[noopster]

Originally Posted by sach.sri

Have looked at zoomcars and myles. Zoom rentals include fuel for the allocated km and their prices are almost same as what Myles charges.

Have moved your post here from the Zoom thread since this will offer you a better comparative view of both. Please go through the thread in detail.

however i have a query regarding the number of KMs that can be driven - do we have a daily limit on KMs that can be driven? or the limit is for the full duration?

All this is standard info available on the respective website (plus on this thread).

So my view is that Zoom will be a cheaper option than Myles? or is that not the case?

I've used Zoom and found it quite VFM. Myles also would be in the same ballpark. At the end of the day you shouldn't worry overmuch one way or the other, just check if it meets your needs and be aware that you may not necessarily have the best experience (at least based on the experiences narrated here).

Also, couldn't find any call center number for zoom where i could talk to someone about my queries. What happens if you book a car - and have issues? Is there any number where one can talk to someone in zoom?

Closer to your booking time you will receive an SMS with the details of the executive to contact. Their website also offers online chat help as far as I remember. Email to customer support will also work.

[mangespat]

Hello All,

I am looking for a self drive car in Guwahati in mid April for a period of 7-8 days. Preferably a Swift Diesel. I checked with Awe rides and they are offering the car at fairly exorbitant rates. Any help will be appreciated.

[hotstuff]

Synopsis of thread: Suggestions / leads / feedback on reliable Self-drive car rental agencies in Bhubaneshwar.

I was looking at booking a Self-Drive car in Bhubaneshwar (BBI) - Odisha for 5 days during the last week of July 2017.

Though Myles Rent-a-car shows BBI location on their website, it does not show any cars. Myles customer care rep said that their service is not yet started in BBI and no time-frame on when they will be active there.

Zoom, Voler, Avis and other 'branded' self-drive companies are not active in BBI.

A Google search for self-drive shows up some local agencies, with sketchy details and 'iffy' reviews.

Any suggestions / leads on a good source for a self-drive car in BBI?

[noopster]

Made a booking with selfdrive.in for a family drive up to Mahabaleshwar yesterday. Booked a Toyota Fortuner at the last minute (one day before travel) since neither Zoomcar or Voler had 7-seaters available at such short notice. Here's my feedback:

What Went Right

• The website is visually very appealing and offers a decent user experience. I would rate it better than Zoomcar, which I am a fairly regular user of.
• Rates are competitive. The Fortuner 3.0 MT came at about 308/-per hour.
• Pick-up and drop option is offered on every booking at a fixed charge of 299/- one-way.
• Car was mechanically sound and in decent shape. 68,000-odd clicks on the odo, it felt like it was regularly serviced.
• Pune office is in a fairly central location (next to Sancheti Hospital in Shivajinagar).
• Pick-up and drop-off process was pretty good. The executive knew his business and seemed empowered to make quick decisions. Big difference from the mostly clueless Zoomcar on-site executives.
• No over-reliance on technology for basic things like locking/unlocking the car and submitting checklist, which continues to be my biggest grouse with Zoomcar.

What Could Be Better

• I was called at 6:30 AM- 2 hours before my scheduled booking- asking me to pick up the vehicle myself despite having requested (and being billed) for a home delivery/pickup. Though they have promised a refund, it left a bit of a sour taste first up.
• Took my own car to the pick-up point but unfortunately they only have parking for bikes available in the premises. Had to park outside in the narrow street.
• Car though otherwise good had a nasty crack across the front windshield. They seemed surprisingly blase about this, though I warned them even when returning the car that they need to replace it since it will only worsen with time and wear.
• Cars are all white-plate and there is none of the detailed documentation that Zoomcar so impressively provides. Even the PUC had expired (the executive told me to get it done and claim it!). Will definitely not risk it for inter-state drives.
• Single point of pick-up/drop is a big drawback compared to other providers. However, it also means they are able to staff better and maintain control.

All in all, not a bad alternative to Zoomcar especially when planning at short notice.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by noopster

[*]Cars are all white-plate and there is none of the detailed documentation that Zoomcar so impressively provides. Even the PUC had expired (the executive told me to get it done and claim it!). Will definitely not risk it for inter-state drives.

This isn't allowed by law. You cannot run white plate cars on self drive rental. They need to be yellow on black background. Incase of any issue, insurance on this car is not possible. Secondly if caught by the cops, you won't have any documentation saying it is a rental car.

I just checked their website, they don't show their cars or have even one mention of the cars being white board. The website seemed very confusing. I'm surprised you found it intuitive. The cars and fleet tab opens up a window that has not information on cars and fleet.

They have copied the zoomcar maps which shows pickup locations.

You should get the white board part clarified. Pretty sure white board cars cannot be used for commercial and secondly insurance is not applicable if used for commercial use.

[noopster]

Yes the White plate came as a complete surprise. In fact I double checked with the Selfdrive guy onsite and he laughed off my concerns saying they have been doing this for years.

I didn't go through the whole site but the booking process was very intuitive and easy to manage.

[Jaguar]

I too got a white board car from selfdrive.in Pune. Had opted for pickup and drop. Got a call at around 3am on the day of booking telling me that the Creta I has booked had an accident damage and only a Honda City automatic was available. Had no option but to agree. Car was delivered on time though and was in good condition. The return pickup was not so good since I had to keep calling them and remind about the pickup and almost risked missing my flight.
Honda city's rent was lower than that of Creta but they seemed reluctant to return the difference. Had they been forthcoming about their mistake and automatically given back the extra money, I'd give them a higher rating.

[rkg]

My experience with with Panda riders, Guwahati.
In NE region, none of the established players like Zoom, Myles etc operate. After searching the net finally found out two guys Awe rides and Panda rides. Awe rides offered one day free for 10 day booking. Panda rides did not offer any. I was planning to go to Tawang, Kazhiranga, Sibsagar from Guwahati. Bangalore to Guwahati by flight.
My trip was due during dussera holidays. About 10 days before trip checked with Awe rides, they have Hyundai Xecent , brand new one. Rate quoted was Rs 3000/ day. But I was skeptical about the GC. So checked with Panda rides guy. He offered me Scorpio @ 2500/day. Fuel not included. Same with Awe rides also.

He wanted advance. But i was not sure about paying advance. Finally he has agreed for spot payment. 25K +5K deposit. He has agreed to take the deposit by check.

I had sent my DL copy, address proof etc by mail in advance. I had requested for airport drop. He as agreed for an additional charge of Rs 500/-

one of my friend working in Shillong arranged for my Arunachal ILP's and arranged them to be picked up from someone at Khanapara in Guwahati. I had requested Panda rides about the possibility of picking them up for me. He has readily obliged. In addition as per my request he has stocked the car with two crates of water bottles also.

My flight was delayed by more than three hours ( Indian Airlines). He has waited for two hours and then left the car with an employee at Airport. I had picked the car, signed a single sheet. They have taken my PAN card. The car was in good condition and it is white board. It seems it is his personal car.
At the end of the trip, car was again picked up from Airport and 5 K deposit returned.

All in all good experience

[srh]

Sharing two experience with Myles:

Experience 1

Booking
Had booked a Swift from Chandigadh airport. Booking was done online a couple of months in advance and was fairly easy. Paid full amount upfront along with a deposit. Had called their call center in advance to reconfirm one day before actual pick up date. Received the contact person phone number on SMS

Pickup
After landing at CG airport, called the number provided - was asked to call another person. Then called the other person. He claimed to be just around the corner and promised to arrive in 10 minutes. Showed up only after an hour - before that, he claimed that the Swift had met an accident and he would be arranging another vehicle. Finally got possession of an Etios for the same price but a couple of hours late.

Vehicle condition
Was fairly decent. Traveled a fair bit around Punjab and Himachal hills without any issues

Handover
Was uneventful


Experience 2
Booking
Had booked a XUV in Bangalore for 4 day long weekend starting Saturday. Booked online about a couple of months in advance. Got requisite confirmation. Paid entire amount in advance along with a deposit. Fairly easy. Called call center one week in advance for reconfirmation - also recced the pick up spot (as I wasn't familiar with the same). Talked to the local representative as well. Was assured that everything would be fine.

The horror story
Got a call from Delhi one day in advance to the pick up date. Was informed that the vehicle had met with an accident and that Myles would be canceling the booking and would do a refund of the advance and the charges. The person calling hardly seemed apologetic - no good will gesture - his tone was as if they were doing me a favour by providing "100%" refund! I was disappointed and even angry at their casual attitude - my holiday in danger. I suggested if they could arrange an alternate vehicle - which they flatly refused. I threatened that I would go to a consumer court - I was told I am free to do whatever I like.

In a nut shell - my conclusion is that Myles is highly unreliable. There is no guarantee that you WILL get the vehicle that you booked by paying 100% of the amount. Considering that their vehicles always have an accident - I doubt that they are highly unethical and dishonest. Given this experience, it is unlikely that I will again be booking a car with them.

[zombiedriver]

On a recent trip to hyderabad I needed a self drive car as the wife is pregnant and she flatly refused to be driven around in an Uber keeping in mind that not all drivers are too careful while driving over bad roads.

It was an impromptu trip so I didn't find too many options available. I used 2 services in the 3 days that I was there

1. ZoomCar: Picked a Honda city as amongst the options available i felt it would have the most comfortable ride. Got the car on time delivered at my Hotel. I had to extend my use by a few hours which was done online with no hassles.The car was picked up at the hotel at the end of the day too without any hassle.

Positives : The whole experience of booking,picking up the car and delivering were without a single hitch.The price was reasonable considering the fuel is included. Actually Zoom offers the best value amongst the other options.
Negatives: The car had done about 90k kms and the suspension was completely gone.Every small undulation on the road was translating to a huge thud. So it defeated my purpose of picking the Honda City for its ride.

While looking for alternatives for the next day I came across Driven By You. I promptly called them as they don't have an online reservation option. I wanted the Volvo V40 which was listed for Rs.2499+Rs10 per km.Fuel was additional.My usage was going to be limited and I didn't mind the price. I was told the car is available and I could pick it up the next morning. To my disappointment it was not available when I went to the pick up spot and I was told I could have the polestar albeit for double the cost.I refused and the other choice available was the Volvo S60 for a price of Rs3500+Rs21. I picked the car after waiting for a good 1.5 hours to complete their formalities. They did a pre-auth on my card for Rs.25000.Also charged for 2 days in advance.Their Airport drop off charge was Rs.1000 which was also charged in advance.

I was not given a receipt of any sort for any of the payments made.

Positives : They have a huge inventory of cars right from the humble Nano to the Vovlo S90. And they have an exhaustive number of Volvo S60's as they have some sort of a deal with the local dealership.

Negatives : No receipt given. Time taken was totally not needed. The car I was given needed the wiper blades to be changed as it could barely see out while using them. When I called to inform them I was asked to take the car to the service station and get them changed.Even though I wouldn't need to pay due to their tie-up it would have taken me 2-3 hours which I felt was not my job anyways. I had heard a sound from the brakes a few times but the next morning the brakes were almost not working. When I got out and checked the pads were completely gone and so was the Disc.I took the car back and they offered a replacement. Another 2 hours of my time gone. I drove the replacement back to my hotel and realized the remote refused to work.So I couldn't lock it. I knew I could lock it using the key but couldn't find the slot. So I called them and asked how to lock it manually and the guy says there is no such option and the car would need to be replaced again.I refused to go all the way as I was paying per km so they arranged for a driver to drop off the replacement.


The same driver picked up the car from the airport. No hassles there. But I had to take pictures of the odometer of 3 cars and whatsapp it to them. And the guy said he would get back to me with my bill amount. After following up with their accounts team for a week I got tired and wrote a mail to their CEO.

The reply was prompt and I was offered a deal on my next rental due to the horrible experience I had.I was promised it would be resolved the same day but it took an additional day.

Overall I was disappointed by both zoom and driven.unfortunately even though it is the company's job to maintain their cars as consumers we also need to use the cars responsibly when we rent them. The zoom car that I had got looked like it had come back from a war. Dinged on all sides. I have used self drive rentals abroad and all of them were in perfect shape.

[Tapish]

I used Myles on a recent trip. The car was changed one day before due to non availability of the one I had asked. I thought that was better than a surprise on the final day. I got the Swift diesel that was in a good condition. However, the tyres did not inspire confidence and the faux leather seats (better to clean) left a bad odor every time the car was locked overnight. We had to keep the windows open for 5 minutes before that smell would go away.

[GuruprasadR]

MyChoize Cars (Self-drive by ORIX)

Booked a Terrano in September for 1 Week (Deepawali - October) from Jaipur as we had planned to drive from Jaipur - Bikaner - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Ajmer - Jaipur.

They only had an Android App & no iOS app (iOS App available now).
The cancel trip on the app button has no warning & I ended up cancelling my trip the first time by mistake.

1 week before the start date, they call to inform me that the Terrano had met with an accident & will be offering me an Innova as "upgrade" instead.
Mailed them a couple of times to confirm the quality & seating arrangement (since they only offered Figo & Terrano in Jaipur & wasn't sure where they were arranging the Innova from).

Pick-up:
I had paid Rs. 300/- for pick-up at Airport & was duly met by the executive on-time.
The Innova looked old & was shocked to find it had already run over 1.5 Lakh KMs (this after I was promised a car in immaculate condition).
The executive then drives my family & myself to Four Points in Jaipur city to complete the formalities. Although the Executive was nice & made us wait in the Hotel Lounge as he finished the paperwork but we ended up wasting over an hr to complete all these formalities.

Vehicle:
Innova was badly maintained & dirty both on the inside as well as outside. On asking the Executive said it was thoroughly cleaned. Car had mild scratches all over & a couple deep ones (almost dent-like). Odo showed over 1.5Lakh KMs. Car tended to veer to the left occasionally but not alarmingly. Only saving grace was the A/C which worked brilliantly even in the harsh conditions.
Will have to give full marks to Toyota for the way the Innova performed in-spite of having ran so much.

Trip:
Mostly uneventful trip except for once when a local biker hit my car as we were waiting to cross the BSF post which lead to the outer cover of Break-light being damaged & bumper coming off its clips. Don't know why exactly but the MyChoize (ORIX) executives asked me not to file an FIR if it wasn't major & none of the travelers were hurt. I heeded to their request as the lights were functional & was also able re-fit the bumper to a manageable level.

Drop-off:
Again was asked to wait outside the Airport for Inspection & drop-off post which the executive dropped us at the airport.
This is inconvenient as we had to adjust one person in the other car (or in this case in the third-row since it was available).
The process though was quick & hassle-free.

Overall:
Will give it a 3/5 purely for the quality of the Vehicle & hassle in pick-up.

Positives:
1. The Executive was professional.
2. They provided Water Bottles for the whole family.

Negatives:
1. Poorly maintained, heavily used vehicle.
2. Time consuming Pick-up.
3. App isn't user-friendly.

[vijay.sundar]

Can any one please recommend a good self drive option having Fortuner/XUV/Crysta based on their experience in Delhi/Faridabad region? We are two couples with an infant each planning to visit Agra & Shimla.

Myles has a Fortuner on their inventory but their quoted security deposit of 60K put me off. They have a Innova but it looks like it is 2nd gen model and I am not betting on it holding up to our comfort.

Thanks!

Note from Support: Please do not cross post between threads. Thank you!

[CANPUSH]

If you hire a zoomcar in Chennai for going to Tirupati, do you have to pay entry charges at Andhra Pradesh border similar to Taxis?

Please advice.

[vijay.sundar]

Originally Posted by CANPUSH

If you hire a zoomcar in Chennai for going to Tirupati, do you have to pay entry charges at Andhra Pradesh border similar to Taxis?

Please advice.

From my earlier research with Zoomcar, I was told that only for Andhra Pradesh the entry tax paid will be reimbursed by Zoomcar.