Car2Go reviews and info?

[kgdlg]

Hi All: I signed up for car2go when they expanded to West Seattle a while back. We are a one car family and I ride the bus 85% of time (the rest I use a work car or my partner and I occasionally carpool).

Does anyone have any feedback, reviews, tips, etc about driving the little cars and the car2go service in general? I figure I may use it a few times a month when I work late and can’t catch a bus quickly, although the rapid ride has made that easier. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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[Sue]

kgdlg, I had posted this a while back about an issue we had with them with our account, and if you scroll through the thread you’ll read what I posted from my husband’s experience: https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/car2go-issues-with-co-drivers

I had the opportunity to try a car out today with my 30 free minutes, and I would honestly be hard-pressed to drive one again. There was simply no power in the car, and there was a severe delay from when I hit the gas to when the car actually moved. Conversely, you had to slam on the brake pedal to get it to stop. I felt very unsafe in my short one mile drive. I was grateful it was on local streets and not the highway. (And yes, I did contact Car2Go via email to give them feedback and ask if this was normal, or if there’s a problem with this particular car, but have not heard back yet.) Also, being a large person with long legs, it was extremely difficult for me to get my legs under the steering wheel to get in/out of the car.

The keypad inside was helpful to let you know where the key was, where the ignition was (not immediately noticeable) and reminders about how to end the trip.

I’ve been watching the car locations for a while (before being in WS) and the thing that makes Car2Go appealing – one way rentals – is also its downfall. Without the ability to reserve the car more than 30 min. in advance, you can’t truly rely on a car being somewhere. So to make plans around using it is difficult. For instance, I dropped the car off right near my house, and within 20 min. someone else drove off with it. and I had originally hoped to grab one downtown to drive home, but not one was available anywhere in the downtown core – I would’ve had to take a bus to Belltown or near the stadiums (around 4:30).

I share a car with my husband (he bikes often – I cannot due to disability), and we both commute by bus too. We had hoped Car2Go would give us more freedom when both of us needed a car. But given the lack of power in the car and the inability to predict in advance where to get one, it would be hard to rely on it. Oh, and one other thing – I know the car has 3 cylinders so I don’t expect it to be a racecar, but I’ve driven a 3 cylinder car before, and this was significantly more sluggish.

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[mommym]

On a side note – how long are these cars able to park on residential streets? I live on Fauntleroy and we have no designated parking really. We buy permits to be able to park on the side street which also is extremely limited. Since Saturday there have been 2 of these cars parked. It has been very difficult with these cars parked for us to find parking. I’m sure this is a wonderful program but annoying that they are taking my parking spots :)

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[Sue]

I believe they can stay there until someone rents them, but if a car doesn’t move for a while, I think the Car2Go people can also go move them elsewhere. It doesn’t benefit them to have a car somewhere it isn’t needed since they don’t make $ off it. There have been 2 cars near 41st & Dawson that have been there since Saturday too, and while it doesn’t affect my parking, I’ve been curious how long they’ll be alowed to sit.

Editing: I just looked at the current map and the 2 cars I mentioned above are gone now, so either someone finally rented them, or they moved them.

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[Sue]

Just an update to my post #2 above, Car2Go did get back to me today re: my email about the sluggish car. They said they sometimes hesitate when shifting gears, but it sounded as if this might be more of an issue with the car rather than normal. They’re going to check it out. I’ll give it another try (with a different car) and see what happens.

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