Isn’t the stereotypical use case for zip car to take it on a weekend trip out of town where public transit doesn’t go? National parks are very popular recreational attractions.

Not to mention, there are plenty of places in cities without cell service, like parking garages.

Or recently Telus, one of the big 3 Canadian COM companies, went down for a whole day. Imagine cars stopping to work because of that.

Don't you mean Rogers?

see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32026637

Yes. Thank you.

Maybe it's pivoted since I used it but I always thought they where for people who needed cars for a couple of hours. Not weekend trips. Real car rental companies were far cheaper for that use case.

Many traditional rental car companies won't rent to college aged customers, or will add large daily markups. For a significant market segment Zipcar-esque companies are the best, or only, option.

Not sure about pricing, but I had friends who lived in downtown DC and they'd use Zip for overnight trips to visit in the suburbs. I imagine it was easier to stick with a service they already used (and had cars locally) than schedule a rental with pick-up/drop-off. But for longer trips, they used normal rentals.

Or the ferries (where a number of cars have gotten stuck I think).

If they aren't going to design for taking the car out of range of cellular, then they should geofence the thing.

Of course it can't just turn off when it hits the fence, but a notification would be a pretty good idea.

If the car was designed to stay in the city, they need to stop saying things like:

"Select your Zipcar, pack your tent and pick your spot, from national parks with campsites to choice spots listed on USACampgrounds.info." [1]

Besides, even driving on the freeway between two cities, you can often find dead spots. Imagine pulling into a rest area in the middle of nowhere for a bio-break, only to find yourself stranded.

[1] https://www.zipcar.com/ziptopia/best-vacations-for-solo-trav...

Alright, you got me. :D I still think I'm probably right about the implicit assumptions in the product design, but that does mean their advertising is misleading at best.

The Blue Ridge Parkway in the mid-Atantic has massive stretches of cellular dead zones. The entire road is a popular destination, and many at the most popular destinations for views and hikes are dead zones.

Peaks of Otter comes to mind as a fantastic day-trip or weekend destination from DC. Despite being a very popular spot for day hikes, and having a lodge, it does not have cellular service. Nobody would think their rental car would be inaccessible at a popular resort area.

The default state for the consumer is: “it’s a car, it doesn’t require cell service”

If zipcar put a huge banner prior to checkout saying that you will not be able to access the car if you don’t have cell service, I bet a lot of people would think twice, which is why they don’t, which is what makes it shitty