcar?' About half are mentioning gas prices. We're averaging about 3,000 new members a month. That's up 50 percent from a year ago.
Q: You say members can save $435 a month if they join Zipcar rather than buying a new vehicle. How did you arrive at that figure?
A: Forty percent of our members choose to sell a car or not buy a car because of Zipcar. We ask them how much they think they save. That member is spending $60 to $70 a month on Zipcar. And they estimated they would have spent $500 a month on a basic new car.
Q: That $500 includes a monthly car payment, gas, insurance, and some parking costs, right?
A: Yes.
Q: Once I'm a member, how hard is it to get a Zipcar?
A: We like to say that getting a car is as easy as getting cash from an ATM. In order to do that, we park our cars in locations where we have three to five spaces. We have about 500 cars (in Greater Boston) and nearly 300 locations.
Q: Who are your customers?
A: About two-thirds are under 35. They live in the city. They work in the city. A lot of them are still paying off college loans. The other group is committed urbanites. They may have one car already, but there's more than one driver in the household. So they use us for what we call a fractional second car.
Q: What are your members' car habits?
A: Usually two drives a month is what we're seeing. And usually those drives are about four hours each.
Q: You use customer surveys to determine what kinds of vehicles to use for the Zipcar fleet. Are hybrids popular?
A: The (Toyota) Prius continues to be a really popular car. Everyone wants to test-drive one. About 10 percent of our fleet is hybrid vehicles. It would be higher if we could get them. They're just difficult to get still.
Q: You have Fords in your fleet, in part because your members have been clamoring for Mustang convertibles. But a General Motors vehicle has never been a Zipcar. Why?
A: The problem with GM is that the brands that they have don't necessarily fit the urban market very well.
Q: Do different Zipcar cities have different car preferences?
A: The demand for hybrid vehicles in San Francisco is two or three times what we see in our other cities. In Chicago, we're hearing demand for more domestic products. In Toronto, we see more demand for European products, and they're very comfortable with a much smaller car than we are here.
Q: What about Boston?
A: We see a difference depending on which side of the Charles you're on. Demand is high for European cars in the Back Bay and high for hybrids in Cambridge.
Q: What do you drive?
A: A Nissan Murano . I drive our [Zipcars] all the time. In fact, I usually take the T into work and drive our cars during the day if I need a car.
