They’re sitting in designated parking spaces at the Student Union and Recreation Center. After a lengthy deliberation process, Zipcars have made their appearance on Central’s campus.

Zipcar is a rental car service that allows students and staff of Central over the age of 18 to rent cars by the hour. Daily rentals are available as well.

Normally, most car rental companies require customers to be at least 25 to rent a car because statistically, people under the age of 25 get in more crashes. Zipcar decided to not abide by this common practice.

“It’s great for students who need to go to the store for groceries,” said Yosef Gamble, president of the student government. “Or for somebody who wants to take a day trip to Seattle.”

Zipcar is also a popular service in downtown Seattle and has been used there for a while now.

Central has two Zipcars on campus, a Ford Focus hatchback and a Ford Escape. The Focus rents for $7.50 an hour and $77 a day, while the Escape is $8.50 an hour and $83 a day.

For the Focus, a 10 hour rental is roughly equivalent to the day long rate, and for the Escape, which is a four wheel drive car, a nine hour rental is equivalent to the day long rate.

There is also a membership cost of $6 a month when you sign up for Zipcar.

Although the Zipcars are only stationed on campus, they are available for the Ellensburg community to use, the only caveat being that people unaffiliated with the university need to be 21 or older to rent a car.

Zipcars have insurance and a gas card included in them, so renters only have to worry about filling up the tank and getting the car back to campus when they are done with it. Since the company primarily intended for the service to be for university students, the cars need to be returned to their designated parking space in the SURC parking lot when the rental is over.

However, according to the Zipcar website, a day-long rental can not exceed 180 miles. Any renter that exceeds 180 miles during their rental period will be subject to additional fees.

“It’s a great opportunity for students who live on campus,” said Nick Shuey, executive vice president of the student government.

Once signed up to use the service, users have to reserve their car either online, via their mobile app, or by calling Zipcar.

Students can sign up for Zipcar by going to Zipcar.com.

Zipcar affectionately has named their cars. The Focus is named “Funnybone” and the Escape is named “Everroad.”