[urbanzameendar]

Originally Posted by AnnaRocks

Throughout the process, I got a strong 'Golmal hai bhai sab golmal he' vibe from Hera Pheri.
Attachment 2469876

Your instinct was right I guess!
Do check the attached screenshots of the pending penalties for the car in question.

[KickassPenguin]

Originally Posted by urbanzameendar

Your instinct was right I guess!
Do check the attached screenshots of the pending penalties for the car in question.

What is the logical reason/legal interpretation of the Challan statement "Allowing unauthorised person to drive "?

[ComboCutter]

Zoomcar is bad in terms customer service and clearly over priced also. Local travels are able to provide rentals at a lower rate with a much better experience nowadays.

My prior interactions were fine with Zoomcar but in 2021 when I had to cancel couple of bookings, they took more than 12 months to refund the amount after multiple emails and Google reviews. Their customer care is restricted to live bookings and others are left on the side. Just read the reviews on zoomcar anywhere.

If this were to happen in the West, this company would have been sued to death, it deserves to be.

[RMN]

Originally Posted by KickassPenguin

What is the logical reason/legal interpretation of the Challan statement "Allowing unauthorised person to drive "?

Renting out a private car I suppose. The previous customer who rented the vehicle must have been flagged by a traffic cop for some minor offense and at that point he must have confessed that this isn't his car but a rental.

Rental cars are supposed to have the black plates I believe.

[Asish_VK]

Contrary to the general opinion, I had a good experience two months back with zoom cars.

I had booked an ertiga for a family trip at Hyderabad. I had booked this particular car after reading the user reviews, which were very positive.

After booking they have shared the car location through app. I was able to find the car quickly with the location. Unlocking and capturing images before drive was also smooth through the app.

Once unlocked, I've noticed that the insurance was expired a week back. Tried to contact the owner through zoom car app's chat but he was unavailable at that time.
Parallelly raised a query to customer care too. I've got a call from zoom car's customer care with the owner in conference. The owner shared the renewed insurance copy within 5 minutes (it was already renewed, bit he forgot to replace with old one)

The car was very clean with recently done interior cleaning. Drive was also super smooth. Returning process was also seamless with the app.

PS: I too felt the pricing is on the higher side.

[barcalad]

Took a vacation with friends a few weeks ago in Bangalore. Booked a Bolero Neo N8 via Zoom Car for a couple of days. I was using them after a really long time and reading through these reviews, I did have some apprehension on how the experience will be.

Did some digging and found out that ZC was running this "tatkal" offer where at 12 PM and 6 PM on every day, there is a window for which this offer is valid wherein you get flat 50% off on your booking if it is for multiple days. Did precisely that and got lucky at the 6 PM slot. I zeroed down on the particular car (there were plenty of options) after reading its user reviews (a really good feature on their website, I gotta say) and pictures of the car. A quick check of the plates showed that the car was quite new and had no traffic violations.

The owner of the car was prompt to connect with me over ZC's chat feature wherein he shared his number and the exact Google maps marker of the car. On the day of the booking, I reconfirmed the same with the owner over Whatsapp and he responded that the car was clean, ready and parked at the location marker.

And it indeed was. Did the checklist PDI of the car via the ZC app and boom - got the car unlock option on my screen. Tapping it unlocked the car and the keys were kept in the glove box. The car was spotless and there was no odor. So far, so good.

Some extras I observed were rear + front dashcams, charging cables for Android and iPhone. There were no documents of any kind. I pinged the owner for the same and he immediately sent the document soft copies over Whatsapp.

The dashcam had internal audio recording enabled and I had to disable it by playing with the settings. The audio system of the car was mediocre though. Classic Mahindra.

The car had around 12k on the odo and drove well. The ride was mad bumpy and a quick check of the air pressure showed that the tyres were over-inflated. Tanked up at a Shell nearby and got the air pressures down to comfortable standards. No squeaks, rattles or bumps at all for a car that is otherwise known for rugged use.



Not blurring the plates as the car is available on the Zoom Car website with the plates visible.

We drove around town quite a bit and did a road trip to Bandipur too. The car performed well and I honestly had no issues with it except that the mileage figures weren't on expected lines.

I did get the check engine light out of nowhere once on the Bangalore - Mysore expressway but it faded away on its own.



On the day our booking ended, we closed the booking before time. Pinged the owner again to inform him of the same. Drove back to the same pickup spot location. Kept the key in the glove box. Checked out via the app and tapped on the end trip option to lock the car and successfully close the booking. Texted the owner my thanks and appreciated his prompt responses to my queries.

I'd like to mention here that the app UI is top notch. There wasn't any lag or crashes or freezes. The delay between tapping the lock/unlock in the car and the actual lock/unlock was perhaps 2-3 seconds.

Rated the host with full marks and I suppose that applies for Zoom Car as well. My apprehensions turned out to be unfounded and I had a flawless experience with them. Throughout the booking, I never had any physical interaction with the host or any ZC staff. There wasn't any need to connect with ZC's customer care either.

Will I be using them again? I most certainly will.

[WorkingGuru]

A white board BH registered car! Renting out this car is blatant illegal use of a vehicle. What would you tell the cops at any check-post ?

Theft to the Govt exchequer aside, insurance would not have covered any claim if this car got into an accident.

If ZoomCar is promoting this and getting away with it, then it's likely they have a politician backing them.

[XD2]

After having used Zoomcar earlier (when they had their own cars) with a reasonably pleasant experience, I recently used their services - and had horrible experience and would advise caution to anyone using the app.

While the initial booking experience was smooth - the car (a 3 year old Mahindra Bolero) was in bad shape, unclean and poorly maintained. I got no papers, the host mentioned to tell anyone who asked that the 'papers are with the company'. Lucky for me, I didnt run into any stops.

When I attempted to return the car, the host asked me to park at an alternate location as the parking was not available - and the app wouldnt let me end the trip - or even raise an issue. Calls to their helpline were useless - you just stay on hold until you give up (I was on for a hour and then had to leave to catch a flight).

Much later, the host parked the car and asked me to try and end the trip then. It ended up adding a hefty charge.

There was no way to contact zoomcar, the robotic chat keeps going around in circles - and doesnt even let you log a ticket. The helpline numbers are useless - you can only call from the app and need to have an open ticket - or it wont let you connect.

I finally found an option to contest the charge - to which they responded that the car was returned late and the charges cannot be waived. I shared the chat with the host and the whole sequence of events - and they kept giving the same response - with huge delays in response. On top of it, they keep sending reminder emails to settle the dues and have robots call as well. Eventually, they will respond with a rider that no changes can be made as the deadline for refund has passed - and the charges are deemed accepted. And thereafter you lose all options to raise a ticket or reach out for any support.

Overall, aside from the issues on the car, the customer care experience is horrible and automated to the point where its a torture to even try.

[multiloop]

Hello all. I am in Mumbai and want to have a self-drive vehicle, for a family trip to Mahabaleshwar and around in Mumbai (parents visiting) for 8 days. I checked Zoomcar, Revv and Mychoice car rentals and found Zoomcar to be the most economical.

Found a 2023 Baleno (~2,000 kms) with a white number plate. The contact no. of the owner was available on the page. He said he is an ex-Zoomcar employee who was laid-off, but supplies cars to it. He operates out of the BMC parking at the international airport. Said the documents shall be shared as WhatsApp images (mentioned that this works with the traffic police, and without incident in the last year). He has agreed to show me the car before I make the payment on the app.

I did a quick google review and came across this thread and a couple others where Zoomcar has received abysmal reviews. I also learnt that private vehicles aren't legally allowed to be lent for renting out.

Could you please suggest some other rental service or if I should take the risk with this car?

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by multiloop

Could you please suggest some other rental service or if I should take the risk with this car?

Just read the reviews on Play Store and you'll get the answer.

From last minute (surprise)cancellation to hosts denying the car to issues with trip start/end and
a nonexistent customer support, zoomcar has got all sorts of issues.
Oh, and if you have made the payment, you can forget that money if you run into any of the issues mentioned above.

Many years ago, I used Revv once and found it to be good and reliable. Hope they are still that way or even better.

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by multiloop

Could you please suggest some other rental service or if I should take the risk with this car?

Zoomcar is not reliable at all now. Avoid.

During their inception years, they were all out to maintain good customer experience. The cars were managed from a parking lot with dedicated staff.

Later sometime in 2017-2018, they moved to a different model where the cars will be in random location and everything was done remotely. I think that was the start of Zoomcar downfall. Cars were badly maintained with many important functions not working, parked in random locations which was difficult to locate.

I have rented from Revv in Bangalore but they also have the same concerns. Cars aren’t reliable at all. Once the car I took broke down. Thankfully I had rented it out only for a small city errand run (a time when I did not have personal car) and the car refused to start after it was parked at a mall. We got another car eventually but it was so difficult to coordinate and get another one.

But Zoomcar definitely is worse than Revv because there was no ground support. I am not sure if they have mended their ways, so many ads coming now. But still, I’d avoid.

Honestly, for city runabouts you don’t need a personal vehicle in Mumbai. And for outstation trips it is best is to get a cab with a driver and go happily. Cost wise it usually works out very similar.

[multiloop]

Originally Posted by krishnakumar

Honestly, for city runabouts you don’t need a personal vehicle in Mumbai. And for outstation trips it is best is to get a cab with a driver and go happily. Cost wise it usually works out very similar.

Thanks for the response. I want to experience the pleasure of driving to Mahabaleshwar and around.

Are you aware about Myles: Drive Yourself service provider? Any feedback on it?

[RM Motorsports]

Received as forward on WhatsApp.

[ReventonLover]

Note for mod: Please merge with any existing thread if one is available. I searched for the same but found localized threads only or reviews for a particular service.

TL, DR version: Team Bhp members / mods maintain a classifields of all the car rental agencies across the cities, which are vetted by the members themselves

Long version:

I recently visited Baroda/Vadodara with my family for a lesiure/business trip. Of the four day travel, we decided to for a day trip to Statue of Unity, which is just shy of 100 kms away from the city. The usual option would have been to get a private cab and just move on with it. But this time, I thought, why not hire a self drive rental car and enjoy some quality time with the family, and have a car at your beck and call rather than relying on a chauffered cab. This led me to explore multiple agencies who have the said service in the city. With multiple (but unvetted) local options and only Zoomcar on the online platforms, I decided to go the Zoomcar route for getting a good vehicle. The app did have a lot of good options, ranging from Celerio to Creta. Unfortunately, my choices were limited to Dzire, Baleno, C3 and WR-V. I waited for too long and ultimately lost out on the C3 and Baleno. Since I didn't want travel far off from the hotel, I got a home delivery service on a Dzire, 2022 make, VXi trim.

All in all, the host was a good person and the entire journey was memorable and trouble free. The problem was with Zoomcar. Pathetic support, lacklusture features and just a chatbot as a mediator, it was very stressful to get anything done - be it changing the car, extending the timeline etc. Some members may have experienced the same.

When everything was said and done, I had an idea. Why don't we, the members, update and maintain a list of all the hosts/rental car agencies that we meet and maintain a classifields for the same? Instead of rummaging through hundreds of websites/Google searches, we have a single destination for the same. The best part is that we will have a detail review of the hosts/rental agency as well as their fleet.

Let me know your thoughts on the same.