I've been thinking about leaving the toad at home and trying the Zipcar car sharing service. I'm just wondering if other's have tried this, and if there are enough Zip cars out threw yet. Has anyone else noticed Zipcars on their trips or has anyone else used their car sharing service? Perhaps park owners should try to get Zipcar to put cars at RV Parks!
Hi, The concept is nice--but at over $7 per hour or $73 per day a regular car rental would seem to make more sense. I do know of one KOA near Mount Rushmore that has rental cars available.
QUOTE(rvingwithkids @ Sep 10 2012, 12:14 PM) [snapback]31061[/snapback] I've been thinking about leaving the toad at home and trying the Zipcar car sharing service. I'm just wondering if other's have tried this, and if there are enough Zip cars out threw yet. Has anyone else noticed Zipcars on their trips or has anyone else used their car sharing service? Perhaps park owners should try to get Zipcar to put cars at RV Parks! I am not sure I would do that.As I see a lot of things wrong with it like the insurance and car is in your name.Some camper get`s drunk wrecks your car and kills or hurts someone bad.You are responsible for who is driving your car.You can be sued as you gave the permision to drive it. Someone that knows law tell me if I am wrong.
I travel without a tow car. I often use Enterprise Rental Car because they will deliver the car to you. I spent all last winter in Atlanta, GA, which does have the Zip Car. I considered using Zip Car, but the "start up" costs are a bit high. Something like $50 or $70 or something to just "join." The daily rate was less then Enterprise, but the joining costs, and other fees made it financially better to just rent a car from Enterprise. Besides, at the time, Enterprise was offering some great "winter specials" that made it more lucrative than Zip Car. Oh, even though it's called a "car sharing" service, you aren't really using someone "else's" car. The cars, to my knowledge, are owned or leased by Zip Car. It's just that Zip Car allows an hourly rate, or small trip rate, or something that the rental car companies don't allow. Also, Zip Car is only found in MAJOR MAJOR cities, not the lesser cities. If you lived in, oh, Seattle, New York, or Los Angeles, Zip Car would be cheaper than owning a car! In Atlanta, between using MARTA and Zip Car, you could get to a Zip Car if you lived in the metropolitan area and not outside the perimeter. Check out my blog for ideas on how to get around when you don't have a tow car. QUOTE(rvingwithkids @ Sep 10 2012, 10:14 AM) [snapback]31061[/snapback] Perhaps park owners should try to get Zipcar to put cars at RV Parks! I like this idea. Zip Car locating cars at RV parks would be more ideal than having one leased from a rental car company. You would still have to join Zip Car and reserve it through Zip Car. But the down side is the RV park would want to make a small profit on it, just like RV parks that sell propane at prices higher than the gas station down the road. But, it might be a good idea.
We take the tow everyplace we travel to with our motorhome. As we travel by air, ship, and Amtrak trains inside the USA we use Enterprise Rental Car services. So far great service and cars. Cost less to use Enterprise one way service from Tampa to travel down to Fort Lauderdale than fly down. Turn the car in and Enterprise will take you to the ship that is across the road. In Seattle Enterprise took wife and I to train station and did a pick up service at Ferry boat. What a nice way to travel.
I like the ZipCar concept. There have been quite a few unhappy posts lately about the DC ZipCar franchise. Don't know if the same is true everywhere though. http://www.yelp.com/biz/zipcar-washington-3
I've been looking at their coverage, and it looks like so far Zipcar has big cities and then lots of smaller cities and towns with colleges covered. It looks like you could probably go tailgating and use Zipcar to get around.
Have you tried Uber, we used Uber before we got a toad. When using them we did not have any problems and it was very economical and you want have a parking problem.
I think the issue is where do you like to take your RV? Uber works fine in many cities, but I doubt you're going to find an Uber to take you around Yellowstone! Although we "pass through" cities with our MH, we rarely have a city as a major destination.
Nor do I think any rental company would appreciate you taking theirs on a tour through the desert or rougher terrain. Darrell
I noticed that this thread got started roughly 5-1/2 years ago and has been brought back to life. When we first started RVing we looked at buying a small vehicle to tow but I decided to put a pencil to the costs of doing so versus simply using a rental car when we reached our final destination. Our travels consist mostly of spending several nights on the road staying at parks chosen on the route we are taking and not once have we really had need for a vehicle then. When we arrive at our destination we have been fortunate over the years to have an Enterprise Rental facility within close proximity to where we will be spending a week or more. They have on all but one occasion come right to our space in the park, picked us up and taken us to their facility where we got the car and went on from there to use it for the amount of days we wanted. We return it either the day we are leaving or in the afternoon of the day prior and they take us back to the RV park. Purchasing a vehicle, licensing and insuring it, along with having the necessary towing components installed, and with the wear and tear of towing and using it, etc., were far more costly than renting for just the days we actually need a car to drive around and explore the area. This has worked out really well for us. Everyone's needs and requirements when RVing are different and towing one's own vehicle works out for many as we see a lot of motorhomes on the road with toads. A lot more with than without by the way. The cost savings for us has decidedly been in favor of just renting a vehicle, using it, turning it in, and moving on. Another positive for us is not having to be constantly aware or concerned about what's being towed behind you every time you turn a corner, make a lane change, or need to back up when you find that you've gotten yourself into a tight spot to where you would have to unhook in order to get yourself out of. Of course I've never done that........... My 2 cents on this subject, BankShot..............(aka Terry)
Bankshot, I'm with you, and have never towed a vehicle in the last 20 years of RVing (and my parents never towed something behind their motorhome for 30 years before that). We usually drive the motorhome to our destination, and sometimes we stay near relatives and bum rides from them. It's is a gamble, since there is always the chance we break down and could use a seperate set of wheels, but I prefer the flexibility of not worrying about a towed vehicle when getting gas or parking for the night, and my wife, who is a worrier doesn't have to stress that our towed car will pass us on the highway sometime. Chris g.
I find it interesting that on the six RV forums I monitor/participate in, I don't recall ever seeing a post where someone went from towing a toad to no toad for any other reasons than downsizing to a small 'C', a 'B', or switching to a 5'ver/TT. The majority of the toad related posts are usually abut towing methods rather than whether to tow or not. I can understand weekenders/vacationers going "toadless", but for long timers and fulltimers, the benefits far outweigh the issues. The getting gas, parking, and cornering issues are typically brought up by folks that have never towed a toad, particularly 4-down towing. With just a fairly short learning curve, getting gas and parking are no longer significant issues for most of us, and cornering in most cases never was an issue, since the narrower toad typically stays within the coach wheel tracks anyway. In fact, the longer the coach rear overhang, the farther out from the curb the toad runs when cornering. All in all, the 2 or 3 times our toad has caused us any issue at all in over 50,000 towing miles has been more than made up by the convenience of having it available whenever we need it, particularly for health issues or chasing repair parts for the coach.
Please, don't let this hijack this thread, but I was wondering why this discussion is not showing up on the "latest replies" links at the bottom of the page?
After reading what NYDutch said I understand completely what he's saying. I meant to mention the fact that towing a toad does make a lot more sense for full timers and that for part timers like us and others it really becomes a matter of convenience and necessity in many cases. Emergencies do happen and having a tow vehicle along is of course a smart idea but we just decided to "give it a go" without a toad and do the rental thing and so far it's been working fine for us. We are usually near enough to either Enterprise or a choice of several other rental car agencies when we do drop the anchor for the night, so if we do decide to stay over an extra day or two I just give them a call and grab a vehicle to use to suit the situation. I think each individual Class A owner needs to judge and decide which is best for them. "To tow or not tow, that is definitely the question"........ BankShot................(aka Terry)
Prior to post #8 when this thread was revived, the date of the posts are back in 2012. This could have something to do with it, but I'm not sure.
