I have had to give up owning my own car as in 5 years petrol went up from 90p a liter to 1.39p and insurance from £340 to £600+ as well as road tax etc and the fact that some major malfunction was always around the corner. As I live in south east London I can cycle every where quite easily and if I need a car there is always a Zip car just around the corner. To join Zip car all you need to do is go to the Zip car web site and pay the joining fee or just £6 a month and then prove you have a clean driving license, they ring up Swansea. I have rented a VW Lupo from them for only £5 an hour on many occasions. All you have to do is go on line and see if a car is available near you. If one is book it. However long you need it, it is all yours. You are sent a card which unlocks the car and the key is inside the car so you can start the engine and go. All insurance is included along with 40 miles of petrol. I have also rented a VW Golf automatic for £6.50 an hour. It is a cheap way to get about if you do not need a car much and do not have far to go. Considering that owning a car cost £250 a month at least once you buy petrol, insurance, depreciation, road tax, fines etc you can still get a lot of Zip car use for less money. I use to drive every where but my doctor said I needed more exercise which was another good reason to give up owning a car and go cycling instead. So to get a zip car you register with them they then send you a membership card which gets you into their cars and away you go. Do not go over your allotted rental time however as they will charge you £35 if you do.

I've always found Zipcar staff helpfull, and the cars are in good condition too. However, renting cars from rental specialists is probably cheaper.

I really rate Zipcar. their registration system is simple and innovative - I really liked their Live Chat and the fact the person in the chat box helped me out with a promotional code which saved me £50 on my first booking. Even when this was forgotten after the first time I used the car, one simple online chat resolved the issue and I was refunded quickly. when adding another person tot he account it was also very simple and we had the new card within 24 hours - great for our booking. I have used Zipcar about 5 times now in as many months, and for this type of usage zipcar is perfect. For rentals over a day you can probably get a cheaper option from Sixt or Hertz, but the faff and hassle of going to a place, signing all the forms and returning at a set time/ having all the additional bills etc, just isnt worth it. Zip cars are at good nearby locations and they tend to always have one or two available. The recent annoying change to zipcar is the price which has gone up by £1 per hour for medium/high end cars which does add a lot on to the booking. However, if you are just using the cheaper models and the Hybrids, the price is still the same. Recent good points are that you now have 180 free miles instead of 60- - a bonus for longer journeys. All lin all - great product and great experience with Zipcar so far.