[Nempuguru]

Excellent thread. Crisp, beautiful photographs. Deserves 5 star.

You have used zoom cars extensively. Any instances of on lookers, cab guys, or traffic police questioning you about car? How safe is it to go to remote locations using rental cars?

I have read in some other thread cab mafia blocking these rental cars for Leh-Ladakh trip. Other places no issues I guess. Any inputs?

[tejas08]

Superb Article. You really have been trying out those Zoomcars since a long time I guess.

Here's an Image from the mail that I received from zoomcar. Zoomcars is in fact inviting people to have longer Test-drives of the cars before buying them.

[karthik123]

Excellent thread! I'm curious to know if you faced any problems with out-of-state RTO's? One of my trips with Zoom from Bangalore to Pondicherry I really had a tough time at a Tamil Nadu RTO near Vellore who wasn't willing to give me a permit slip because I have a non-transport license and the car is registered as a transport vehicle, he was also asking where is my uniform etc. ( Even a phone call from a Zoom representative didn't help as much as the under the bench payment did.) I'm assuming things have changed now because that incident was in Aug 2014 ( When Zoom was relatively a new concept).

But recently we took a Figo from Delhi to Manali, that was smooth as the car already had permits of Haryana, Himachal, but there was a minor hindrance at Ambala.

I believe national permit must and should be enough to take a commercial or transport vehicle all over the country. I still don't understand the meaning of a national permit when you have to take a separate permit to enter every state.

[ISO]

@DevilsCry

Thank you for this nice thread. I was recently thinking about zoom car for renting Tata safari and XUV 5OO for in-depth comparison as you rightly said test drive do not give fair idea about the vehicle.

[Sutripta]

Great thread.

Next logically should be to rate different agencies (Zoom/ Myles etc).

Was thinking of one thing: The place where one is supposed to pickup/ drop off the car: can one use that as a parking spot?

What is the penalty of not returning a car on time?

Regards
Sutripta

[GeeTee TSI]

Brilliant insight into test drive aspect of rentals! This is probably the only way one can 'test drive' the boot space and storage
That said, does the all-diesel fleet (almost) and the conspicuous absence of a few major automakers (Hyundai, VW et al) somewhat limit the test drive angle?

[anand.shankar]

Forget the cars, your coverage of the Western Ghats is awesome! I myself have rolled all over the Western Ghats in TN and KL, still I find some of those spots exotic!!

[RoadSurfer]

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Was thinking of one thing: The place where one is supposed to pickup/ drop off the car: can one use that as a parking spot?

What is the penalty of not returning a car on time?

1. Yes, one can park his/her vehicle from where the car is rented.
2. If the return is delayed, penalty is Rs 300 per hour + hourly charge of the vehicle. But if one gets the extension done post start and provided the vehicle is available, one has to pay normal hourly/ daily charges.

The above points are specific to Zoomcar since I haven't checked any other service yet.

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

@DevilsCry and others in Pune, have you used caronrent (myles) at the Pune airport?

I have not used Myles at Pune airport but I've read that in case of Zoom, a guy picks you at the airport to take to their airport pickup location.

Originally Posted by RWD

I had rented a Vento from them, a while back, in Delhi

I see that we had similar experience from Carzonrent.

Originally Posted by priyankar85

We were researching on all short trips(within 100kms) around Pune but had already visited most of them.

Please share the list with me. I need it.

Originally Posted by priyankar85

Did you check the papers, against whose name are the vehicles registered with?

I checked in only one car. It was registered in Zoomcar's name. I've read in an interview that Zoomcar owns majority of their fleet but not all.

Originally Posted by RoadSurfer

3 times it has been Figo. Can't think of any other car, I just love its steering and driving dynamics. Maybe it's time I move forward and check out other cars from their fleet.

I was in same situation. Rented Figo seven times (despite the fact that my parents also own a Figo).
I'm glad that I tried other cars. It is nice to experience diverse characteristics of different cars.

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

Any instances of on lookers, cab guys, or traffic police questioning you about car? How safe is it to go to remote locations using rental cars?

I have had no problem in Maharashtra so far. Most people here are not aware of rentals and they seem to think that I own the car.

Originally Posted by karthik123

I'm curious to know if you faced any problems with out-of-state RTO's?

I've not taken rental cars out of state yet. Legally there should be no problem but as you pointed out, one is still harassed depending on luck. I've even read about a Zoom Scorpio getting impounded this year because the customer didn't have commercial driving license (sorry I forgot which state it was).

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

That said, does the all-diesel fleet (almost) and the conspicuous absence of a few major automakers (Hyundai, VW et al) somewhat limit the test drive angle?

Yes! I really want petrol cars, VW & Hyundai etc on rental. My experience is still so incomplete.

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Next logically should be to rate different agencies (Zoom/ Myles etc).

Definitely. Waiting for rivals to come up and for BHPians to write reviews about them.

I entered self drive rental world with Carzonrent (is it same as Myles?). Unfortunately, three things turned me off:
1. Insane 30k deposit
2. Car has to be returned with full tank. Rules clearly state that I can return without full tank and pay a penalty. I chose to pay penalty instead of filling fuel at midnight. They refused to take back the car, didn't guide me to nearest fuel station either. Had to cross half of Pune in search for fuel.
3. They didn't keep list of damages while handing the car to me.

This became my first and last experience with Carzonrent. But it was over a year back. Hope things have improved now. I'm also waiting to try Revv and JustRide.

RoadSurfer has answered your questions correctly.

[BUXX]

^^ Revv will offer home delivery/pickup at a reasonable Rs.200.
Rs.500 if you live in their "non-serviceable" area and if rental>36 Hrs.

Will ask you to come 10 Kms away to their "hub" - CP Metro station, if you live where I do. and charge you 500 for this!

Another option in NCR is Volercars.
They have a Q3 that's reasonably priced at abt 6K/day

None of the providers offer any Breakdown replacement...

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

You have used zoom cars extensively. Any instances of on lookers, cab guys, or traffic police questioning you about car? How safe is it to go to remote locations using rental cars?

Many people have enquired about the whole business model, rules etc till date whenever you go to smaller towns. In the city it has been a common sight for many people and I havent been questioned yet. Here in Bangalore and one booking in Pune I was never approached by any cab drivers or the like. I guess things arent hostile like what it is in the north. Only once I was stopped in Pune by some guys collecting tax in the cantonment area which I was unaware of. Apart from that I havent been stopped till date

Once when we had been to Coorg in two identical zoom scorpios, we faced a lot of onlookers, especially because we kept to driving in convoy mode at drove at a sedate pace. There was a place where a tree had fallen blocking the road and people were clearing it. As we neared the place I guess they found the regn number to be a bit wierd and when they saw two similar looking cars, they started waving at the girls in the car, doing some sort of cheering. But they never came near the car, or as such. Guess they thought that I was some chaffeur driving around a celebrity with a few body guards sitting behind going by our looks .

On that single day, there were four zoom scorpios(including us two) and doing the same circuit. They would have got used to these cars I guess looking at the amount of cars that get rented, especially bangalore and surrounding areas.

[Nempuguru]

Yes, in metros it is very common to see zoom cars or similar self rentals. Here in Bangalore many use these especially for their weekend trips. One of my friend uses this service for his nearby weekend getaways. City surrounding rides are without any issues as per him.

Slightly OT, even relatively new services like ZipGo (mobile app based shuttle service) has many takers (techies) in Bangalore.

[gomzi]

Great write-up! I got attracted to this thread for the promised reviews of the zoomcars fleet, but the real start turn on this thread is your summary of places visited and location pics n tips.

Both my cars are ageing ~9yrs now and i'm seriously considering just buying a small automatic car for city and renting whenever we need to go out of town. Your thread is another nudge towards this approach.

[Tanveer_2558]

Loved reading it, Shows the actual pros and cons of a car on different routes, Also thanks for the detailed location of the places you visited, I had already selected a couple of them for a drive over there soon!

Thanks for sharing!

[Gagzie]

I have never tried using Zoomcar, or any other rental for that matter. Just had one small query regarding it. Do they have Zoomcar branding stickers on all their cars or they spare their luxury / high end cars? In the pics I could see it on almost all cars except Mercs and Fortuner!