[mustang_shelby]

@DevilsCry, wonderful thread. Nice take on all the locations and great pictures to go with it. Your impressions of the cars you drove are icing on the cake.

@gomzi: I have been in the same boat for a while and was considering relying on rental services for my outstation trip needs and buy a nice hatch to replace my aging cars. I was quite hopeful as I liked how I had been able to rent and drive different cars in USA according to my needs and was excited about the same services coming to India.


After my personal experience of renting cars from both ZoomCar and CarzOnRent (Myles), I feel that both of these services need to mature quite a bit before we will be able to rely on them. Reasons:

1. Reliability: Both ZoomCar and Myles provided me cars with 80,000 kms on them(ZoomCar had other visible maintenance issues too). I will never buy a car that has been driven by 200 people over 80,000 kms. Then, how can I rent such a car to take my family to a trip?

2. Long lead times for booking: As the OP noted, trips need to be planned way in advance (8-12 days) and during festival times like Dussehra, Christmas etc (which are also peak travel times due to kids' vacations) the lead times get even longer.

3. Choice of models: You find out the exact model you will get only at the time of pickup. So if you are particular about safety features like ABS/Airbags and other key conveniences like driver seat height adjustment, good luck. I am not even sure if the franchisees offer higher end models of these cars. When I picked up a Duster from Myles, I was given the base 85 PS RXE model and the executive said thats the only one they provide.

4. Backup cars: There are none - the fleet is completely booked. See point #2. So if for any reason (earlier user did not return on time, or had an accident, car developed a problem), the car you booked is not available, getting another car of the same size would be purely luck. Now your trip is in jeopardy. This also means you need to keep a significant buffer at the start as well as at the end of your trip.

5. Pricing: I don't think the rentals are reasonably priced, in light of the evident cost cutting (points 1,3,4). For a similarly priced car, daily rental charged by Myles is 30-35% higher than a car of the same price in USA, and ZoomCar is even higher and it comes with a daily mileage limit. Weekend rates are still higher and festival rates are even higher. Maybe some competition will bring these prices down.


These are all based on my own personal experiences. I think these services are great to try out new cars and know them thoroughly before making a purchase decision, or to make short fun trips. For any serious trips with family, I would still prefer having my own car instead of relying on these services, for the time being. Moreover, the experience of having and loving your own car is special.
Which brings me back to searching for an appropriate new car to buy.

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Gagzie

Do they have Zoomcar branding stickers on all their cars or they spare their luxury / high end cars?

- Big Zoomcar branding on doors are there on most cars. High end cars (Mercedes & Fortuner) are spared by it.
- Every car without exception has little Zoomcar branding on their rear windscreen.
- Most cars including Fortuner have typical taxi white/yellow reflector strips. Only Mercedes cars are spared.

Originally Posted by gomzi

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.

I'm not sure if it is a good idea. My biggest concern is how safe rental cars are due to the abuse and bad maintenance they face. Also see this post by mustang_shelby.

Originally Posted by mustang_shelby

After my personal experience of renting cars from both ZoomCar and CarzOnRent (Myles), I feel that both of these services need to mature quite a bit before we will be able to rely on them.

Well summarized! Every point is spot on. Being given a rental car with 80k km on it, not good!

[Pal]

Oh what super reviewing! Didn't lose my attention one bit. Need more of such reviews for the mobile users.

Your thread and the advert pic someone shared has got me thinking - how we took the 'union' of the car and the owner for granted. It's got me drawing so many parellels to our marriage system. Test drives/ read ups seem like arranged marriages of the 60's/70's now where one would find out more via others' opinions and family members. So many people do that before committing for their next car purchase and then end up with having to get used to their cars or just live with it. Isn't that just wrong? C'mon, for most, like me, a car will be one of the most expensive buys, let alone a hugely emotional one

'Spending time with your partner' - bravo to the marketing team!!!

With such involving and accessible services coming in, the buying culture may well just change, just like the modern day marriage cycle! This enables one to get the family review it too. Brilliant!

If structured well, these avenues could well be the car world's pre-marriage dating service that owners could really rely on!

P.s. - 5 stars for the thread!

[Aston Singh]

@DevilsCry

You are definitely one big zoomcar fan! I have just done 5 trips till date and driven only the Mercedes Benz fleet. That's pretty much the only reason why I took interest in zoomcar - Brilliant prices, excellent service and Mercedes Benz!

I just had one query, the Fortuner is 4x4 as you mentioned but you haven't mentioned the transmission anywhere. Is it an AT or MT?

[vishalrao]

I'm also interested to take a Merc GLA for a spin - does anyone know whether it will be a Petrol or Diesel engine that Zoomcar provides?

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by Aston Singh

the Fortuner is 4x4 as you mentioned but you haven't mentioned the transmission anywhere. Is it an AT or MT?

Ah! I had forgotten to mention it. It is 5 speed manual.

Originally Posted by vishalrao

does anyone know whether it will be a Petrol or Diesel engine that Zoomcar provides?

It will be diesel for all the Mercedes cars.

[deepv]

DevilsCry ... this is an amazing topic you picked up!
Add to that the write-up is great (including fairly detailed pluses and minus w.r.t. each vehicle and destination)
and pictures are enticing (especially the scenic locations you covered).

I am sure this would be giving ideas to a lot of folks on genuinely test-driving cars.
One question though, I am sure you must have been very used to Figo,
but do you find it any difficult to pick up a new vehicle (as in you are driving a make for first time) and just take it for a long run?
I suppose you must be spending some time to get used to the options on console and/or handling of the car initially.

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by deepv

DevilsCry ... this is an amazing topic you picked up!
Add to that the write-up is great (including fairly detailed pluses and minus w.r.t. each vehicle and destination)
and pictures are enticing (especially the scenic locations you covered).

I am sure this would be giving ideas to a lot of folks on genuinely test-driving cars.
One question though, I am sure you must have been very used to Figo,
but do you find it any difficult to pick up a new vehicle (as in you are driving a make for first time) and just take it for a long run?
I suppose you must be spending some time to get used to the options on console and/or handling of the car initially.

If I could answer on his behalf - having rented cars across countries, including LHD cars - there is always a buffer time while you get adjusted to the vehicle. However, for 99% of the cars out there, it's pretty easy and quick to get accustomed to within a few minutes. Trick is to drive safely, and not begin pushing the car the minute you get into it! Understand how the handling and braking works.
The issue arises only when someone tries stunts within minutes of getting behind the wheel.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by deepv

One question though, I am sure you must have been very used to Figo,
but do you find it any difficult to pick up a new vehicle (as in you are driving a make for first time) and just take it for a long run?
I suppose you must be spending some time to get used to the options on console and/or handling of the car initially.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

If I could answer on his behalf - having rented cars across countries, including LHD cars - there is always a buffer time while you get adjusted to the vehicle. However, for 99% of the cars out there, it's pretty easy and quick to get accustomed to within a few minutes. Trick is to drive safely, and not begin pushing the car the minute you get into it! Understand how the handling and braking works.
The issue arises only when someone tries stunts within minutes of getting behind the wheel.

Same here - having driven multiple rentals (including LHD for the first time a couple of years ago), it takes a few minutes to get used to the driving position, controls, car feel, etc. A good practice to follow (was told by the enterprise rental guy) is to drive in the parking lot (if possible) and do a figure of 8, reverse it a couple of times and test brakes from a decent speed. Or drive it on the extreme right (or left in our case) for a mile or two in limited traffic. It does give a good feel of the car.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

...Trick is to drive safely, and not begin pushing the car the minute you get into it! Understand how the handling and braking works.
...

Originally Posted by torquecurve

... A good practice to follow (was told by the enterprise rental guy) is to drive in the parking lot (if possible) and do a figure of 8, reverse it a couple of times and test brakes from a decent speed. ...

Good points folks!
I suppose the basic point is not to do anything that you are not comfortable with, step up only gradually.

[sairamboko]

@DevilsCry - This is a wonderful thread!! Rated a well deserved 5 stars!

I have used zoomcar in Bangalore and Hyderabad and the experience was smooth. I have used their Nano, Ecosport and Amaze. Nano was reliable and too cheap!! it cost me only Rs.1500 approximately for a 23 hours booking!! the Ecosport which I used was heavily abused and the clutch was very hard!! Amaze - Don't even get me talking on this!! This is one of the worst cars I have driven recently!! Backpain started from the moment I sat inside. However I adjusted, the pain was there.

[amit_purohit20]

I visited Zoom car office in Mega Centre, Hadapsar, Pune. The guy there was a elderly guy and a very nice chap to interact with. He told me that Zoom cars are planning to start renting Harley's too! I hope they do come with the same 5k deposit and full insurance.