Car Sharing Networks (like Zip, autoshare) - worth it?

Question

I'm a single mom in Vancouver BC, have a toddler son, and cannot afford to buy a car at this point. While I'd love to have one for commuting, for now I need one for occasional half-day trips (doctor, groceries, Ikea, that sort of thing), and occasional weekends.

Are care share network/co-ops worth it? Anyone with experience?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I think auto share/zip car is a bit of a rip off.  It's $9.95 an hour, so if you use it for 3-4 hours, you may as well rent a car from an agency and keep it for 24 hrs for the same price. The other downside is limited avalability around holidays, despite paying an annual membership fee- there are no guarantees you will get a car when you need one.    

I rent often and find that expedia.ca is the best way search  because you just enter the dates/times and it searches all the rental agencies, which saves you having to go to each website and check rates, etc.