History
Zipcar was co-founded by Antje Danielson and Robin Chase based on German and Swiss company precedents in January 2000. In June 2000, the first Zipcars hit the road around Boston, Massachusetts. In January 2001, Danielson was fired after Chase petitioned Zipcar's board for the ability to make hiring and firing decisions without consulting them.[13]
In September 2001, the Washington, D.C. office opened, with the branch in New York City following in February 2002. In February 2003, after difficulties in securing additional rounds of funding, the Zipcar board replaced Robin Chase as CEO with Scott Griffith.[13] In July 2005, Zipcar secured $10 million in funding led by Benchmark Capital. In August 2005, San Francisco office opened. In May 2006, the Toronto office opened. In May 2006, General Electric's Commercial Finance Fleet Services gave Zipcar $20 million in lease line financing. In September 2006, the Toronto market was named the fastest growing new market in company history.
In November 2006, the London office opened. In April 2007, the Vancouver office opened. In October 2007, Zipcar and Flexcar executives announced a merger of the two companies, with the Zipcar brand and headquarters replacing that of Flexcar.[14]
On 23 January 2008, the merged Zipcar/Flexcar canceled service for the Southern California cities of Los Angeles and San Diego without providing advance notice to customers in those areas, although Southern California college operations were left intact.[15] On July 11, 2008, Zipcar announced it doubled membership in past year, including the Flexcar members it acquired, and now had 225,000 members.[16] On August 28, 2008, Rice University announced its introduction into the program in their goal of achieving the lowest possible carbon footprint while providing additional transportation options for employees that carpool.[17] In June 2009, the company announced an iPhone application at the Apple World Wide Developer Conference; the application is capable of honking the horn and unlocking some Zipcars.[18]
Following impressive third-quarter results, previous CEO Scott Griffith announced that 2012 would mark Zipcar's "first full year of profitability on a US GAAP basis".[19] Scott Griffith stepped down on March 15, 2013, following Avis Budget Group's acquisition of Zipcar. Mark Norman remained as president until February 2014, when Avis Budget Group announced that Kaye Ceille was appointed president of Zipcar, and "Mark Norman would step down in order to pursue another career opportunity."[20] In July 2016, Kay Ceille stepped down as president of Zipcar to become the managing director of Avis Budget Group International, Australia.[21][22] On January 5, 2017, Zipcar announced that after a 6-month search they appointed Tracey Zhen as its new president. Zhen came over from TripAdvisor where she had been a vice president and general manager.[22][23] On September 27, 2020, Zipcar announced Angelo Adams as its new head of Zipcar.[24]
Zipcar saw a significant swing in demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a falloff in demand in March 2020 and a surge in May. Having taken cars off the road, the company had trouble keeping up with demand, causing a backlog at the customer service center.[25] Some customers arrived at the time of their reservation to find no car in the parking spot. Some customers reported being stranded without transportation and unable to reach customer service to complain or cancel their membership.[26] President Tracey Zhen apologized in June, saying the company was adding cars and customer service employees.[25] By that month, she reported membership applications in New York City 70% above June 2019. An anonymous employee told CNN that the problems were exacerbated by laying off more than 20% of its employees, and changing call centers.[26]
On 1 December 2025, Zipcar sent an email to its members announcing that it is proposing to cease its UK operations, with service suspended from the start of January 2026 pending the outcome of its employee redundancy consultation.[27]
