Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Executive Summary Zipcar is a self-service car company that was founded in 1999. It has operations in the New York City metro area, Boston and Washington, D.C. The company boasts more than 10,000 members and 250 cars. The company represents a great opportunity and fills a real need between rental car service and taxi service. Zipcar’s target market is focused on dense urban residential areas, where millions of people that do not own a car, as they are put off by congested, accident-prone infrastructure, sky-high parking fees, vandalism, high maintenance costs, and other nuisances. On top of that, the average urban car sits parked 20 to 23 hours a day; many are idle from weekend to weekend. Zipcar is a new commercial car-sharing venture that provides convenient on demand means of transportation. Case Analysis Founded in late 1999, Zipcar’s vision and business model have little changed. “Our Vision Providing reliable and convenient access to on-demand transportation, complementing other means of mobility.” (Source: Zipcar.com) Zipcar manages a fleet of cars, at the disposal of its members any time for as brief as one hour. The basis for its business model is a car-sharing model where Zipca