You don’t realise how good something is until it’s gone. When Zipcar announced its UK exit in December, I thought finding an alternative would be straightforward. Traditional car hire companies have been around for decades. How hard could it be?
Much harder than I thought. After nearly four years living car-free, my first experience with SIXT at Putney Exchange revealed exactly what we’ve lost and why 80% of displaced Zipcar members will end up buying cars instead.
We didn’t know how good we had it
London’s public transport is genuinely excellent for most journeys. But life doesn’t fit neatly into timetables. Getting to awkward parts of south London. Visiting friends in other parts of the country. Emergency pickups. Realising on Sunday morning you’ve forgotten a commitment across town. Evening events when no taxis are available.
Zipcar handled all of it. Not just cars either – vans for tip runs and house moves. Small city cars for quick London trips. Comfortable estates for weekend breaks to Wales. The vehicle suited the job.
But the real value was emergencies. Child ill at school? Book a Flex car, pick them up in 10 minutes. Playground injury? Car round the corner. Running late and the bus isn’t for 15 minutes? Zipcar saved the day.
It enabled my family to have vehicles without owning one. Book through the app, walk to one nearby, drive off. Petrol included. No desk, no opening hours, always there when needed.
Then came the return to the old system.
Going back is painful
I needed a car for a 9am meeting in Oxford. The SIXT desk at Putney Exchange opens at 8am. Not enough time. So I had to hire it the day before, paying for hours I didn’t need, then park it overnight on my street hoping the traffic warden wouldn’t appear in the final hour of permit-only parking.
The next morning, despite having booked online and uploaded my licence, the desk process took 20 minutes. Show the licence again. Watch details get typed in. Approve things on a screen. Sign digitally. Hand over my card for a £300 deposit. Discuss insurance options Zipcar never required. Take physical keys.
Then navigate Putney Exchange car park to find the SIXT bays on the roof. It’s surprisingly large and the car hire bays are tucked over to the right. Then discover at the barrier that it doesn’t lift automatically. Press the help button, wait for security guard to manually raise it. Queue of frustrated drivers behind me.
The return process was slightly better. But remember to refuel first or pay five times the going rate. That’s another £15 (with Zipcar, you didn’t have to fill up all the way, or pay for your petrol – it was part of the price). Drive to Exchange, park, find desk, drop keys. Three emails with attachments – invoices, contracts – before I left; three emails the day after. No easy way to extend the time if my plans changed.
Total time: half an hour to collect, 20 minutes to return. Three to four times longer than Zipcar’s five-minute process. Total cost: nearly double once you factor in the forced overnight hire, insurance, and petrol.
The bike question
Before anyone suggests it: yes, I have a bike. Yes, I like cycling. No, I’m not cycling to Oxford for a 9am meeting. I’m not doing the weekly shop by bike. I’m not cycling in February rain. I’m not putting kids in a cargo bike. And I’m not turning up at friends’ houses tired and sweaty.
Bikes are brilliant for some journeys. They’re not a substitute for everything a car does.
Why traditional hire hasn’t caught up
The car hire industry operates exactly as it did 20 years ago. That makes sense at airports where you’re a one-time customer. It makes no sense for local residents who would be repeat customers if the process wasn’t so painful.
SIXT isn’t unusual. This is standard across the sector. They’ve never faced pressure to modernise for regular local users. Zipcar did that. Now Zipcar is gone and nothing has replaced it.
Wandsworth Council admits replacing Zipcar is “unlikely”, with 122 of 133 car club bays now vacant. Each car club vehicle replaced around 31 private cars in London. Zipcar had 550,000 members making 175,000 trips annually in Wandsworth alone.
A CoMoUK survey found up to 80% of displaced members will buy cars instead. After one experience with traditional hire, I understand why.
So I’ll likely buy a car, use it rarely, take up another parking space on Putney’s tight streets, and pay for insurance, tax and MOT on a vehicle that sits idle most of the time.
It’s exactly what transport policy was designed to prevent.
