[tazmaan]

Booked Ford Ecosport for a week starting 14th July. Paid everything in advance and I hope things work out as per reviews.

I am traveling to coorg with wife and Infant. I have to pickup car from Yeshwantpur Magnum Honda.

Its an evening pickup do I need to take any special care-do's-dont's?

Any input is helpful. Thanks

[amarpreet99]

Excellent choice of car.

I would suggest you request for an Infant seat(the kind where the baby can sleep in) before hand. Its quite useful and a recommended safety at least for a long trip.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by amarpreet99

Excellent choice of car.

I would suggest you request for an Infant seat(the kind where the baby can sleep in) before hand. Its quite useful and a recommended safety at least for a long trip.

I have my own Infant seat which my son is used to carrying that.

[amarpreet99]

Thats good then. You're all set. Make sure you do a solid PDI and take ample pictures.

Lastly, do let us know your experience.

[Vysakh]

2 myles experiences in Bangalore in the last month

1. Lazy saturday afternoon. Saw a car available for 2 days. Booked it, planned a trip to gokarna, made a hotel reservation (which clearly said non-refundable), packed stuff and was all set to go at evening and there comes a call about an hour or so from the carzonrent guy claiming the vehicle is not available, the booking will be cancelled and full amount will be refunded. Despite asking them to make other arrangements, the guy kept saying the same 3 things like the Rahul Gandhi-Arnab interview and hung up. Called the customer (dont) care who would ask me to hold and then never come back. After about 4 tries and giving a piece of my mind a girl (probably an intern) gave me the number of the regional manager at Bangalore. Called him up and explained the whole issue. Asked him to arrange another car or refund my hotel reservation charges. He said neither was possible and asked to call the customer care. Told him they are helpless and I got his number from them. He said he will check things and call back in 10 mins. Waited 15-20 mins, rang him a few times and he stopped attending the calls. Tried from another number and the guy picked up on the first ring. Upon realizing it was me, his tone changed and so did mine. This went on for a while and then I gave up. Tried cancelling the hotel reservations but that was of no use as they had mentioned beforehand that it was non-refundable. Called him and explained the situation. (Kept pestering them for 2 days and they refunded 50%. Well, better than nothing). The carzonrent guy (Mr. Madhusoodhan) called late night and said a duster was available but brakes weren't in good condition. Asked him to shove it up his sorry ass.
Sent them a mail and one guy called up and apologized a zillion times and offered to give a car free for 2 days. Said we should meet up and I gave him my office address. He sent a text late evening that he got occupied with other stuff and will meet me next day. This was a month ago and he still doesn't answer my calls. Have given up on the the free ride and the hotel reservations and vouched never to use carzonrent.

2. Friends planned a one day trip to chikmagalur and booked a car. I tagged along only to realize that they had booked an innova from carzonrent *facepalm*. Half heartedly, we went to the ulsoor pick up point. The folks were pretty rude and of not much help when asked for directions. The friend who had booked the car had only his license as the ID proof. They needed two. I had two. So I had to write a letter taking full responsibility instead of him and also the security deposit would be blocked from my CC. I asked about the refund process since nothing was mentioned on the site and they said 48-72 hours. Inspected the cars and noted the 2 scratches it had, the papers, the odo and fuel level. Took around half an hour for all this and we were set to go. The car was only 3 months old and had clocked 25k. Also a rev limiter was in place didn't allow the car to get past 3500rpm. ~140kmph on the highways was more than good enough for us though. No complaints there. Got 14kmpl for the 700km trip, nearly half of which didn't see the top 2 gears. No complaints there either. Returned the car in in 24 hours in the same condition. The fuel level had gone down a fraction which they claimed to be around 3 litres and asked to fill it or pay 200 and we chose the second. Got the invoice and they said the pre-auth would be unblocked in 2-3 days. A week later, the amount wasn't unblocked. Called them up, no use there. Wrote a mail. Got a reply 2 days later saying it has been unblocked and some random number as a 'reference number'. Checked the CC details and it wasn't unblocked. Replied that it wasn't and asked what the reference number provided was and where/how it can be used or what it was about. Another 2 days later came a mail saying they've forwarded it to the 'concerned department'. Day 13 today. Still waiting for them to unblock the security deposit. Haven't used the CC for 2 weeks now as the credit limit is almost maxed out.

tl;dr STRICTLY AVOID carzonrent.

[KPGB]

All,

Sorry for the long post.

Narrating a horrible experience I had with carzonrent - not for the selfdrive but for the chauffeur driven car rental for outstation.

I had to travel to Chennai ( from Bangalore) for a day for a very important event with family and thought will hire a bigger car instead of my Ikon and also avoid driving as I needed some rest before attending the event.

So, I go ahead and book a Innova ( or similar ) model in carzonrent website, payment made in full and acknowledgement received on Wednesday for the following Sunday travel. The status was showing as "Open" in their website...called them up on Friday and asked for confirmation that the car will be dispatched - got an answer, it is confirmed and I'll get an SMS 2 hours before travel - good enough. The status was still showing open on Saturday - bit worried, called them again to hear the answer "Don't worry sir, you'll get an SMS 2 hrs before confirmation and we are here 24 hrs to assist" - ok..worried but ok. Note - I made the booking for 5:00 AM Sunday.

Sunday - 3 AM - no SMS
Sunday - 3:15 AM - called up the customer care - the person otherside told, will check with dispatch and update me within 15 mins
Sunday - 3:45 AM - get a SMS with driver name and car details - thought, ok at last they did not ditch me ( what a fool was I ? )
Sunday - 4:30 AM - No call from driver..atleast he should be enquiring the exact place to pick up...right ? So, called the driver mobile. A sleepy guy on the other end -
Driver :"yes sir...I am the driver...you've booked for 6 - I'll come there..."
ME: I was tensed and told him - "boss, booking is for 5 AM..can you reach ?"
Driver - "Yes - I'll go to the office, pick up the car and come"
Me - "Where is your home and where is your office?"
Driver - "Office is in Ulsoor sir - I'll come"
Me thinking - Ok, Iam ditched for trusting CARZONRENT
Sunday Morning 5:00 AM - No call, neither from driver nor from cust care.
5:07 AM - called customer care and shouted that it's now 5:15 and no car is there...know what - he had the audacity to say "it is just 5:07 AM" and he went on to say that they had too many corporate bookings and hence could not arrange for dispatch. What the hell man - if they are unable to arrange, they should intimate me right ? he went on to say that I made the booking and it is my FAULT - that is the end of my softness.
5:25 AM - Just called the driver to check if he is anywhere on the way. You know what that guy tells ? Sir, I am in the office, will reach soon - do you want a 7 seater or 6 seater or whatever it was...? He has not even started the car,heck, not even decided on what car nor did anyone call me ?
Remember, all this while until 5:25 AM, I was the one making the calls and nothing I received from their end - what a customer satisfaction.

5:30 AM - Took my trusted Ford Ikon out and started.
5:50 AM - first call from the driver - did not attend. I think he called a couple of times.
6:00 AM - stopped for fuel, called their customer care and asked them to cancel the booking - he had the arrogance again to say - "Ok - as per terms and conditions, it will be cancelled and refund made "..Not even a slight sign of apology.

Came back from Chennai, made a call for cancellation and they promptly refunded the amount less Rs. 1000 - I've called them up again today to know why is it less Rs.1000 and they are going to check with dispatch and respond back to me. I am 200% sure, no one is going to call me nor I am going to get the full refund.

In future, I'll go for a local travel agency rather than doing any of these online thingy.

Note : There were lot of shoutings that happened b/w myself and customer care which I do not even remember properly due to me being highly tensed - but they never understood customer's problem is the only inference I could make.

Last, but the most important point - Thanks to my trusted Ford IKON :-)

Thanks

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by KPGB

All,

Came back from Chennai, made a call for cancellation and they promptly refunded the amount less Rs. 1000 - I've called them up again today to know why is it less Rs.1000 and they are going to check with dispatch and respond back to me. I am 200% sure, no one is going to call me nor I am going to get the full refund.

Thanks

That is the issue with advance payment. Don't just give up. Call them up at least 2 -3 times a day and also put up post on facebook. It really helps. I have recently received a Rs 1000/- refund from Megacab airport taxi for overcharging. A threat of social media worked.

[KPGB]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

That is the issue with advance payment. Don't just give up. Call them up at least 2 -3 times a day and also put up post on facebook. It really helps. I have recently received a Rs 1000/- refund from Megacab airport taxi for overcharging. A threat of social media worked.

Thanks @PetrolRider - more than the 1000 bucks, it is the mental agony that I went through due to this careless attitude from their part...I've asked them for reason for the less refund today only - so, let me wait for a day or two before I call them again.

Thanks

[vishwaschettri]

Carzonrent keeps on surprising me plesantly with their unmatched service and progressive thinking.

While booking a local chauffeur driven car on their website (which worked out to be a brilliant experience) stumbled upon this

http://www.carzonrent.com/ladakh/

Whereas others shun renting self drive cars for such treacherous route they saw potential and created a separate category for this.

Fortuner, Endeavour, XUV, Innova, Safari & Scorpio are available at slight premium from their regular rentals.

Killer deals I would say since many here buy these cars with Ladakh trip in mind.

Now you can rent the same car at a fraction of the cost.

Cheers
Vishwas

p.s. - It needs to be seen how does the Ladakh taxi union reacts to these self drive cars being driven to Pangong & Nubra.

[vishwaschettri]

Used self drive rental once again on 15th August for a quick dash to Kasauli for work. As always flawless service and brilliant customer experience.

I was given a brand new Swift VDi with only 4000 kms on the odo and I logged 750 kms in 24 hours by the time I returned it. A pic of the car



Pickup being at odd hour and I being a regular now, the car was dropped at my doorstep and on returning I was dropped back home.

Hired at - 0400 hrs
Returned at - 0200 hrs.

Total run of 750 kms.

Commercials

• Carzonrent charge - 1583
• Fuel charge - 2400
• Punjab road tax - 200
• Himachal road tax - 610
• MCD toll tax for Delhi - 65x2 = 130
• Total - 4923

For a 750 km run, it comes to 6.56 rs/km all inclusive which was 70p/km more than the last time. I would attribute it to poorer fuel efficiency due to a brand new not run in engine.

On the whole 5 star rated service. I feel sorry for the people below who had a bad experience with carzonrent. My personal experience has been so excellent so far that I am not able to relate to the posts below.

Only fly in the ointment is the late release of pre authorisation amount which takes close to 15 days every time. I have escalated the issue this time lets see how it goes.

cheers
Vishwas

[Vitruvius]

I was in Delhi recently and I had prebooked a Swift vdi. At the time of pickup, I got a call from the Myles guy informing me that a Swift Dzire would be sent as replacement because the swift is unavailable. Also, they would not charge extra. The car had 20k on the odo, but was very well maintained. Papers were complete.
Also, having a CREDIT(not debit) card is a must for booking the car for more than a day. I did not have one so the service guy told me to book the car again but on an hourly rental. That way a security deposit is NOT required. But hourly rentals are expensive.

[palitrana]

I am looking at renting a car from Delhi for an onward trip being planned to Uttarakhand hills for 5 days. Now the choice seems to be what car.
Consideration set - Swift VDI vs Etios GD. Considering a mix of highway driving and driving in the hills for a majority, is there a suggestion I can ask for?

Also, there is a glaring miss in all their lower end cars - none of them have basic safety of Airbag. Isnt this a cause of worry, given the kind of driving I will be doing in the hills?

[SaneOp]

Folks, any idea if self-drive cars from Myles come with Luggage rack/carrier. am planning to hire later this year for an outstation marriage and as party of 7 people i do need a luggage carrier.

[vishwaschettri]

Originally Posted by SaneOp

Folks, any idea if self-drive cars from Myles come with Luggage rack/carrier. am planning to hire later this year for an outstation marriage and as party of 7 people i do need a luggage carrier.

No luggage carrier in any of their cars in Delhi. Further Innovas are with captain chairs in the second row so anymore than 6 well built adults is a squeeze.

Originally Posted by palitrana

Also, there is a glaring miss in all their lower end cars - none of them have basic safety of Airbag. Isnt this a cause of worry, given the kind of driving I will be doing in the hills?

Swift will be fine for your purpose. If you want a car with airbag then their innovas have driver side airbag.

cheers
Vishwas

[napster1311]

Mod Note: Post moved. Please post in the correct thread going forward.

I rented a VW Polo in Delhi last year in November from Carzonrent thining that I will pick up a car just like I used to at the US airports and will zoom straight to the home. I had paid online in advance and discussed with the Cust Care Helpline at length about the policies and Accident Coverage.

But to my horrors it was a disgusting experience in terms of staff professionalism. Me and My wife were asked to wait outside the Airport Terminal in the Chilling cold of Delhi for 30 minutes. Then bouncer like guy came out and asked me to give him my original passport and Credit Card so that he can do the documentation. I argued with him told him that I will not give you anything, take me to the counter. Then I was told that Carzonrent counter is inside the International Airport Terminal and if I wish to do the documentation myself I will have to buy entry ticket 150 INR I think. Anyways what choice did I have as I had paid them online. I went inside did all the formalities and asked for the receipt of 50K they charged as security deposit on my card, I was told plz keep this transaction reciept thats all, we dont give any reciept as we have not charged you yet. Wow!!!

Then worst part came when I got the car after checking for any existing damage I was told that all the depreciation due to any accident damages and the loss of business due to unavailibilty of the car will be borne by the customer. I asked that I was told by your customer care that car is insured so they told me that car is insured but Carzonrent Losses will be paid by you only.


Due to this reason I hardly used that Polo and it was a headache for 2 days till I returned it safely without any scratches. Because no matter how safe you drive who knows any when anyone can bang your car even in the parking area.

After that I decided not to rent a self driven car till we are offerred the same insurance coverage as Hertz or Avis provides in US/EU.