Bad Ideas
Here’s What Happens if You Try to Hijack a ZipCar to Mexico
Car-sharing companies like Zipcar and Car2go promise freedom and flexibility. But freedom has its limits.
Welcome to Bad Ideas, a column in which we examine the practical limits of technology by considering the things you could do, and then investigating exactly why you shouldn’t. Because you can still learn from mistakes you’ll never make.
Let’s get one thing straight: It’s “easy” to steal a car-sharing vehicle in the same way it’s “easy” to walk into a bank and demand money. Last year, 21 people were charged in connection to the theft of 100 car2go vehicles in Chicago. How did they do it? They made accounts with fraudulent credit cards, and then just never returned the cars. A week after charges were filed, Chicago police recovered all of the vehicles, in part because they could run plates, but also in part because car2go vehicles are equipped with a GPS tracking system.
Renting a car traditionally comes with a host of explicit and implicit restrictions. You show up at the rental car place. You speak to a person who asks you to sign some paperwork in which you assume some responsibility for the car, then that person physically hands you a set of keys.
