[searchingheaven]

Originally Posted by noopster

Zoom needs to realise that people are going to value things like cleanliness and look & feel much more in a self drive than a conventional taxi.

• Figo, the cheapest of the lot, has its priced raised to Rs. 70/hr or Rs. 1680/day, equivalent to the cost of renting a Honda Amaze.
• VW Vento has been removed.
• Peak season pricing has been introduced which is downright ridiculous, going as high as Rs. 120/hr or Rs. 2880/day for Figo.

[Cyrus_the_virus]

Zoomcar, why you no come to Hyderabad? Ever since I tried your service 2 years ago in Bangalore, have been waking up everyday hoping to hear the news. But then Pune, now Gurgaon :(

[luvtandon]

Originally Posted by jagzrk

^Sorry to say, but you were fleeced big time by those guys.

U/S 181 with a simple google search reveals driving without a license or minor driving the vehicle. And U/S 200 (1) is basically compounding that offence.

Originally Posted by black_rider

I did produce my license in original, to pay the taxes. So, they cannot have that reason against me. I was driving myself, they did see that, and asked me to park in their parking lot. They did not catch me for anything, I voluntarily drove up to them.

Section 181 of the Motor Vehicle also contains many other offences for which the penalty is INR 500 other that those mentioned above like:

1. Disqualified person driving a vehicle.

2. Any person permitting his employee or a person subject to his control to drive a vehicle at an excessive speed.

3. Driving when mentally or physically unfit to drive.

4. When the driver or conductor of a motor vehicle is accused of any offence under the M. V. Act. The owner of such vehicle failing, on demand, by a police officer authorised to give information regarding the name and address of and the license held by the driver or conductor.

5. When any person is injured or any property of a third party is damaged in a motor vehicle accident, the driver or person in-charge of the vehicle.
(a) Not providing medical aid to the victim of the accident.
(b) Not giving information regarding the accident, etc. on demand by a police officer or at the nearest police station.
(c) not giving the information regarding accident to the insurer.

6. Any person disobeying directions given by any person or authority empowered, or obstructing any person or authority in the discharge of his functions under the M. V. Act.

7. Racing and trials of speed.

8. Taking vehicle without authority.

Hope it was not any of the offences mentioned at point no. 1, 4, 5 or 8 as they also entail an imprisonment of 3 months.

IMO you should not have let the Zoom guys go scot-free as it was due to their negligence that you had to face inconvenience and pay the penalty for no offence of yours.

Maybe your taking them to task would have saved some future customer from facing such nuisance.

Source - http://www.mptransport.org/offences.htm

[Vitruvius]

Originally Posted by searchingheaven

• Figo, the cheapest of the lot, has its priced raised to Rs. 70/hr or Rs. 1680/day, equivalent to the cost of renting a Honda Amaze.
• VW Vento has been removed.
• Peak season pricing has been introduced which is downright ridiculous, going as high as Rs. 120/hr or Rs. 2880/day for Figo.

₹70/hr, or even ₹120/hr for a Figo in Gurgaon is quite inexpensive. I booked a self drive Carzonrent Swift this year in Delhi and was charged ₹250/hr.

[hillsnrains]

Wow waiting for this to happen
I am planning a ladakh trip in June/July 2015. My better half can't get too many leaves (works for a bank) to drive all the way from Bangalore. Now zoom car seems to be the right option. I guess there wouldn't be any problems in taking self drive car to Ladakh?

Earlier i have rented a safari from Zoom@Pune and quite happy with them

[zenren]

Just looked up the Section 181, 3 and 75 (2) of Motor Vehicles Act and I'm not sure if Zoom is really compliant with all the rules. If not, RTO is within their jurisdiction to fine U/S 181.

Section 181:
Driving vehicles in contravention of section 3 or section 4.—Whoever drives a motor vehicle in contravention of section 3 or section 4 shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both.

Section 3:
3.Necessity for driving licence.-
(1) No person shall drive a motor vehicle in any public place unless he holds an effective driving licence issued to him authorising him to drive the vehicle; and no person shall so drive a transport vehicle [ other than a motor cab hired for his own use or rented under any scheme made under sub-section (2) of section 75 ] unless his driving licence specifically entitles him so to do.
(2) The conditions subject to which sub-section (1) shall not apply to a person receiving instructions in driving a motor vehicle shall be such as may be prescribed by the Central
Government.

Section 75:
Scheme for renting of motor cabs.—
(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make a scheme for the purpose of regulating the business of renting of 1[motor cabs or motor cycles to persons desiring to drive either by themselves or through drivers, motor cabs or motor cycles] for their own use and for matters connected therewith.
(2) A scheme made under sub-section (1) may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:—
(a) licensing of operators under the scheme including grant, renewal and revocation of such licences;
(b) form of application and form of licences and the particulars to be contained therein;
(c) fee to be paid with the application for such licences;
(d) the authorities to which the application shall be made;
(e) condition subject to which such licences may be granted, renewed or revoked;
(f) appeals against orders of refusal to grant or renew such licences and appeals against orders revoking such licences;
(g) conditions subject to which motor cabs may be rented;
(h) maintenance of records and inspection of such records;
(i) such other matters as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

Section 3 mandates that the driver should possess an effective driving license. According to the above rule, the validity/effectiveness of our the license would depend on whether Zoom is covered under sub section 2 of Section 75. If not, then you need a license to drive a transport vehicle to be legally eligible to drive a Zoom car.

If Zoom has not obtained necessary licenses/paid fees to operate rental car business in respective states to which you travel, they can very well be fined accordingly. Even if they did possess the license, if the driver is unable to produce that license, the RTO can fine the driver / owner(Zoom).

Here is a link to the rent a cab notification, which also mentions that the operator should have a minimum fleet of 50 cabs:

http://transport.bih.nic.in/Guidelin...A-Cab-1989.pdf

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by ozzyrules

Quick question on the Kerala taxes:
I will be entering Kerala from Kutta (Coorg) to go to the Tholpetty safari. I'm assuming there would be a forest check post at the border. Do I pay the taxes there? Anyone Zoom'ed to this location before?

Not been on this route, but considering this is the border, the RTO checkpost is usually further away. In the Iritty route, it is 2-3kms inside the Kerala border. I would suggest to pay up if you cross the RTO checkpost, and the tax is just ₹150 for a week.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by luvtandon

Hope it was not any of the offences mentioned at point no. 1, 4, 5 or 8 as they also entail an imprisonment of 3 months.

IMO you should not have let the Zoom guys go scot-free as it was due to their negligence that you had to face inconvenience and pay the penalty for no offence of yours.

Maybe your taking them to task would have saved some future customer from facing such nuisance.

I assure you there was no violation in any section 1 to N from my side.

Call me lazy for not pushing Zoom to reimburse me the whole amount. I agreed to them when they said they reimburse only taxes and not fines. But, I've given them a feedback, and asked them to be clear on their website about AP tax fine print.

Originally Posted by zenren

Just looked up the Section 181, 3 and 75 (2) of Motor Vehicles Act and I'm not sure if Zoom is really compliant with all the rules. If not, RTO is within their jurisdiction to fine U/S 181.

I guess either AP RTO check post was not clear of self-drive taxation/rules and fined me for driving a taxi with a regular license, or its their way of collecting "handling charges". I don't think Zoom is violating any rules. Anyone who is driving towards AP, can get information from the RTO themselves and put all guesswork to rest. Or wait for my next trip

[a*ed]

I have booked the A-Class for tonight (10:30PM to 03:30AM) from UB City. I will be going there in my car. Just wanted to know if I can park my car in the UB City parking lot for the period I have rented the A-Class?
Anywhere else where I can park my car in the vicinity in case I'm not allowed to park in UB City?

[a*ed]

Originally Posted by a*ed

I have booked the A-Class for tonight (10:30PM to 03:30AM) from UB City. I will be going there in my car. Just wanted to know if I can park my car in the UB City parking lot for the period I have rented the A-Class?
Anywhere else where I can park my car in the vicinity in case I'm not allowed to park in UB City?

I picked up the A-Class from Chancery Pavilion instead of UB City since the fleet executive called me and informed that I could pick up one at Chancery.
The car was the diesel one with 4316 kms on the ODO.
It was an absolute pleasure to drive the car. Rented it for 5 hours and was allotted 50kms. Did an extra 75 kms on top of the allotted 50 kms.
Check-in and check out was a breeze and took hardly 5-10 mins.
The fleet executive was very friendly.
Thumbs up to Zoom!

[GTO]

Zoomcar took delivery of 150 cars at Palace Grounds yesterday. This is the largest delivery of cars for self drive rentals in India. The rides include the EcoSport, Figo, City, Amaze and GLA.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by black_rider

They've also made their car pick-up and drop formalities, what they call, keyless.
...
You do have to stand near it till it locks. Although a nice concept, it did not work out seemlessly for me. I was unable to log in to fill checklist because of some technical issues. Had the customer support fill out checklist for me at their end.

Originally Posted by black_rider

And the guy over there confirmed that no one will personally receive the car while returning. But I did not ask him the "what ifs".

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

1. The SMS to unlock did not work , I had to call the customer care to get it unlocked , the pickup location is in a basement and probably mobile signals were weak.

Had a similar problem with this whole "key-less" thing. Had rented a Figo this week from Zoom. The SMS UNLOCK worked & was able to get going, but the Micro-Max tablet in the car was off & I was unable to bring it to life. While returning the car, I was in a hurry since I was late for a flight & I couldn't get the car to lock ! Several calls to the "help-line" were in vain since the IVRS would time-out after waiting for a free agent. The contact number given to me for the locations' operator was also unreachable. Finally, just left the keys in the glove compartment, sent the LOCK SMS, waited for the "Done" reply, & left for the airport.
Really not liking this whole "key-less" concept here, has too many holes in its' current implementation.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by GTO

Zoomcar took delivery of 150 cars at Palace Grounds yesterday. This is the largest delivery of cars for self drive rentals in India. The rides include the EcoSport, Figo, City, Amaze and GLA.

Looks like they'll open operations in Mumbai soon. Glad to see a self-drive rental option in the expansion mode across India.

I hope they open in cities I need - Hyderabad (likely), Calicut and Trivandrum(unlikely) soon.

[neeravnaik]

This is my first post on teambhp

Big fan of zoomcar and the selfdrive car rent option. I had booked A class today for half a day (930pm -330pm) for our anniversary. No specific plan expect to drive around a little bit in and around bangalore.

Got a call from zoomcar that pickup is from Chancery Pavilion instead of UB City. Reached there by 945 and got a pleasant surprise that I had been upgraded to Mercedes GLA SUV which are not even yet listed on their site. The one I got had been driven only 74 km so probably we were the first to rent it

Drove upto Ramanagar and of course the drive was awesome. I liked both the Eco mode and the Sports mode. You can feel the super soft suspensions while on Eco and it becomes noticeable peppy on sports mode.


Also had fun using the paddle shifts on Manual mode.

Overall a great memorable day as it was a first time driving a Merc for me

[Santoshbhat]

Just read in the paper this morning that Karnataka Govt. has banned four web based taxi operators including Zoom car following the Uber controversy.