<p>My son is starting his sophomore year at UR this fall so he is eligible to have a car on campus. I am looking for advice about bringing his own car vs. using the UR Zipcars. The UR parking permit for students is around $400/year I think. Zipcars cost $7/hr or $66/day. It looks like there are 4 Zipcars on campus. Are they heavily booked up/hard to reserve? Any advice from experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.</p>
<p>D2 signed up for Zipcar on campus. She has never had a problem getting a car when she wanted on–but she does tend to sign up 3 days in advance. Might be more an issue if you need to use the car on short notice.</p>
<p>Her only gripe about Zipcar is that the cars all have a conspicuous logo on the side of the car that makes a bit embarrassing for her when driving around town. </p>
<p>Zipcar has proven convenient. D2 is at another university all the way across the US this summer for an internships and she can use Zipcar there too. No hassles!</p>
<p>I do have Zipcar and have used it since last year. It’s definitely convenient and I love the mobility that it provides. However, during the year, the competition for the cars is intense. Many times I have to book at least two days in advance to get a great spot. I have also noticed that because I leave the campus a lot, I have been spending a lot for the zipcars and I always have to plan my trips to be very short so as to not pay too much.</p>
<p>If your son plans to leave campus alot, I think that between the added flexibility of having your own car and the cost of renting each time is much greater than the cost of parking permit. </p>
<p>Let him bring a car.</p>