The latest news in the local car-sharing area of Vancouver is that Zipcar is leaving Vancouver and BC, following in the wake of Car2Go who left earlier in 2020. As of 01 May 2020 Zipcar ended its services in the city and province. Sad faces all round… well, kind of. Zipcar was never the best choice for car-sharing services in Vancouver itself, and it was thinly distributed across BC. It’s sad to see market choice reduce but it’s not a big loss in terms of the actual service offered.
Surprisingly, we didn’t receive any email updates on the matter, and the Zipcar blog is quiet on the topic. But the local press were quick to release the update last week. According to reports Zipcar cited the insurance structure in BC as being a significant part of the reasons for its departure. That and the generally complexities of operating in BC, though details haven’t really been elaborated on by Zipcar. Vancouver was previously seen as a haven for car-sharing, so we can only guess that recent changes such as the arrival of ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have resulted in a more hostile local market.
Although Zipcar were never of first recommendation for car-sharing in Vancouver, they were a welcome addition to the local car-sharing landscape. We consider Zipcar were best for car-sharing outside of Vancouver, as you could use their membership across different towns and cities. We’ve used them in New Hampshire, Vermont, and once in Vancouver. But their pricing, range of vehicles, and availability was not as good as other options in Vancouver. Zipcar memberships are still valid in other parts of America. So you can still use your membership as before but just not in Vancouver.
Good luck Zipcar, they were an early entrant to the car-sharing game, but so long in Vancouver!
Check out the remaining options for car sharing in Vancouver here.
If you were a Zipcar user who is now planning on checking out other car-sharing services, Modo is the closest replacement for Zipcar. Modo has a special $50 promo code ZIP2MODO for any Zipcar users to try Modo. Get to Modo here.