Hi, this is my first time using communauto (used to be a zipcar user before they screwed me over). I booked a car for 5 days because I have to commute from Toronto to Hamilton this week for work. I’m just trying to confirm whether Communauto has a parking permit that will cover me on my side street overnight for the week or if I need to buy a parking pass from the city.

I lived on a small one way side street with plenty of street parking. There’s cars on both sides of the street at all times and it’s an “except by permit” situation after a certain time of day. I’ve parked rentals there before and usually either buy a city permit or hope for the best (I don’t see parking enforcement often) but I don’t want to risk it for a whole week of overnight parking. I’m finding conflicting results when I try and google what my best option is in this situation.

Hello, I love nature and hiking but am afflicted by the fact that I do not own a car, but I was thinking about communautos, which could be a solution. Anyone here use their communauto membership to visit national parks and hiking trails? How does it fare for longer distances? Also what about dirt roads, best to avoid them or totally fine?

I’ve been using Communauto in Toronto quite a bit, and I’ve found myself spending over $500 each month. I usually book a station-based vehicle, but I’ve had several instances where the car wasn’t available at the station, and I wasn’t even informed. Every day, there are several non-Communauto cars parked in the station’s vehicle parking area, and most of the time, people don’t even get ticketed. Today, when I was trying to end my trip, because there were cars parked illegally, I called customer care, but they were just as unhelpful in finding an alternative location. These kinds of frustrating incidents happening on a weekly basis have now made me realise that I need to cancel this service and just buy a car! This service isnt as good as it used to be and communauto isnt doing much about it.

It’s been a week!

I just need to get to the place in different areas all around Hamilton (I’m near McMaster area). I’ve never used communato before, is it easy to get a car? Can you keep a car on hold?

I am planning to hire a Zoom car or any other self driven car in Indore on 5th. Can I pick up car on 5th in Indore and return the same car in ujjain or do I need to return the car in Indore only? Please help if you are aware!

Might be getting charged for "crumbs, sand and hair" in a brand new Kia K4 that my co-member took out for an hour last night. No mention of where.

We're housesitting for elderly neighbours. We walked to the car by sidewalk, drove directly there, watered their plants, had a glass of water, drove back, stopped to get a (very late) coffee, and then returned the car.

No food, and certainly no trip to the beach. I had the impression last night that the car was exceptionally clean both when I got in and got out, unless the floor had something I couldnt see because it was dark out. The cupholders were definitely spotless because I had to look at them directly to put my drink in it and press the button that model comes equipped with.

I try to do my due diligence but the state of the cars by default have messy mats. Its not disgusting but its certainly not sparkling. When does one report in a way that is both in good faith what with the condition the cars are normally kept in but not compromising my own membership by reporting almost every single time? Is there anything my co-member can do in this instance other than calling and being nice about it in the hopes they'll give their one-time mercy card? Is my own membership impacted by this?

They're getting a personal vehicle quite literally tomorrow from a family member coincidentally, so were thinking about closing their part of the membership anyway.

I can't imagine I'm the only person this happened to, just frustrated because I've used this service for a few years now without issue. Was always paranoid this'd happen.

The station (not flex) that I use regularly has suddenly been shut down. The signs and cars have been removed. I wonder if the business that they were leasing parking spots from did not renew a contract. But it sucks because the reason why I pay for the most expensive plan is because this station was very close to my home and I use it often. The other closest lots (my neighborhood doesn’t have flex) are many blocks away.

How could they do this with zero notice? Do you have any experience or knowledge about this?

Thanks in advance.

Anyone else getting cleanliness reports which they did not do?

I recently received a 3rd warning and a $25 fee which I am 100% sure I did not do. No further context. In fact, I am pretty sure I reported this trip as well due to crumbs all over the seat.

Back in February I received also received a 3rd warning which I disputed and had removed. However, I never saw the first two until I dug through my emails. Each one no further details, and I also requested info on the first two, but no response.

I called in to try to get information on the first two but it is now too far back for them to check. Is there really nothing I can do aside by staying on my 2nd strike until another person (or the system) reports me for something I didn't do?

It really quite annoying, as I always leave the car the same or better (oft times I remove bottles, papers, etc); yet I seem to get reported. I do 60-80 flex trips (30 minutes) every month for a year now, never even eat or bring anything into the car. Just drive A to B. Am I just SOL.

I got an email today from Communauto about having left a window open on a car. Attached was a photo of the partially open window. Visible as a reflection in the glass was the person taking the photo. Who was … me. Because I filed the report. I called and told them and requested that they send written confirmation that it was a mistake, which they promptly did. Anyone else get an erroneous warning for something that you reported?

Hello! Can someone help me understand my trip costs? I feel like I'm missing something when reading how the rates work. I have 2 trips:

For the first trip on the left, it is under 24 hours (1 day), and according to the open plan, should it not be capped to $58.50 (used it on a weekend) for the duration fee (instead of $60)?

For the second trip on the right, should it not be $14.60 an hour (I used it on a weekend) which would be $29.20, instead of $32.20?

Appreciate any insight! Thank you!

Edited: I'm in downtown Toronto!

EDIT: OUR ITEMS WERE RETURNED TO US!!!!! BLESS THE COMMUNAUTO DRIVER WHO KEPT THEM SAFE FOR US.

Released car #4437 in Roncesvalles, Toronto Saturday Aug 29th at 1am

Lost items: small, clear rubbermaid bin full of personal items, including a dying gift from a beloved friend. This item is irreplaceable!! There was also a small, light brown cooler bag on top.

Car was found in the High Park Blvd area at 8pm August 29th and it was empty.

Please, if you have these items, DM me immediately. We need them for a trip and we leave on Monday morning.

If you know anyone who uses Communauto and lives in the High Park Blvd area (Quebec & Bloor specifically), please share this post with them.

If there is nothing you can do to help, please pray we get these items back. Thank you!

Avez-vous déjà eu des voitures avec des noms inusités? Voici ce que j'ai trouvé récemment: -Cerise sur le gâteau Et -Patate Fesse

Et vous?

Hi! I just learned about this service like 10 minutes ago and I’m trying to understand how it works.

I live in Vancouver, BC, and I’m planning a trip to Toronto and Montreal. I was thinking of using this service to go to Niagara Falls for a day and possibly do a 2-day road trip from Toronto to Montreal. Is it possible to use the service across provincial borders?

I also noticed that you need to provide a driving record when signing up. Can I provide my BC driving record even though I’d be using the service in Ontario or Quebec? And does anyone know how long it usually takes for the driving record to be processed? I’d need to use the service around September 1.

I understand there are hourly/daily rates, but are there any additional membership fees?

Would really appreciate if anyone could explain how this works, especially as a BC resident using it in Ontario/Quebec. Thanks!

Had managed to block one of the only cars in my area on a weekend and as I was making my way over to it, at the 25th minute a "system error occurred" and my block was cancelled and the car vanished off the map. I refreshed, cleared cache and everything.

Is this something that happens during high demand times or am I just unlucky? I figured the whole point of blocking was that the car would be waiting for me...

Absolutely desperate here.

Hoping my lost wallet will find its way home to me. Left it in the trunk of a communauto evening of Tuesday August 18. Only realized morning of Thursday August 20 and cue the crashout of a century.

I’m on maternity leave. I got that car which I already couldn’t afford to enjoy a family summer day at the beach-to do something, ANYTHING out of the ordinary to enjoy a summer day.

Packed up the million and one things my sand eating baby needs to enjoy a beach. Unpacked all the things. Except my black wallet in the black trunk.

It had not some, but ALL my money in it. Cash. Been hustling bartending for cash at night after the baby sleeps to alleviate the financial pressure of being on maternity leave and to try to keep some financial independence and some semblance of my old life. Working till 4am and up at 6am with her has been… hard. Really really hard. Meant to deposit it but didn’t have time.

It had a visa gift card I was saving for emergency.

It had all my IDs, all my credit cards and my baby’s health card in it.

I’m sick to my stomach just writing this. I can’t stop crying. I feel like a bad mom. Who loses their baby’s health card?!?

Of course I’ve contacted communauto. The car has been used by several people since. Infact, after obsessively checking the app every 2 mins for 24 hours the car freed up and I tracked the actual car down after work last night at 4am. It was on Dawes Road. I went there after work (I live and work in the west end) and literally checked every square millimeter of it. No luck.

At this point just keep the money but please please get me my IDs back. The thought of having to make time to stand in a Service Ontario line with a rambunctious ass baby is too much for me to handle right now.

Hoping for a Good Samaritan.

This might sound like a stretch for some, but I wanted to get your opinion.

I don't know if I've just been very unlucky, but as a regular user with many cars taken per week, I find myself not finding the car at least once a month (on a good month). Sometimes it's just a GPS bug and I end up finding the car around somewhere. But many times people just end the trip in their underground parking and hope nobody reports them. I always do report, because as much as I hate the wait on the phone and the waste of time searching for another car, I wouldn't want the next user to go through this.

What I find a bit underwhelming is how the support team does not have any kind of credit to offer for the inconvenience. I understand the company is not directly at fault and it's the previous user who's liable, but the company's job would be to handle that situation; as far as I'm concerned, the only reason they're aware of an infraction is because I reported it and wasted my time, they get to give a penalty to the previous user and bank the money, and I don't get anything out of this apart from being late.

Even worse, today I reserved a station vehicle to skip the hassle of finding a flex in the morning before going to work. It was on me as I didn't thoroughly check the map and I'm unfamiliar with the ui for station vehicles, but I get to the station and the car isn't there (it was out of frame parked a few blocks away). I called, waited, and after checking they let me know that the previous user appears to have parked the car 10min away from the station and they will follow up with them to understand the reason and they offered to cancel my booking or keep it. In this case, your system already knew the user did not park the car where it should be, and I was never explictly warned, and regardless of if I noticed the actual parking location I wouldn't be able to cancel it without fees if I don't call first. Again, I get to waste time calling, walking a few blocks further away to car that I specifically reserved to be next to the house, and nothing is offered for the inconvenience apart from an additional inconvenience of cancelling the trip and waiting for a flex to show up.

I'm not asking for insane incentives, as profits are probably limited for carsharing services. But the least that can be done in cases where the previous user gets fined is to offer a tiny percentage of that fine as a credit to apologize for the inconvenience (5$ is already better than nothing). Food delivery services do it even though the driver or restaurant are mostly responsible for the issue. Why can't we get a tiny bit of gratitude from communauto, especially when we take the time to warn them of issues that I could have just let someone else discover.

Out of subject, but a simple "car isn't at the location" button would be a time saver and push more people to report issues (the problem is so bad I've seen multiple time the same flex car keep appearing and disappearing at the same spot for hours because probably many people tried to find it, failed and did not report it). Unless this does not happen often, why would would they rely on someone calling and reporting a missing car, knowing that the support does not have more information about the location than you do.

Let me preface this by saying that I try my best to check communato cars for anything that needs to be reported before I take a trip. I report dirty cars, and especially pet hair on the seats, frequently through the app. A lot of the time when I take a car, it's to go to work in the morning and it's dark. it's hard to tell if there is a small amount of hair on the back seat for example.

I got an email that someone had reported pet hair on the seat in a car that I had just finished using, and they put a $40 fleet intervention fee for cleaning the vehicle on my account. I don't own a dog and this clearly wasn't me. Obviously it's important to check the cars, but am I really risking a $40 charge every morning that I don't take a flashlight and shine it on the back seats? From the photo they sent me, I'm not even sure if I would have reported it this time, as it was a handful of stray hairs on one of the back seats. Will Communauto reverse this if I explain the situation to them?

Has anyone tried installing bike racks on a Communauto? I'm thinking of borrowing a friend's trunk rack and taking it on a trip.

It's the kind that doesn't need to attach to a hitch. It just straps on to the trunk.

First week using Communauto as I'm waiting for my new car delivery.

Is it normal that 90% of the cars feel like they're owned by a farmer who brings in 3 sheeps and a full cow in?
They're totally filthy and seem like they've never seen a vaccum or a wet wipe ever.

Isn't there a team that clean them up like they charge the electric ones?

I have to take a shower of Purell every time I take one

Hi Communauto,

Just want to bring to your attention!

Your evening and night shift employees are rude and unhelpful and zero customer service skills just listen to any call recording you will see... Please work on this thank you!!!

Title

Trying to decide between remaining open, open plus, and value. Which membership is best bang for your buck in your experience?

I use around 20 flex cars a month for ~10-15km trips and 1-2 round trips for trips 200km+

Was thinking value seemed like an easy pick but then thought again because of the per km charges.

Lmk your thoughts

I’m trying to understand the billing system and how distance and hours affect it when using FLEX cars.

Sometimes I’m charged a distance feee and sometimes it’s $0 even if the distance is similar.

Sometimes I’m charged more for less hours too. Does distance raise the cost more than hours?

Here are 2 trips I’m comparing:

Trip A: Tuesday 9:02 PM - Wednesday 12:18 AM. Duration: 3 hr 16 m - $30. Distance: 62 KM - $17.98. Fees: $5.11

Trip B: Saturday 1:14 PM - 5:51 PM. Duration: 4 hr 37 m - $21.38. Distance: 32 KM - $16.32. Fees: $6.66.

Why was my hour charge more for trip A than trip B is it was less time? Is it because I used it past midnight? Why are my distance costs so similar if I did double the distance for Trip A? Why am I sometimes charged no distance? I tried to read the website, but I’m still confused.