Get Your Share of the Roosevelt Island ZipCars

As I was walking through the Octagon Parking lot adjacent to the tennis courts the other day, I noticed several parking spaces occupied by Zipcars. Do you know what Zipcar is and that there are three ZipCars available at the outdoor Octagon Parking Lot on Roosevelt Island? Well, Zipcar is a business that is trying to rework the car rental business by creating a members only, web based, car sharing service. As described by the Washington Post:

While rental cars are most often found in sprawling lots near airports, the car-sharing companies work with municipalities and private businesses to rent spaces where subscribers could pick up and deposit the cars. Unlike the major car-rental companies, Zipcar and Flexcar have no airport counters or other bricks-and-mortar retail locations. The cars are reserved online or over the phone. Gas, repairs, parking and insurance are handled by the car-sharing companies.

"We are trying to replace car ownership," said Scott Griffith, Zipcar's chief executive. "It's a business model that locates cars in neighborhoods and uses 24-hour technology to locate the car."

And from the Boston Globe:

Cars are sprinkled throughout city neighborhoods. And there's never any paperwork or standing in line required to borrow one: just wave a membership card over the windshield, and the doors pop open. Seconds later, you drive off in a Mini Cooper, Ford Escape, or BMW sedan. Gas and insurance are included in the hourly rate, which hovers around $10.
... Car sharing finally seems to be gaining speed. Initially, the idea of "members" paying an annual fee to rent cars on-demand was dismissed as a European concept that wouldn't appeal to Americans. But it's starting to seem like big business...

Anybody have any experience using Roosevelt Island Zipcars?

Blogger Sotirov via A VC has an interesting spin on the Zipcar business model:

How about transforming the car ownership into an investment type of thing.

Imagine people being able to lend their own cars for the times they are not using them. Or even making a small business out of owning a few cars. Everybody sets their own prices.

Think of Zipcar - but without the centralized ownership of the cars.