[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

.....in way explains the rapid deterioration of the condition of the cars and the service levels as being expressed here........

No it doesn't. Their service was pretty mediocre to begin with (app-based unlocking, customer service response etc. were always hit & miss), but nobody noticed/cared as much while the cars were relatively new and rates were cheap, and nobody complained as much initially as there weren't many alternatives to compare with.

Someone still needs to maintain the vehicles and if Zoom continues to have a lax policy on vehicle standards, nothing will change on that front by changing the asset ownership model. An ill-maintained car isn't going to fix itself.

As for Ford's involvement, I'm not sure if they'll take responsibility beyond providing preferential deals on new cars. That's not going to have any effect on what happens to cars once they're actually on the fleet.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Someone still needs to maintain the vehicles and if Zoom continues to have a lax policy on vehicle standards, nothing will change on that front by changing the asset ownership model. An ill-maintained car isn't going to fix itself.

Totally agree with you. I was only giving them the "benefit of doubt" in my proposition in my earlier post.

The "reliability/quality" of the cars is a major factor in any car rental operations to be successful. If that's taken away then what is left there as USP of that operation ? Low Rate ? Hourly Rental Rates ? Availability of High-end cars at relatively lower cost ?

I wonder !

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Will this be swansong or resurrection/revival ?

This was the question that came to my mind as soon as this little bit of news caught my eye today

Attachment 1594413

http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/A...12012017017035

In my view, this will further deteriorate the quality of cars. Since the cars are offered by owners in this model through Zoomcars, people who really take care of their cars or regularly use their cars for their daily usage would not lend any ways because of risks involved due to the fact that the car is driven by some unknown third parties. Only those who just want to earn money with their cars that are just lying around as dead capital takes the risk of lending their cars and will come forward to lend the cars. And after 4-5 trips, the car starts giving trouble which Owner would not be interested to spend money. So, one can easily imagine the condition of the cars.

[ajmat]

My humble two cents on why is Zoom doomed to fail

1. Too many locations, even Zip car does not have that many in NYC.
2. Too many locations means employing many people meaning high overheads Car condition is neither strictly monitored or strictly enforced
3. Depreciation - most big car hire firms get big discounts of upto 30%. The cars are rigidly sold off within 15000 miles and retailed at markt price so depreciation would be not too much
4. Based on current fleet condition, the cars are not at all saleable after a year. David Back told us that they wanted to retain cars for 3 years/ 50000 km. The cars will not survive that.
5. Sudden shift from Asset intensive to Asset light makes me smell a rat! If Zoom had high utilisation, why was leasing from the manufacturer not considered
6. The law does not support good driving, bad driving habits are over looked
7. Apps are half baked
8. Processes are not consistent
9. Too many variables - Too many locations, too many car varieties
10. No clear penalties for dirty or damaged cars
11. Hourly rates creates havoc in planning and predictability. You are worrying about 24 hour utlisation as opposed to 1 day

[rohiT Nonu]

[12] No faster refunds initiation.
[13] No proper communication link between on-call customer service agent and the vehicle location fleet attendant.
[14] No backup rewards granted to the customer if any delays are caused from the zoomcar side. (Have seen many of our fellow BHPians, forced to cancel their trip due to delays caused by zoom.
[15] No proper transparency on the logic of billing those extra kilometers travelled by the customer.

[akshaymahajan]

Just read this on Inshorts

Zoomcar to sell all cars in its fleet by year-end


Bengaluru-based self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar will be selling all the cars in its fleet by the end of this year. The move is a part of the startup's plan to shift completely to a marketplace model, where associates can add to their cars to Zoomcar's existing fleet. Zoomcar charges a 25% commission on the revenues that its associates make.

I pity the people who will buy most of these abused cars.

On the other hand, lets see how the marketplace model works. Maybe now they impose a quality check of some sort.

To add to the list above, Zoomcar needs to step up its customer satisfaction. In all the reports I see here, I haven't seen one case where Zoomcar upgraded a car when the originally booked car was unavailable or shabby. I can see only downgrades!

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by ajmat

My humble two cents on why is Zoom doomed to fail
[list=1]
[*]The law does not support good driving, bad driving habits are over looked[*]Processes are not consistent[*] No clear penalties for dirty or damaged cars

I think the above two are the most important one's, and adding to it, there is no provision for compensating the customer if Zoomcar themselves are unable to provide a drive-able car. All that a customer gets back is his booking amount and an apology.
Fact that the customer's vacation went for a toss is of no importance.
I understand that they cannot do much if previous rental returned the car damaged, but they have to keep a buffer of couple of cars per city at least (and provide it to the customer at the promised location instead of asking him to go to another location), to oversee that the customer does not suffer for it.

[prateekvidya]

I do not believe that the marketplace model is going to work out. If they couldn't control the quality of vehicles when it was completely under their own control, getting others to do it would be an even bigger ask. All major successful rental companies (Hertz, Europcar etc.) have their own fleet - of course the better road conditions and good handling by users there helps maintain the cars better, but then the issues with Zoomcar are at very basic level : car cleanliness, bodywork, basic servicing etc. which is alarming given that their rentals are not that cheap, and at good utilization, they must get their money back on the car much before it runs out of steam.

An additional perspective : it would help if they probably chose a different brand of cars, the ones which have established more reliability on Indian roads. They have few Marutis/Hyundais and no Fortuners - which is rather surprising.

[rohitnp]

I am planning a trip from Delhi to Auli and some other places in Uttarakhand in mid-Feb. Thinking of taking a GLA from zoom on rent. Is it still safe to take these cars or have they been done to death already?

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by rohitnp

Is it still safe to take these cars or have they been done to death already?

I've done 27 books from Zoomcar, 8 of them with Mercedes cars. In my experience, premium Zoom cars are better maintained than cheaper cars, definitely safe to drive.

Be warned though that premium cars are often unavailable at last minute due to customers driving them at 200 kph and crashing them.

[rohitnp]

Originally Posted by DevilsCry

I've done 27 books from Zoomcar, 8 of them with Mercedes cars. In my experience, premium Zoom cars are better maintained than cheaper cars, definitely safe to drive.

Be warned though that premium cars are often unavailable at last minute due to customers driving them at 200 kph and crashing them.

Thank you for the input. Planning to book this weekend for next month. And I understand the problems with driving fast. Planning to stick to safe speeds.

[ranjitp1]

Does Zoom have a pickup point at the Mumbai T2 terminal?If not,anybody having any experience with having picked up Zoom cars from the T2 terminal(details on procedures would help)Thanks in advance.

[blackwasp]

Hi all,

I would like to share a positive experience. I had to goto Andheri for training and Abarth wasn't available. Public transport would have taken a toll since I haven't travelled in peak hour Mumbai local since a while. A colleague and I decided to share a zoomcar. Pickup was from Vashi - Haware Fantasia Park's basement- it was dimly lit, and I had my hopes down. I spot a row of badly maintained old Figos. There was another customer getting his Scorpio, so I waited my turn. When I check the car number I was allotted, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a new Figo. Meanwhile another guy requested to get his car before me as he had to leave for Goa and was already late. I had time so I let him go first. He was ranting about getting a 65K kms done older Figo where as he was going on a long trip and was arguing with attendant about it. In the end he took the same car.

While I was doing the checklist, the attendant said "shayad aap gaadi aache chalate ho!" (I think you drive cars well). I asked how ? - He replied back saying the company allocates cars based on previous bookings, as well as monitoring the GPS data for those rides. I'm not sure I fully agree with him, but with 10-15 rides a year, they would have good data on me.


And the best part - used a promo code and used previous credits to get an amazing deal. Just 410 bucks for 13 hrs. Not bad.

I've had only one bad zoomcar experience so far, and that too because a previous customer had left the car in an extremely bad state. But zoomcar was prompt ( took an hr) to arrange another car.



PS - For a car enthusiast, driving a different car on empty morning roads in Mumbai is a good way to beat the Monday office blues.

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

He replied back saying the company allocates cars based on previous bookings, as well as monitoring the GPS data for those rides. I'm not sure I fully agree with him, but with 10-15 rides a year, they would have good data on me.

Exactly what I wonder about! Almost all my friends have reported bad experience with Zoomcar. They were either new customers (their bookings get cancelled at last minute) or were old customers with rash driving behavior (they get unreliable cars). I, on the other hand, always had got cars in good shape. I have had delays in few bookings, all due to keyless nonsense and technical glitches.

Makes me wonder if my history of 26 trips (including one accident) with them has something to do with it.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by DevilsCry

Exactly what I wonder about! Almost all my friends have reported bad experience with Zoomcar. They were either new customers (their bookings get cancelled at last minute) or were old customers with rash driving behavior (they get unreliable cars). I, on the other hand, always had got cars in good shape. I have had delays in few bookings, all due to keyless nonsense and technical glitches.

Makes me wonder if my history of 26 trips (including one accident) with them has something to do with it.

I am a conservative driver and the zoomcars I got were in decent shape age wise, but the issues with them were

1. AC non fuctional due to a clogged blower in one case

2. In another case, the vehicle had been hastily repaired after a rear ending the day before and no other vehicle was available. Plus it desperately needed an oil change, the engine felt extremely rough for a under four month old City iDTEC :(