[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by jaaz

....unsatisfactory.....

Good luck with that, as Zoom probably don't have that word in their dictionary.

On my last booking with them a year ago, I refused to take a car that was totally acceptable and satisfactory by their standards, as they kept insisting. I'll stop at saying the car they were trying to get me to accept wouldn't look out of place in a demolition derby, after it's gone a couple rounds!

They do seem to have some new cars they either purchased recently or attached through the ZAP initiative, but it's a matter of time those are reduced to junk given Zoom apparently have no maintenance standards, neither in-house nor customer-facing.

[kousik]

Couldn't find too many reviews of the cars Zoomcar Chandigarh after going thru this thread, so making another attempt if someone cares to share any. Planning to take a trip to Himachal (Sangla) next month. Saw in their website XUV and Endeavour are available, does anyone have an idea how the condition will be like? And would they have more than 1 of these (so if the booked one is found broken they can give another instead of simply cancelling my booking)? Don't want a poorly maintained car to break down 'up there' and spoil my vacation. And of course, no Myles (had pathetic experience with them at Goa so wouldn't go anywhere near them).

[supertinu]

Guys there was this joke I had heard on TopGear that the fastest cars on road are rental cars and that is true in any part of the world. Especially in the context of India self driven rentals are new concept and people will certainly take sometime to mature up. But I dont think there is any easy way to control misuse or abuse. That is the reason why rental companies in US or other parts of the world charge fairly high for rentals. That money goes in ensuring the cars are maintained well and also shelf life is short. Hertz/Avis in US rarely keeps cars crossing 50K miles which is fairly less in context of US roads. Plus they also maintain enough inventory to handle delayed returns etc.

So in my view companies like Zoomcar need to factor in abuse, delays to plan their operation. Just because previous renters abused and gave the car back in dirty condition does not mean the next renter should get it dirty. it is zoomcar's responsibility to check and ensure the car is in a good shape before giving it out.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by supertinu

the fastest cars on road are rental cars and that is true in any part of the world.

"Drive it as if you don't own it."

Speaking of the other country I know and have rented cars in...

UK rental cars may be driven hard, but they are not smashed about. This is because one either pays extra for expensive additional indemnity for any damage, or suffers high charges for any damage done. Damaged cars are not put back on the road without repair. All this contributes to different attitudes.

As well as rental cars, I have also driven company cars. Again, one does not own the thing, so why take care of it? My answer to that was always that, whatever the car I drive, and whoever owns it, it is still my flesh bones and blood behind the wheel, and, first and foremost, that is what I am taking care of when I drive.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

"Drive it as if you don't own it."


UK rental cars may be driven hard, but they are not smashed about. This is because one either pays extra for expensive additional indemnity for any damage, or suffers high charges for any damage done. Damaged cars are not put back on the road without repair. All this contributes to different attitudes.

.

Believe me, the quoted repair costs are high as also the insurance excess - around 1000 pounds. The odd scratch is acceptable but hire companies are liabile if they provide a defective car

As for company cars - there is some liability if you return a car in less than satisfactory condition

[Thad E Ginathom]

I have damaged one company car and two rental cars.

1. rental car from national company: was expensive.

2. rental car from small company (attached to VW dealer!): no charge to me, although I know they "spent" (their own workshop) GBP2,000 on the repairs.

3. Cost me a black look from the manager and a lecture on increasing premiums due to the number of claims.

[GeneralJazz]

Used the ZoomCar Kochi last weekend. There are just 5 vehicles available as of now: Swift, Elite i20, Ecosport, Scorpio and Figo. I heard they are adding Jazz to the list.

No doorstep service available yet, so had to pick up from their "office". Its more of a warehouse jury rigged into a reception+office+living quarters+car parking. Location is a bit tricky. Its on one of the tiny roads connecting the by-pass to Palarivattom. Kalavath cross road. Very hard to spot. I know the guy in charge personally and he told me they had to pick an "out-of-the-way" location as they were getting heat from the local taxis.

Booked a Swift from 2 PM to 7 PM for a drive to Thrissur, as my Baleno was feeling a little blue (busted lower arm). Vehicle was quite new, with about 6000 kms on the odo.









Documented every dent and scrape on the car, and there were quite a few. Even though the car was barely out of its infancy, it had started to age prematurely. As a guy being used to driving a 12 year old car, I always drive cautiously over rough roads, still the rattles were apparent.

Got stuck in traffic so had to extend the return time by one hour. Reached by 8 and handed over the vehicle. Quite happy with the service. I was told that the i20 (which I wanted to book), was under repair. Bunch of engineering college kids took it off-road in Munnar and the front bumper was badly damaged.

With the abundance of colleges around Kochi, I really pity these cars. I wonder how they'll look one year down the line.

[dailydriver]

Interested in exploring the North East on your own, yet apprehensive of driving all the way there? You can opt for a Zoomcar now!

Guwahati has become the latest city to be covered by Zoomcar. Here is an excerpt from the mail I received today:

Dear Zoomer,

The wait is officially over! Zoomcar has launched in Guwahati and you can book a Self-drive in the city. If you are traveling for shopping, business commitment, wedding or taking a roadtrip, we have the perfect car for you to drive. Driving to multiple locations just got easier in Guwahati .

To get you started on your self-drive journey, we're giving you a 20% OFF on your trip with Zoomcar in Guwahati! Use code GUWZOOM20 when you make the booking to avail this special offer.

So, what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and get ready to hit the road!

[girimajiananth]

What would work out cheaper for long drives?

Is it zoomcar (with the zoom xl) option? I am allowed to drive upto 15KM per hour which includes diesel or other car rentals where I pay a flat rate every hour and drive as much as I want (this option does not include diesel).

I am planning a day trip to chennai to visit a few relatives. I am planning to leave as early as 6 AM and comeback the same day at around 10PM.

[hserus]

Zoomcar now revises its minimum age limit to 20. I guess they got tired of joyriding college students smashing up their cars.



Dear Zoomer,
Since inception, customer experience has always remained our absolute highest priority. One fundamental part of delivering a consistent experience is the ability to deliver a car in the best shape possible to every single customer.

Unfortunately, in recent months we’ve seen a considerable spike in vehicle downtime, primarily due to accidents across the fleet. This impacts our ability to consistently serve the next booking in all cases. This is the most painful development possible because it affects the core of customer experience in terms of car availability, car condition as well as our commitment to offer a remarkable self-drive experience each time.

To help mitigate this inherent customer experience challenge, we have revised our age limit policy, effective from 3rd April, 2017: The minimum age to book a Zoomcar is now 20 years. This age limit is also applicable to the co-driver in the booking. Please note that all our other policies will remain unchanged as we strive to make self-drive convenient as ever. You can check out the revised policy details here.

Keep Zoomin',
Team Zoomcar

[Jupiter-<3-Cars]

Originally Posted by hserus

Zoomcar now revises its minimum age limit to 20. I guess they got tired of joyriding college students smashing up their cars.

They've also silently increased the insurance deductible to ₹10k. It us actually quite unacceptable that they haven't notified members of this change to the terms of conditions. If they don't ask customers (especially those that do not need to pay the deposit) to accept the changes before booking, it would actually be illegal to charge the new amount (though hard to prove).

They also have a list of damage charges here now. Its pretty excessive, and I wonder if they would levy the full charges (e.g. ₹7,000 for a Figo bumper) for minor scratches?

With the earlier ₹5k liability limit and no crazy damage pricing, I was happy to rent Zoomcars occasionally.. but now I think I will look for other options. Especially in Indian cities where it is easy to get bumped or scratched for no fault of your own, I have lost faith in Zoomcar for the moment.

Myles has been there for a while now and I've seen that it charges upto ₹60k authorisation for more cars like the Innova.. I hope these kind of charges don't become standard.

Maybe the spread of car rentals in India will prompt premium credit card companies to cover rental damages.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jupiter-<3-Cars

They've also silently increased the insurance deductible to ₹10k. It us actually quite unacceptable that they haven't notified members of this change to the terms of conditions. If they don't ask customers (especially those that do not need to pay the deposit) to accept the changes before booking, it would actually be illegal to charge the new amount (though hard to prove).

Customers are subject to the contract they sign, whether the company draws their attention to changes or not.

However, as they have seen fit to advise about the age change (I suppose they have to do that: people need to know if they can book or not) then being "silent" about the other change is unfair.

(And I'd make it minimum age 25)

They also have a list of damage charges here now. Its pretty excessive, and I wonder if they would levy the full charges (e.g. ₹7,000 for a Figo bumper) for minor scratches?

Charges may seem high compared to actual repair costs that we might expect to pay, but the costs to them would include loss of earnings and overheads.

Whilst it will always be unfair to the innocent, I have no objection to raising the bar for car hire even further.

(Of course, whilst there is almost no bar to getting a licence, the benefits of my point of view are, I admit, dubious)

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Jupiter-<3-Cars

With the earlier ₹5k liability limit and no crazy damage pricing, I was happy to rent Zoomcars occasionally.. but now I think I will look for other options. Especially in Indian cities where it is easy to get bumped or scratched for no fault of your own, I have lost faith in Zoomcar for the moment.

Most foreign car hire companies will offer collision damage waiver / loss damage waiver as a paid / extra addon to the rental fee.

They also routinely give such a waiver for free to their regular customers who have safe driving records, corporate preferred customers etc.

[jaaz]

ZoomCar has increased prices across the Board. Almost all the hourly prices have gone up for the weekdays and Weekends.

For example:- Maruti Baleno was Rs. 115/- per hour for 10kms (Zoom Classic) in February 2017. Increased to Rs. 125/- in March, 2017 and now from 1st April, 2017, it has been increased to Rs. 135/- per hour. So, within 2 months, the price has been increased twice.

Except Baleno other Cars were not revised in March, 2017. But now, the hike is for almost all the Cars. Price increase doesn't justify for Cars like Figo, which are there from the date of inception of ZoomCar and all Cars have crossed 1 lakh kms on the odo in the year 2016 itself.

So, now We've more reasons to look away from ZoomCar.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by jaaz

ZoomCar has increased prices across the Board.

... ... ...

So, now We've more reasons to look away from ZoomCar.

Just possible it might work in favour of the hirer who wants a car in better condition.

But I am basing this on an assumption that the lower the price the less careful the hirers may be. Which could well be totally wrong.