[hserus]

When I rented a zoomcar the deposit refund was made back to my credit card and that may take a few days to reflect. The rest of it is best commented upon after reviewing the insurance policy the car was covered under. Indian car insurance is comparatively cheap and not as comprehensive as typical US policies.

[hillsnrains]

Here is the latest communication by Zoom through email. I take this opportunity to request all the BHPians to give their feedback to Zoom after using their services. They are listening to customers and acting on their feedback, I personally experienced this.

Here are Zoomcar’s 3 top New Year's Resolutions to our awesome community of users:
Reduced Wait Times Across All Customer Service Channels
As consumers ourselves, we understand that there is nothing more frustrating than not having an inquiry answered in a timely fashion. Coming out of a massive vehicle expansion, we realize that we have not always been the most responsive over the past several weeks.
Rest assured that our absolute highest priority is to dramatically reduce response times to calls, chats, and emails. We have already taken several steps to achieve this and we're confident that you will see a marked improvement in responsiveness from January onward.
Improved Refund Process
Zoomcar was founded with the goal of changing traditional car rental rules forever. We believe in 100% transparency in payments and refunds, and take pride in clearly specifying all charges to our users upfront.
Unfortunately, in recent weeks, we encountered technical challenges that have caused unexpected delays in crediting your security deposit and fuel reimbursements. Simply put, this is unacceptable to Zoomcar. These issues have now been addressed and you will once again experience a seamless refund process later this month.
Refined Keyless Entry Process
Our automated, self-serve keyless vehicle entry system was another first in India. With this new process you can start your journey using just your mobile phone (either through our app or an SMS). This process has been fully deployed across Bangalore and Delhi NCR and will be launching in Pune very soon.
We are keen to receive your feedback on this new process and we're tirelessly working on exciting enhancements for improving your experience. Our aim here is to create a totally seamless experience whereby you can walk up to the car and start your booking in less than a minute. When your booking concludes, it should be just as hassle free.
These 3 initiatives briefly touch on the direction that we're committed to pursuing in 2015. We are also continuing to invest in technology resources for developing exciting new features that will create an even more intuitive and elegant self-drive car rental experience. Stay tuned for fresh announcements in the first quarter of 2015!

Do drop us a line with your thoughts and suggestions at support@zoomcar.com. We are always listening to our community and are looking forward to hearing more from you this year.
Keep Zooming!
Greg and David

[hserus]

Funny, I didnt get a reply to my email to zoomcar pointing out some issues with my previous rental - dud phone with almost zero battery, dud charger and a flimsy phone mount so that gps navigation was a royal pain till I switched to my own phone.

[Aston Singh]

Yesterday was my second reservation with ZoomCar, Pune. I had booked the GLA for 12 hours.

The process was absolutely seamless. Took me just 10 mins to drive off from their parking lot. The car's condition was excellent, considering it had clocked only 4500 kms! Though the left bumper had a big scratch but that's about it. And the interiors were a bit dusty. They did not provide me a tablet for navigation, I didn't push as well since I didn't require one. But I've put the same in my feedback cause others might find it useful.

I had the car till 8 PM but I was back by 7:15. They did a quick check of the car's condition, for any new scratches or dents and all formalities done within 10 mins. Later at night, I received a mail stating the refund had been initiated. My account was loaded with some credits because I returned the car slightly early.

Overall superb service, no issues whatsoever. I'm kinda getting into a habit of doing this once in 2 months or so

[hserus]

Superb service as long as they don't mess up the little things. What am I going to do without a phone with Google maps? Yes I could use my phone but maps uses a crazy amount of data and drains battery a lot, so if they provide a phone with maps I'd definitely use that instead of my own.

[im_srini]

Originally Posted by hillsnrains

Here is the latest communication by Zoom through email.
I take this opportunity to request all the BHPians to give their feedback to Zoom after using their services.

Glad that Zoom is listening to feedback from customers.
Used the "key-less" system this weekend & here's my feedback :
Currently the dent / scratch check-list consists of 4 images that you're supposed to compare the vehicle against & mark-off in the App.
In my case, the 4 images were too low of a resolution to really make out any detail in the image.
I'd rather see the traditional schematic from the hard-copy check-list be used instead :



I'd prefer that they display this schematic (or something similar) & have the user mark all the spots where dents & scratches are.

Also, not all equipment is mandatory for a safe trip - in my case, when using the check-list before driving off, there wasn't a torch in the glove-box.
I'd marked it as such in the check-list & at the end the only 2 options presented were to wait for a Zoom "associate" or drive off with the application logging that everything was in order.
I think that only vehicle documentation should be on the "Minimum-Equipment-List", things like the torch & sundry which aren't essential for a trip can be moved to another list.

[saleem_k]

Hi folks,

I want to share the pleasant experience I had with Zoom Cars in Bangalore. We planned a trip to Coorg, 8 of us and we hired a couple of Figos from B'lore. Zoom has their office near the airport so they will pick you up from the airport. The 15-20 minutes formality is a quick lookup of the car, the scratches and dents, the kilometres on the ODO and the setup of the GPS (on not so good micromax phones).

Since only one car is allowed per person, a friend of mine and I had booked the cars and also paid the 5k deposit at the time of the booking. We had a good trip and exceeded our quota of 810 kms by an average of 80 kms for each car (for which we were charged @ Rs.12 per km that we were informed in advance anyways). We also filled up diesel and took printed receipts, which were refunded along with the booking amount. The refund happened smoothly for both me and my friend, for me the same day as we returned the car and for my friend in a day.

Overall I would recommend Zoom Cars for their excellent service, reasonable costs and for those who love to drive rather than being driven. The only grouse was the GPS on their phones, which was a pain to use.

Cheers,
Saleem.

[Aston Singh]

Some new offers by Zoomcar


30% Off on First Drive*

Promo: ZOOMFIRSTDRIVE

On your first Zoomcar booking! Valid on all days including weekends.



30% Off on Wednesday*

Promo: APPDAY

On bookings for Wednesday made from Zoomcar Mobile App for iOS & Android!



20% Off on Date Friday*

Promo: DATEFRIDAY

On Mercedes and BMW cars every Friday! Perfect for that special date or dinner.

[naveenroy]

Always wanted to try Zoomcars - also a chance to try the E2o. Planning to hire a E2o next week when taking dad for a hospital checkup. Drive will be from Koramangala - Grand Mercure to Narayana Hrudalaya and back. I only own a bike so guess it should be possible to park my bike in the hotel parking and take the car and back?

Also, any tips for a first time electric car user?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Always wanted to try Zoomcars - also a chance to try the E2o. Planning to hire a E2o next week when taking dad for a hospital checkup. Drive will be from Koramangala - Grand Mercure to Narayana Hrudalaya and back. I only own a bike so guess it should be possible to park my bike in the hotel parking and take the car and back?

Also, any tips for a first time electric car user?

I am not at all sure a hotel would appreciate people other than its guests and visitors using its parking lot. You could pick it up from the zoomcar location closest to your house, drop your dad back home and then return it to the same zoomcar location.

Watch for the brakes - and ensure you know the engine is turned on, or you might end up driving the car through a wall or something. Plenty of electric car stories on tbhp.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by hserus

I am not at all sure a hotel would appreciate people other than its guests and visitors using its parking lot. You could pick it up from the zoomcar location closest to your house, drop your dad back home and then return it to the same zoomcar location.

Watch for the brakes - and ensure you know the engine is turned on, or you might end up driving the car through a wall or something. Plenty of electric car stories on tbhp.

Ah I mentioned parking in the hotel since the pickup point for the car is mentioned as this hotel. Will check with ZoomCars on this point.

Yes, thats the thing - the noise-levels of a running electric car and the brakes. Here's to hoping that I don't end up having to pay more than the ride costs

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Ah I mentioned parking in the hotel since the pickup point for the car is mentioned as this hotel. Will check with ZoomCars on this point.

Yes, thats the thing - the noise-levels of a running electric car and the brakes. Here's to hoping that I don't end up having to pay more than the ride costs

Most Zoom car pick up points offer a parking spot for your vehicle . Whenever I pickup a zoom car from brigade millennium , I park my bike there and pick it up when I return the car.

[Aston Singh]

I usually pick up the car from KPCT Mall, Fatima Nagar, Pune.

The cars are parked in the basement so you can park your vehicle there itself. But they do charge you. Paid like 100 bucks for 12 hours parking.

[noopster]

I finally got a chance to use Zoom yesterday. In Bangalore on work for a week I provisioned a Saturday morning to go visit someone in HRBR layout off the Outer Ring Road to finish some task long pending. Booked an A class about 3 weeks ago for 8 am pickup and 1 pm drop.

Pickup point was Ibis hotel at Bommanhalli so took an Uber cab there in the morning- had not realised how bad Bangalore traffic is even on Saturday morning so reached there about 20 mins late. This particular Zoom outlet is a manned one so all I had to do was mention my name and the car I had booked. A Zoom rep walked me to the car and quickly did a run through the car and where the papers were etc. I zoomed off within 10 mins. Returned exactly at one and dropped the keys off. Here are some of my observations:

- Biggest feeling was one if disappointment. The car looked like crap. The front Mercedes logo was missing, interiors were dusty and the smartphone provided was off (fully discharged).
- Billing needs to be a bit more transparent. I got billed for 2 km extra (30/-) over what I had already paid but it happened about two hours after the fact. What if I get whole slew of charges foisted on me but am already on a flight somewhere? Worth ruminating on.
- Checking the car out and in were seamless.
- Location is very good and convenient for pick ups and drops.
- Car was in good running condition. No issues really and it felt good to drive. 30000 odd on the odo.
- Fellow mod Viddy (resident Zoom expert) was with me part of the ride and observed that a couple of traffic cops gave our black and yellow boards more than a cursory glance. We weren't pulled over however. My drive was within city/state limits.
- Best thing is that the 5 hour drive cost me just 1150/- That is very reasonable and much more convenient than taking cabs especially since I had 3 stops. If you know your route and have easy parking options like I did, self drive is the way to go!
My wife was asking if I shot pics of myself with the Merc but the missing logo put me off so I just took this couple of pics.

My only advice to Zoomcar would be to launch a "clean car package" priced at maybe 500/- for those who actually value a little attention to detail regarding the car they are driving. Dusty interiors are unforgivable for a car picked up first thing in the morning! Otherwise I had a really good experience and hope the GLA or 3 series are available for my next ride.

[Aston Singh]

Originally Posted by noopster

My only advice to Zoomcar would be to launch a "clean car package" priced at maybe 500/- for those who actually value a little attention to detail regarding the car they are driving. Dusty interiors are unforgivable for a car picked up first thing in the morning! Otherwise I had a really good experience and hope the GLA or 3 series are available for my next ride.

Sir, I totally agree with you regarding the dirty interiors. I've rented the A and GLA, thrice in total and the interiors have always been dusty despite all three trips starting early in the morning. So this might sound funny, but I carry my own cleaning cloth and in my last trip I spent 10 good mins cleaning the interiors as soon as the sun came up.

But overall the experience has been great with Zoomcar. I am really really hoping they get the CLA. That'll be epic!