Which DC Car-Sharing Company is the Best Deal?

Car2go has become the second company this year to challenge Zipcar locally. Zipcar has been top dog since its 2007 merger with Flexcar, but its stock has trended downward after its IPO last year. Here’s a look at what sets the car-sharing companies apart.

	Zipcar	Hertz on Demand	Car2go
Membership fee	$25 application fee plus a $60 annual fee for occasional drivers	None	One-time $35 start-up fee
Rates	$8 per hour; $74 per day for occasional drivers	Starts at $6.50 per hour, $76 per day	38 cents per minute, $13.99 per hour, $72.99 per day
Insurance deductible	$750 (you can buy a waiver for an extra $8 per month)	$250	$1,000
Number of cars in area	823	100	200
Where the cars are	350 locations in 47 DC, Maryland, and Virginia neighborhoods	30 area locations, including on-street parking spots, parking garages, and Hertz facilities	Any legal street parking spots in the “home” area, which covers most of DC
Best car to impress a date	BMW 328xi	Mercedes C300	Smart Fortwo
US membership	500,000	90,000	27,000
Best driver perk	Surprises waiting in the car such as granola, Valentine’s candy, or tickets to a comedy show	The luxury cars aren’t branded with the Hertz logo, so you can pretend it’s your Mercedes for the day	The company has an agreement with DC so you can park free in most of the city

This article appears in the June 2012 issue of The Washingtonian.

Ali Eaves