ZipCar vs. I-Go (Chicago, Lincoln: apartment, rent, living)

[teshorr]

I am soon moving to Chicago, sans car, and have been researching "car sharing." Has anyone used ZipCar or I-Go, or any other car share?

We will be living right in the city, most likely Lincoln Park or Lake View, and we intend to use the car share almost entirely on the weekends, for a few hours to run errands and get some shopping done.

Can anyone tell me what the pros/cons are of either or both of these, or if one is superior to the other? Also, if there are any other companies worth researching, I'd love to hear about that as well!

Thanks in advance for the help, and Happy New Year!

[paytonc]

They're VERY similar in most respects -- I know many happy members of both, and no unhappy members of either! -- but some key differences:
* Most importantly, I-Go's basic plan charges an hourly AND a mileage fee. Zipcar's basic plan charges a higher hourly, which includes 125 free miles. Thus, I-Go is often cheaper for shorter trips and Zipcar for longer trips. (Since the prices vary per car, it's impossible to calculate a breakeven average trip length. Also, both offer a variety of higher-priced monthly plans for those who drive more -- and you can switch at will, even right before that big trip.)
* Once you've found an apartment, find out which one has cars stationed closer to you. I believe that Zipcar generally has better coverage in LP/LV, but YMMV.
* Do you travel frequently and rent cars while out of town? Zipcar allows you to get cars in other cities (which, after the merger, will soon include Flexcar's cities). I believe that I-Go is working on a similar "network" reciprocal arrangements, but that isn't operational yet.
* Zipcar has some super-snazzy cars, like BMW convertibles. I-Go has a very practical but more moderately stylish fleet.
* I-Go is locally based and nonprofit, Zipcar is from Boston and for-profit.

Either way, you'll have made a great decision.