I am a zipcar member and have been for about 4 years. Sometimes its actually cheaper to rent a wreck if you are not going over 100 miles away. After renting a zipcar for more than 4 hours it starts getting to be a real luxury instead of a cheap option.

Also, weekends are tough to get the ideal car so plan on a commute to a car. They need more zipcars and more spaces in different borough neighborhoods. But in theory zipcar is a great option!

I am a zipcar member and have been for about 4 years. Sometimes its actually cheaper to rent a wreck if you are not going over 100 miles away. After renting a zipcar for more than 4 hours it starts getting to be a real luxury instead of a cheap option.

Also, weekends are tough to get the ideal car so plan on a commute to a car. They need more zipcars and more spaces in different borough neighborhoods. But in theory zipcar is a great option!

Ditto what parma says - Sam and I joined mainly for moving - easier to use that to make a few small trips than to pack up all the small things for the movers. Since then, we've used it for a few Ikea trips, but otherwise, not much. Its too expensive for shopping (cheaper to take a cab home then to reserve a car for the whole time we would need it), and for a day trip or a weekend, its cheaper to go to JFK and rent a car. Then again, its a bit easier for us to get to JFK than for you, but through Hotwire, we've generally been able to get a car from JFK for ~$40/day, so its hard for zipcar to beat that.

Hi, Corie-
My sister has used zipcar for a few years now. It really comes in handy for weekend trips upstate. I think the biggest benefit of zipcar is not having to pay for gas out-of-pocket because we all know how much gas is! The biggest peeve my sister has though, is their limited parking neighborhoods. She lives in Inwood and the closest location is 145th street. I think they've been expanding slowly but surely, though.

I'm a Zipcar member with nothing but good things to say about them. Still, I agree that if you need a car for more than 5-6 hours, it may be cheaper just to rent one for the whole day (even though zipcar includes the gas, a huge perk these days!).

Oh I have to second the renting a car from JFK thing. I didn't know it was so cheap! We got to Canada for nothing with that rental and it was worth the train ride.

But, again, it's probably easier for us to get out there and it might not be that useful for pumpkin picking, Corie :)

No, but I want to go to Canada for my birthday!

My friend Jim swears by them, but I've never used them.

They've got Zipcars here in Toronto, but I imported my husband's car into Canada from Pennsylvania duty-free as part of his estate and for that "privilege" I am not allowed to sell the car for two years. So, I'm stuck with it. But I did make six round trips to PA/NY/NJ with it in two months, so I shouldn't complain.

From what I can tell, Zipcar is a very similar business model to Vancouver's Cooperative Auto Network. It's not meant to replace car rental, taxis, or public transit. But it's very handy for moving, as others have suggested, and largish items such as furniture and whatnot. I've also used the auto network service to get vehicles like minivans for group outings, which is cheaper than renting a minivan because the cost didn't differ between vehicles. (Although Zipcar isn't a co-op, maybe they have different rates for vans?)