Zipcar London – now get £24 of free driving credit AND free membership

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There is an excellent Zipcar London special offer currently running which is well worth a look.

Back in August, I wrote about a very good special offer with car sharing club Zipcar in London. The company had, as a promotion, dropped its sign-up fee.

This meant that it made sense for pretty much anyone living in Central London, and who has a driving licence but no car, to sign up. After all, you never know when a car will come in handy for an hour or so. Those Ikea flat packs won’t fit on the tube …..

Zipcar has now doubled down on the offer. As well as waiving the sign-up fee, it will give you £25 of free driving credit when you join via this link. The £25 of credit will be valid for 30 days.

Why I use Zipcar in London

I like car share club Zipcar. We have a membership in London and there are about 15 cars within a 15-minute walk of our house. The nearest, which is available 80% of the time, is literally 30 seconds away. £6-£7 per hour for the car, plus £59.50 annual fee, is a lot cheaper and easier than owning a car.

The process is very simple. You book your car via the Zipcar app or on their website.

You initially unlock the car using a credit card-sized membership card or via your smartphone. The keys are in the glovebox. At the end of the rental, you reverse the process.

In London, the first 60 miles driven per day are free with a charge from 25p per mile thereafter. You do not pay for petrol, for insurance or for the London congestion charge. Minor damage (scratches etc) is also not charged as you just return the car to a street parking bay and it isn’t examined by anyone.

If the petrol tank drops below 25% full, there is a fuel charge card in the car to allow you to fill it up without using your own money.

If you live in Islington, Hackney or many parts of South London, you can even use a Zipcar for one-way trips using the new Zipcar Flex feature I wrote about a few months ago. Full details of the areas covered are here.

You can find the nearest Zipcars to your house by using the tool on this page of their website.

A couple of years ago Zipcar got even better. They teamed up with Avios, and suddenly I was earning 50 Avios every time I took out a car. There is also a 1,000 Avios bonus for signing up and paying the £59.50 annual fee.

Zipcar has overhauled its membership fees in a very positive way

Zipcar has totally overhauled its membership package. With this new Zipcar discount, you can now join for FREE for a limited period if you are in London.

You can now get £25 free driving credit when signing up via this link.

You have nothing to lose by signing up. You never know when access to a car at short notice will come in useful.

There are actually three price plans now available as you can see on this page of their website. These are the Zipcar London prices:

FREE (limited offer) membership – pay from £8 per hour for the car, or

£6 per month – get a £6 monthly driving credit (expires if not used) and pay from £6 per hour for the car, or

£15 per month – get a £15 monthly driving credit (expires if not used) and pay from £5 per hour for the car

The £6 per month package is better value if you are sure you will use a car at least once per month.

The free option, however, is worth having as an ’emergency’ back-up even if you don’t plan to use Zipcar on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, the free membership is not available in Bristol, Maidstone, Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow or Edinburgh where Zipcar also operates. However, you WILL get the £24 of free driving credit if you use this link.

Don’t sign-up for the Avios offer

Unfortunately, the Avios offer via this British Airways / Zipcar sign-up page has not been adjusted to reflect the new Zipcar pricing scheme.

If you sign up via the BA link, you pay an annual fee of £60 but receive NO monthly driving credits. This is a poor deal, to put it mildly, even though you will get 1,000 Avios for joining and 50 Avios per trip.

It is far better to take the £6 per month option via their new pricing scheme and receive £6 per month of driving credit plus – until the year-end – the £24 of additional free credit.

I can only hope that the Avios offer is overhauled soon to match the current pricing plans offered to the general public.

The sign-up page is here if you want to give the free plan (London readers only), or one of the other new Zipcar plans, a go. You never know when it might come in handy. You will get the special offer of an additional £25 of driving credit if you apply by 31st December.

How to earn Avios points from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways BA Amex American Express card

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up, no annual fee and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending ….. Read our full review

British Airways BA Premium Plus American Express Amex credit card

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the UK’s most valuable credit card perk – the 2-4-1 companion voucher Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points, such as:

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & two airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios:

Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa

The most generous Avios Visa or Mastercard for a limited company Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus: