Last April I sold my elderly car for a few hundred dollars. I was tired of the expense of repairs, gas and insurance, no longer needed a vehicle for work, and the wide availability of car-sharing services in the D.C. metro area made the switch to no longer owning my own car seem easy and obvious. I hadn’t regretted my decision for a minute — until I got the following press release in my inbox this week:

Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing service, today announced that it will host a Drive-In movie event, in the hopes that attendees will drive in, but not drive out of the screening. The event will be held on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 7:00 p.m., at Landmark’s E Street Cinema.

Washingtonians will be able to “Drive-In” their vehicles and donate them to benefit The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), a non-profit that works to create a healthy, more livable region by promoting bicycling for fun, fitness, and affordable transportation. Donors will become members of Zipcar for life, and receive $500 driving credit towards their account.

They couldn’t have done this eight months ago? A lifetime Zipcar membership and $500 driving credit is worth considerably more than what I got for my 10 year-old Kia with a persistent oil leak. Arrgh.

For those of you who might be able to benefit from this Zipcar program, head down to the Landmark E Street Cinemas tonight at 7 p.m., where you can register to donate your car at a future date (car donations are not happening on-site, but they can arrange to receive your vehicle today if you really want them to). Zipcar is also hosting a free screening of National Geographic’s documentary Arctic Tale at 7 in conjunction with the event — just send an email to rsvpdc@zipcar.com to let them know you’re coming and whether you plan to register for vehicle donation.