The rent-by-the-hour car company Zipcar has been bought by car rental giant Avis for nearly $500 million, in a move that has Zipcar members wondering what will happen to the car service they've come to depend on.
Zipcar offers inexpensive annual memberships that allow short-term car rentals of vehicles parked all over urban areas in the United States.
City dwellers without access to a car can rent one already parked nearby for a fraction of the cost of round-trip cab fare. Gas and insurance are included, and rentals can be for as short as an hour or as long as several days. Prices run between $7 and $15 per hour, depending on the city and the sweetness of the ride.
Zipcar has prided itself on its quirky ad campaigns and has pushed its 760,000 members to form a sense of community around their shared interest.
After news of the buyout, Zipcar shares jumped 50 percent.
"We believe that you'll see more Zipcars in more locations (especially during times of peak demand!); that you'll see new service offerings that make Zipcar more flexible and fun for you; and that you'll continue to experience the most advanced and sophisticated technology to keep you zipping along your merry way," said Zipcar chairman and CEO Scott Griffith, in an email to Zipcar members.
"Some things won't change at all -- from the Zipcar team in your local office to the great brand, to our relentless enthusiasm for making the user experience the best it can be," he added.
Founded in 2000, Zipcar was the first successful company to pioneer the sharing model that has become so common lately. Consumers are happy to rent an apartment or just a single bedroom overseas through AirBnB, or rent their music from Spotify rather than own a library of mp3s, or pay for a Netflix subscription instead of buying DVDs.
Whether the corporate hand of Avis will allow Zipcar to stay independent and innovative remains to be seen.
More by I-Hsien Sherwood