Renting a Car in Zipcar

Zipcar was an answer for customers who want to rent a car for a few hours in their home city, rather

than for a few days from a traditional rental agency. Car reservations were for a specific pick-up

time and location around the city, often in neighborhoods so the customers need only to walk to

pick up their reserved car. Customers applied for a Zipcard, which enabled them to reserve a car

online and unlock their car when they arrive at the car’s location.

The company operated with a very small staff compared to traditional rental agencies. Very

little human interaction was required between the customer and Zipcar for a transaction. A

customer reserved a car online, entered into the reserved car by waving the RFID-enabled

Zipcard against the card reader mounted behind the windshield on the driver side, returned the

car to the same location, and was billed on the credit card already on file. The customer could

check all rental records and print receipts from the online reservation system. The system also had

a color-coded time chart showing availability and location of all rental cars in the vicinity. This

transparent information exchange allows a customer to pick the car he or she wants, if available, or

delay the reservation until the car was returned by another customer. Zipcar also created and

installed a GPS-enabled wireless device in each car, which allowed members to find and reserve a

nearest