No sleaze, no smarm, no pressure... Just sign up for City CarShare, pick a vehicle, and go!
This past weekend, Yoko and I started what will no doubt be a loooong journey towards a new car. Actually, the trip started a ways back, with the unexpected news I haven't gotten around to mentioning yet. We've been hopping online, scoping the streets, and getting some occasional input from various "trustworthy" drivers...
At the moment, we've got a short list of cars, and more than a few of them happened to be in the City CarShare stable. So, rather than mess around with those untidy scum down at Ron's Scam-o-tron Dealership, we took advantage of a recent "$30 free" promo with CCS to do some extensive test driving/sizing up of our chosen few vehicles.
As plans go, this one was pretty smooth. Reserved the cars online, picked them up, sputtered nervously around for a few minutes getting my bearings, and then it was off to the races - tried the Toyota Prius and the Scion xB... Took them up and down some hills, took them home to measure the driveway fit (and also stuff them full of empty luggage, to get some idea of the storage capacity). Tested the noise levels, the handling, and all the rest - without some salesman hanging on my shoulder, misdirecting me away from the most obvious flaws.
So, the test was a success, but the results were inconclusive. Still have a few vehicles left to scan, and a couple "unattainables" to moon over, but both cars exceeded some expectations, while completely underwhelming in others. I know, super-detailed review, right? It's not important. Suffice to say, when we do* hit the dealer, we'll be a little more ready than we otherwise were, and I bet we'll manage to recoup the $7/hour CCS charged for the trial times.
Oh yeah, and I suppose I can also just come out and recommend CCS to anyone who just "needs a car for a few hours"... So long as you have that need a couple times a month. Very professional setup, non-profit, and reducing the evils of car ownership all at once. Much easier than hitting the car rental lots, if not quite as cheap.
