man using the zipcar app to book cars

How Zipcar Works

Find, book and unlock your Zipcar all using the app. Book Roundtrip cars and vans up to a year in advance, perfect for longer trips. Or just reserve a one-way Flex car when you’re ready to go – we’ll hold the car for 15 minutes.

There's two ways to drive: Flex or Roundtrip

Join online and you'll get access to thousands of our cars and vans throughout London. How you use them is up to you – we have two options to choose from.

Roundtrip and Flex

Flex - our one-way service. Just look for the blue pin in the app, reserve and drive then just drop in our Zipzone across London. Perfect for spontaneous one-way trips around the city, starting from 32p per minute.

Roundtrip - pick your car up from its dedicated bay – you’ll find them all over London. Use the app to find any green pin near you, book and drive by the hour or day - starting from £6 per hour or from £60 per day. Park in the same bay you picked your Zipcar up from.

Becoming a Zipcar member

Valid driver’s licence? Over 25? Just pick a plan and join online. International drivers can apply too. Run a business? Check out Zipcar for Business

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Pick a plan

You’ve got a choice of 3 plans: Basic has no monthly fee, Smart is £6/month and Plus is £15/month. Just pick whichever suits how often you need wheels.

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A few checks

To keep our Zipcar community safe, we check your driving record and verify your identity. This normally takes as little as 2 hours, but in some cases can take a couple of days.

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Hit the road

Once you’re approved, you can start searching for cars and book straight away with the Zipcar app.

What you will need:

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  • A clear selfie holding a valid driver’s licence
  • Valid debit or credit card

International driver?

Behind the scenes at Zipcar

Find out how our team keeps Zipcar moving, from electric vehicle charging to car re-location!

Find out more

Our Community Rules

Before you hit the road, read our community rules of car-sharing.

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Return it right

Return a Roundtrip on time, or you can extend your booking. Drop a Flex in our Zipzone.

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Keep it clean

Clean up, don’t smoke and take everything with you. Don’t forget to recycle your rubbish!

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Fill ‘er up

If fuel is below ¼ tank at the end of your trip, fill up before you return to it’s bay. Fuel's on us!

Frequently asked questions

Get to know more about Zipcar

We've put together a list of useful topics to help you understand more about how Zipcar works, whether it's more info on pricing or how to unlock the cars we have it covered below.