Zipcar auto-sharing partners with Ford for a greener world

Zipcar is planning on changing the ability of the young and the young-at-heart to afford cars in today’s economy. With the support of the Ford Motor Company, Zipcar is bringing the idea of auto-sharing to not only college campuses and private homes, but to small businesses as well.

For those of you who have never heard of Zipcar, here is how this concept of a car sharing service works.

A customer, in only a few moments, applies for a Zipcard. He or she then waits to become approved and in no time at all, gets his or her very own Zipcard. The Zipcar customer reserves one of Zipcar’s vehicles and has the choice to use it for a couple of hours or the entire day. One can reserve the car either online or over the phone. The customer then gets to the car and holds the Zipcard to the windshield, which unlocks the door to the car. Finally, the customer can drive the car, keeping it as long as they want for that day, and when done, he or she returns the car to the same spot where they initially picked it up.

Yes, to drive a Zipcar, it really is that simple and hassle-free. Insurance and gas are included in the deal as well and Zipcar also offers other great benefits as well.

Zipcar is environmentally friendly. The company makes it possible to have fewer cars on the road and helps in saving millions of gallons of crude oil per year. For example, after joining the car sharing service, approximately 90% of members only drove 5,500 miles or less in one year. That adds up to over 32 million gallons of crude oil saved.

With the expectation of 10% of the population adopting car-sharing as their primary mode of transportation, billions of gallons of gas and oil will be saved per year. For every 1 Zipcar rented, 15 personally owned cars are taken off the road. With Zipcar’s 8,000 cars in their fleet, that can come to a very big number!

Many believed that Zipcar may hurt the car selling business initially; however, with the idea that Zipcar customers can test-drive the cars and potentially become a future customer. This is something that Ford Motor Cars believes in and that is the reason they plan to partner with Zipcar and supply approximately 1,000 Ford Escape sport utility vehicles and Ford Focus sedans to different Zipcar locations throughout the country.

The partnership between Zipcar and Ford is set to start on Thursday and last for at least two years. It plans to be very helpful to college students who may not be able to afford to buy their own cars. Now students will not have to worry about car payments, but can just rent a car when needed. Students can also check out different discounts and deals that the car sharing service is offering.

Zipcar is a revolutionary idea that can save money, hassle and the environment.