Zipcar

 Good morning, all.  I had such a fun experience yesterday using Zipcar for the first time.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Zipcar, it's a way to share cars instead of having to rent them or drive your own car (kind of like Hubway is for bike sharing).  Zipcars are parked right across the street from the courthouse, so once I was added to my organization's account, all I had to do was reserve the car for the time period I wanted, and I was all set.  Since I don't drive in to work, it's a much better way for me to get around to the schools.


I reserved the Cooper Mini pictured here (I loved the new car smell!), and it was SO fun to drive, once I figured out how to turn the car on.  There's a sensor in the car window, so you scan your zipcard, and the doors unlock. That's also how you lock the car.  There is a key fob in the car that you insert into the fob outlet to turn the car on, press start, the engine comes on, and you're off.  What's really cool is that there's a gas card left in the car so the cost of gas is already included in the membership.  There's also a parking card left in the car, too, so you just scan in and out of the lot where the car is stored.

The car is already configured to connect to your smartphone, so I was pumping my own music through the iPod in my iPhone on my way back to the office.  I couldn't figure out how to open the windows, and I was running late after taking so long to figure out how to turn the car on, so I had to open the car doors to scan in and out of the lot.  Once I parked, I read the manual, and below you'll see why I was confused.  All the controls for locking/unlocking the car doors and opening/closing the windows are below the radio.  I'm all set now, and I plan to reserve this same car as often as possible, because it's so cute, and I put so much work into figuring it out!  If you have a chance to use Zipcar, I highly recommend it.