[Eddy]

Zain Travels, Goa has got good reviews on this thread and I had a fantastic experience with them recently - hence this Directory thread.

Services Offered:

- Self Drive Cars and Bikes

12 Bikes: Activa (7), Avenger (2), Bullet (1), Pulsar (2)
12 Cars: WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Ritz, Ertiga.

What service did I avail:

- One WagonR from 14th - 22nd October, 2017 @ Rs 1200 / day
- One WagonR from 18th - 22nd October, 2017 @ Rs 1300 / day

What Was Good:

- Clean and well maintained cars. One of the cars was ~44,000 km run but it definitely did not show its age. The clutch was soft, the brakes and tyres were in good condition and it was spanking clean. Definitely much much better than a zoomcar of similar (or even half) the mileage. The other car was practically brand new @ 4,500 kms. Both cars returned a healthy 15kmpl.

- Clear and precise communication on booking, rules, returns, advance, tariffs etc. All communication is verbal, then followed up by a written confirmation note on whatsapp / SMS. No gray areas.

- Transparency while handing over & collecting the cars. All dents / scratches & petrol level is pointed out. They request you to click the car and all dents etc at the time of handover and they do the same on their phones. While returning, if there is a doubt photographs are compared to check if the damage was done during the rental period or not.

- Although they do not deliver or collect the car from the Airport, the process is well managed. A prepaid taxi from the airport to Zain is about 200 Rs (4-5 kms & 15 mins). They request you to reach there. All the luggage transfer etc from the cab to the rental car is managed by their staff. Once you return the car, they drop you to the airport on a bike (100 Rs) or a car (200 Rs).

- Overall very well managed, especially for an informal setup.

What can be better ?

- Limited availability of yellow number plate cars, so choose your car carefully.

- Technically, white number plates are not allowed to be used as rentals. Due to this, Zain white number cars are not allowed to go to one of the Forts due to RTO problems (Fort Aguada, I think but not sure). Since the fort was not on our agenda anyway, it did not matter to us. However, you will need to factor this in your planning if you do plan to visit the fort. However, they are very confident that there would be no problem in any other part of Goa. I tend to believe this, since they clearly called out the trouble area. That said, I personally think it is a practical requirement in Goa- where there are no Uber / Olas and , as per my hotel manager, fresh permits for yellow cars are not being issued.


Some tips:

- Take as many pics of the car during the handover as possible. In case you are picking up the car at night or your phone camera is not good enough, remember to click with your camera. Multiple angles for all damages.

- You are also advised to discuss with them beforehand the charges for a particular type of damage so that you have an idea of how much you would need to pay for similar damage.

- There is a petrol bunk quite near their setup so you can manage to fill in petrol and return the car with it's original level.

- You need to carry your original driving license and one ID proof in original that they keep as a deposit, along with INR 5000 / car (out of which Rs 1000 was Paytm'd a week in advance as booking charges).

- I don't know how competitive their prices are. Since they had such good reviews, I did not bother to check with any other vendor.

- Minimum Renting Period = 2 days

- Not allowed to take the car outside Goa. Not sure if they track this, but this was a part of their do/do-not communication.

Contact Information:
Shameena - +91 9765876416

Location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ma...07!4d73.810959


My Recommendation: Look no further, it gets my vote. I am definitely going to them again.

[Eddy]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by Eddy

- There is a petrol bunk quite near their setup so you can manage to fill in petrol and return the car with it's original level.

This is something that could be better handled since it may not be possible to accurately measure the amount of fuel before and after. Further, there could be more fuel than when the vehicle was taken out, when returning. What could one do with the excess fuel or even estimate accurately.

As a solution, it would be better if vehicles are handed over with a full tank and returned with a full tank. Typically this could be achieved by filling up to the auto stop at both times. This should not be an issue since there seems to be a filling station near by.

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Thread moved from the Assembly Line.

Mods, using white plate cars for commercial purposes is forbidden. Are we encouraging breaking the rules by supporting such people? Please clarify.

PS: If that matters, I am a Goan.

[TorqueyTechie]

Just wondering what happens in case of accidents when driving a white board car? The vehicle would be insured but it cannot be claimed I believe. As also lot of legal issues in-case the affected party insists on a FIR.

[hothatchaway]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Just wondering what happens in case of accidents when driving a white board car? The vehicle would be insured but it cannot be claimed I believe. As also lot of legal issues in-case the affected party insists on a FIR.

You cannot use a white board for commercial operations. Cops can fine/seize the car and I recall reading something to this effect which happened in Goa. The vehicle may have insurance but will be denied if discovered that it was being let out on rent.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by Eddy

12 Cars: 2 Yellow Plates & 10 White: WagonR, Swift, Dzire, Ritz, Ertiga

I have not tried them out personally, but have rented out cars from a similar agency in Panaji city. These small ones usually maintain the cars well and accommodate your small requests if its possible for them. Rental is also decent I would say, I just don't like that you have to leave your originals behind.

Originally Posted by akshay380

Mods, using white plate cars for commercial purposes is forbidden. Are we encouraging breaking the rules by supporting such people? Please clarify.

Unfortunately, you can at the most request them to give you a yellow board car, but there might not be an alternative if all the cars are booked. You can always choose the vehicle that you want.

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Just wondering what happens in case of accidents when driving a white board car? The vehicle would be insured but it cannot be claimed I believe. As also lot of legal issues in-case the affected party insists on a FIR.

Well, this is a grey area. Suppose your car is gone for servicing and I lend you my car for a couple days. You say that you will return the car with a full tank. Incase of a mishap, what do you say? Will this be classified as a commercial use? You will have to simply claim that its a friends car that you have borrowed.

While I don't support such an endaevour, I had once enquired about the process to get a self drive permit. The rules include having 50+ cars, an office of specified size and a phone number that is available 24x7, to name a few.

[AbhiJ]

Used the services of Zain Travels recently for 5 days. (Dropped the car today) We were 10 people in total and took 1 Dzire and 1 Swift.

The swift had done 85k km and the dzire 35k. Both cars were decently maintained with the brakes, tyres, suspension in good condition.

The only faults in the cars were: Dzire- Aux Port was malfunctioning. Swift - Car charger port was dead.

The process of taking the car was seamless and organised and much of it has been discussed in this thread. But unfortunately our journey was not exaclty uneventful. A dent had mysteriously appeared on the right hand rear door of the swift while it was parked. This was the outcome of drunk/sadistic mind or and a novice 2 wheeler rider. Both of the above are freely available in Goa

So with no fault of ours, we were dealing with a dented door which would definitely require painting.

We headed to Zain travels and were pleasantly surprised by the way they dealt with the incident. The damage was identified and pointed out to us. They also acknowledged looking at the damage that this couldn't have been our fault. They asked us to pay repair charges to which we agreed.

What immensely impressed me is :

1. They were very understanding and non confrontational about the incident. They offered to take the car to the authorised garage and get an quote in front of us. We refused since i have a fair idea of what the repair would cost.

2. We did not have to bargain because the amount asked by them for repair was fair, considering the loss of income from when the car would be repaired. They only covered their cost, did not try to make profit out of the situation.

Nice, honest, professional people. A definite recommend.

[agambhandari]

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

Used the services of Zain Travels recently for 5 days. (Dropped the car today) We were 10 people in total and took 1 Dzire and 1 Swift.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I'm also looking to rent a car from them for about 4-5 days next month. How did you get to their office from the airport? Any bus, cab?
It would be great if you could share the cost per day you had to pay for the each car and how much did you have to shell out for that dent? Would be something for me to keep in mind.

[AbhiJ]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I'm also looking to rent a car from them for about 4-5 days next month. How did you get to their office from the airport? Any bus, cab?
It would be great if you could share the cost per day you had to pay for the each car and how much did you have to shell out for that dent? Would be something for me to keep in mind.

We took a cab to their office. Its about 4 km from the airport.

SWIFT: 1200 per day x 5 days
DZire: Rs 1400 per day x 5 days
(Day starts at 8 am)

Damage to door costed us Rs 4500.

[avingodb]

I am being quoted a Wagon R for 1200 and Swift for 1400.
Do they bargain?

[AnkitAnimesh]

Originally Posted by avingodb

I am being quoted a Wagon R for 1200 and Swift for 1400.
Do they bargain?

I don't think they do. Last month I was quoted rs 1000/day for a white board Wagonr and they were firm on their price. Also when I compared their price with others, Zain was cheapest.
The Wagonr provided to me was just 3-4 months old and had only 7200 km on the odo.

[agambhandari]

They are not the cheapest, as the rates are a little higher given that its peak season now. But with their close proximity to airport, it comes to be the same. Others charge atrocious amounts for airport pickup and drop, that the price advantage is negligible. And add to it that they are reliable with so many here having good experiences with them.

I am also renting a Swift at 1400 per day.

[vnabhi]

I'm a regular user of Zain and so are many team-bhpians from Hyderabad. I've rented a WagonR for 6 days in May, 2014 for Rs 1000 a day, and a brand new Swift for 4 days in August 2017 for Rs 1400 a day. Please note that rates vary depending on tourist season. The Swift would have cost Rs 1200 a day otherwise.

In 2014, the car was delivered in the lane opposite to the airport that leads to Vasco, and was picked up on the main road at the entrance to the airport. But as taxi associations starting interfering, they are now asking customers to pick up the car and drop it from their office opposite Vasco railway station.Their charges to drop at the airport are reasonable.

I found them quite professional and easy to deal with. Their service helps you avoiding the steep cab fares that cost as much as Rs 1200 to 1400 for a drop in Calangute.

The only area of concern is sometimes they provide white number plate cars when they run out of yellow number plate cars.

[manim]

Here are the rates that was quoted to me for Swift or WagonR:

24th to 27th Dec - Rs.2,000 per day
28th Dec - Rs.2,500 per day
29th and 30th Dec - Rs.3,000 per day