An experience in car-sharing: Things break.

Back in my college days, we always made sure to keep on hand a good friend with a pick-up truck. For the various moves we all suffered or to pick up that crazy cool cast-off that we'd find put out on the street. The friend with the pick-up truck generally understood that s/he was providing access to a valuable community asset and graciously allowed many (many) people to use the truck. Woe to those without such a  friend, for how would you get your new Ikea purchase home??

Today, the balance of power has shifted. Today we don't have to strategically cultivate friendships because now we have Zipcar. And Zipcar has pick-up trucks!

I needed a truck this past Monday to pick up a play set (a free, found, diverted from waste steam playset!) from a friend in the 'burbs. So I popped onto Zipcar (which has merged with Flexcar) and reserved Timmy, the Toyota Tacoma pick-up at RI Avenue Metro.

Braving Monday's torrential downpours, I went to get the truck.  Please note: It is not easy to find the cars at this particular pick-up site. If you are not familiar with the shopping center on RI Ave the Safeway and National Wholesale Liquidators up on the hill behind the church, you will probably never locate your car. This location is a hike from the metro exit, out of sight, and across a substantial amount of pavement and hillside in all directions.  I can't see that it has any safety benefits, so I have to assume the cars are here because it is cheap? I wimped out and had my husband drive me to get the truck instead of taking metro.

The truck looked fine. I noted that the gas card was present, that I had 3/4 tank of gas, and took off. We had no issues (aside from rain) when loading up the truck, everything fit neatly, and the task was done with an hour to spare. I washed up and hoped back in the truck to return it, feeling smug and satisfied, and when I closed the door...

...the back window fell in. Little crumbles of tinted glass all over the interior.

Oh. Dear. (That is not quite what I said at the time.)

So here is what I have learned about when damage to a Zipcar happens on your watch:

• You will immediately regret that you skipped doing a complete walk-around when you picked up the car. All of a sudden, I was aware of the substantial dent on the passenger side that I'd ignored because I was in a hurry. If someone else had not called that in, it would have been considered part of my damage. So, word to the wise, DON'T SKIP the damage report when you pick up your car!
• The guy on the other end of the 800 number will be kind and professional but doesn't really care that you didn't do anything to make the window break. No one but me knows what I moved or how carefully I packed it, so there is no way to claim I did not break the window. The window is still broken and the truck is still out-of-service.
• Your 'free' playset could now cost up to $500 of the deductible depending on the cost of the repair. In this case, I expect it to be less than $150 but it is still an unwelcome cost.

I'm not unhappy with their policy, which seems pretty sound. I'm more bummed at my bad luck, since it seems there was no reason to suspect the window would crumble. And the playset is still a good deal, just not as 'free' as we'd hoped.  All in all, I'm just a bit wiser about the responsibility of car-sharing.