ZipCar

The lease on our car just ended. For a long time I have debated the value of owning a car when you live in Brooklyn. It was a 42 month lease and the car had 18,000 miles on it. We probably drive it 2-3 a month on average.

Between the cost of the car, parking in a garage (a necessity in Brooklyn), insurance (expensive in Brooklyn) and miscellaneous costs, we probably spent $1000/month on the car. If you drive it twice a month, each one of those trips is effectively costing you $500. Crazy.

But not having a car seems a bit odd. Since I graduated from high school, I have always owned a car. Even while spending 9 months in Japan, or 6 months working on a cruise ship, my car would be parked at my parent’s house. I’ve just always had one.

Part of it is the freedom aspect. What if, on a whim, we decide to go visit my wife’s sister (about 60 miles away)? Or we need to get something out of our storage unit (about a mile away)?

Enter ZipCar. ZipCar is really designed for our case. People who need to drive occasionally but for whom owning a car is crazy. The cars are parked all over, in the same garages that I would use for my car if I owned one.  You can use them by the hour. Most cars run $11/hour ($17/hour for a BMW) which includes gas and insurance.

So we’re going to be trying it for a while. And living in the city there are always trains, taxis and car service. I predict we don’t spend more than $200/month getting around without the car.

Today I appreciated the change. I’ve gone to see a friend a few times up in Westchester. If you own a car, you might as well drive it. The drive is about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes with some highly annoying traffic (particularly getting out of the city). I do a lot of swearing as I drive. But if you already own the car, the incremental cost of the trip is just the gas.

I visited that friend today and took the subway to Grand Central and then the Metro North train. It took an hour and a half, door to door. It cost $20. I read the paper, worked on my computer, wrote this blog. Didn’t swear once.

I’ll blog later about my first ZipCar experience. Maybe I can get used to this…