Zipcar

Snapshot

Avis Budget Group describes Zipcar as “the world’s leading car sharing network, with one million members,” operating across 25 cities and more than 300 campuses in Europe and North America. Members book online or in the app and unlock with a membership card; they can honk the horn from a phone if they cannot find the car.¹ Those member and campus figures come from the company’s brand page and may predate later network changes.

Zipcar UK ceased operations in early 2026 after a staff consultation. Zipcar’s UK FAQ, updated Feb. 11, 2026, said UK operations had ceased, new bookings were not being accepted, and the decision applied only to the United Kingdom — U.S. and other international markets remained open.² Business Travel News Europe reported the decision was finalized Jan. 16, 2026, and that Avis Budget said it was streamlining operations. The Independent reported about 650,000 UK drivers were affected and that Zipcar had 71 UK employees at the end of 2024.^{3 4}

On Oct. 16, 2023, NHTSA announced its first rental-company recall enforcement action: a Zipcar consent order with a $300,000 civil penalty for renting vehicles with open recalls.⁵

How used cars are sold

Zipcar’s UK FAQ said vehicles would not be sold directly to members as part of the wind-down.² Day-to-day Zipcar cars are typically cycled inside the car-sharing fleet rather than through a consumer retail lot like Hertz Car Sales or Enterprise Car Sales.