I did, indeed, receive an email from Zipcar today announcing their plan to close in the UK.

[andypiper@macaw.social]

I did, indeed, receive an email from Zipcar today announcing their plan to close in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/01/zipcar-worlds-biggest-car-sharing-company-to-close-uk-operation

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@andypiper Aww, that sucks. Are there domestic alternatives?

[andypiper@macaw.social]

@evan not so much! Car clubs are not very active here. Interesting stats in the Guardian article about lack of options and volume in the UK market.

It (largely) no longer affects me, as an EV owner; but, I went ~7 years living in London purely with public transport and Zipcar. I did still use the service when I needed a van for small errands; useful!

Definitely disappointing news.

[elduvelle@neuromatch.social]

@andypiper @evan

There are alternatives in the UK! I use Co-wheels regularly in Glasgow (https://www.co-wheels.org.uk), it's in several other UK cities too. Just checked: unfortunately they are not in London (see screenshot below) but maybe they'll take over from Zipcar? It's really convenient and they mostly have either electric or hybrids. Thanks to them I don't have to own a car :)

(it is too bad that Zipcar is closing though, I wonder why?)
#CoWheels #Zipcar #CarSharing

[andypiper@macaw.social]

@elduvelle @evan there is interesting speculation in the Guardian article I shared, related to congestion charging, etc etc. Who knows what drove the real decision here. Mind you, the numbers on car club vehicle density per head compared to European countries are pretty sad. I always found Zipcar convenient when there was one parked nearby, not so much if I had to walk 30 minutes to get to one.

[elduvelle@neuromatch.social]

@andypiper @evan
Unfortunately The Guardian asks to make an account for access now, and I don't have that. But I found a similar article somewhere else and yeah it seems that it's related to economic reasons. I hope Co-wheels comes your way! They seem to care about environmental impact and they have a great customer service!

[andypiper@macaw.social]

@elduvelle @evan oh, weird. I don't have a Guardian account, although I guess I may have said yes to a cookie.