<p>We signed up my D for the zipcar and used the 2012PARENTS promo code for the $40 credit. Just an FYI… most of the credit will expire 30 days after activating the account. If that was in the fine print, we missed it. We activated her account today and the credit will expire Sept 6. If we’d realized that, we would have waited to activate her account. Just passing this along for anyone else who is thinking of signing up. </p>
<p>[UA</a> | University of Alabama | UA Zipcar: Wheels When You Want Them | University Parent Media](<a href=“http://www.universityparent.com/alabama/2012/07/27/ua-zipcar-wheels-when-you-want-them]UA”>http://www.universityparent.com/alabama/2012/07/27/ua-zipcar-wheels-when-you-want-them)</p>
<p>[Car</a> Sharing, an alternative to car rental and car ownership – Zipcar](<a href=“http://www.zipcar.com%5DCar”>http://www.zipcar.com)</p>
<p>We’ve already emailed and asked but may follow up with a call tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.</p>
<p>“We’ve already emailed and asked but may follow up with a call tomorrow. Thanks for the suggestion.”
What was the suggestion?</p>
<p>After receiving an email and being promised the $40 driving credit with that code (parents2012) my child signed up. But even with the code only got $5 driving credit.
I called their “contact us” number 866-494-7227 and pushed 3 (learn more) then 2 (speak to a rep) and inquired about the discrepency.</p>
<p>Was told by the rep that the parents2012 code was good for $5 driving credit. I read them the text of the email I had received. They are supposed to be researching it and getting back to me.</p>
<p>One of the links in the email took us to a page that said "Join for $25 and get $35 driving credit. No code mentioned on that page.</p>
<p>Had I known that the credit (if we get it) would only last 30 days I would have waited until child was actually at school.</p>
<p>Not a good start with Zipcars.</p>
<p>One word of caution with Zipcar - check to see how your personal auto insurance will cover you son or daughter while driving a Zipcar. The insurance Zipcar carries for drivers under age 21 is equal to the state minimum - for Alabama, that’s 25/50/25 - not nearly enough insurance for a serious accident.</p>
<p>Twiceblessed, there was a post there that has now disappeared. Odd. At any rate, the poster suggested a call. I had previously called for the same reason you did. It wasn’t until we activated D’s card that they actually charged my credit card and then the $40 credit showed up. I haven’t had time to call about the 30 days and as far as I know they have not replied to my email. I need to check with my D on that. </p>
<p>PinotNoir, good point. I will check with my insurance. I know she is covered if she drives a friend’s car at the same level as our policy. I will check on the zipcar. Also need to make sure they change her to “away at school” status. As a side note to that, when I called for quotes on her going to school without her car, the price did not drop much at all. Found out later (on another call a month after) that they were pricing it by removing her car and then letting their system automatically assign her to the most expensive car in the household. Changing that was very helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks lattelady.</p>
<p>I see in your OP that 30 days till expire will start from activation of card. Will wait until child is on campus or anticipates need of zipcar before activating their card.</p>
<p>Also, there has been no overt mention of the $50 annual fee in the promo materials or the signup procedure (it showed we would owe only $25) but the $50 annual fee is mentioned elsewhere on the zipcar webpage. Did you get charged a $50 annual fee?</p>
<p>No, I was charged $25.</p>
<p>BTW, welcome to the forum! Where are you from?</p>
<p>FYI, when our son started using the Zipcar service in the spring there were two cars located on campus, but that was reduced to just one this summer. I don’t know if they will add a second car again with the start of the fall semester, but I hope they do.</p>
<p>OK, got this straightened out.
Signed up through university sponsored website (where it said get a $35 driving credit without mention of code) and with code “Parents2012” it showed a $5 driving credit.
Just spoke with them and the $5 was in addition to the $35 making a total of $40 driving credit. </p>
<p>Credit expires 30 days after activation of account but was told that if student didn’t use the credit within 30 days they would probably extend it once for another 30 days if you call them.</p>
<p>The $50 annual fee will not be applied. Don’t know if students are exempt from that evey year.</p>