A year after launching Myles, a self-drive car service in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru with just 14 cars, India’s largest car rental company, Carzonrent, has expanded its fleet to 650 cars in 20 cities.

To cater to the growing demand, the company is ramping up its fleet to 40,000 cars at an investment of ₹400 crore over the next 3-5 years.

This is in addition to the ₹50-crore invested in Myles over the last 12 months.

High utilisation At present, 33 car models are available in 20 cities at prices ranging from ₹400 a day for a Tata Nano to ₹9,500 a day for a Mercedes E Class. “We are seeing over 75 per cent utilisation of our fleet of 650 cars, and we are completely booked for the year-end,” Sakshi Vij, Executive Director, Carzonrent India Pvt Ltd, told BusinessLine.

“The demand from our customers who are tourists, NRIs (non-resident Indians), young urban professionals, single female travellers, is on the rise. Today, searches on our website have grown to over 6 lakh a month from 95,000 a year ago,” he added.

Demand picking up Self-drive cars are very popular globally and especially in India, Vij said.

There’s no cost of ownership, no payment, no EMIs, insurance payment, maintenance costs, etc. “When you own a vehicle you will use it for less than 200 days in a year, on an average, so the cost of not using it for 165 days is also something the owner has to bear,” she added.

“All our cars come fitted with GPS devices which allows us to be able to reach customers through our 24/7 assistance service in case of a breakdown. The GPS also tracks for speed and car health and informs customers in case there is a problem.”

Affordable rent Carzonrent is working with original equipment manufacturers to deliver advantages to customers. The company recently added Tata Nanos to its fleet in Delhi and is offering it to young professionals and students in universities who find it very affordable to rent a Nano at ₹99 for an hour, inclusive of fuel costs.

In Bengaluru, Carzonrent offers Mahindra Reva electric cars for ₹100 an hour.

“In every city, we offer options from entry level to high-end cars, where customers can choose to pay ₹99 an hour for a Tata Nano to ₹1,200 an hour for the Mercedes E Class with options,” said Vij.

Ownership network Ownership of vehicles is a topic being debated globally. Data reveals that for every single car that is added to a car sharing network, there are 41 cars that can be eliminated from the ownership network.

“The self-drive market has started taking shape over the last 12 months. Over the next three-four years, we would expect around 10 per cent of the $8-billion (around ₹50,900 crore) Indian car rental market being occupied by self-drive cars,” said Vij.

While international car rental brands Hertz and Sixt exited the price-sensitive Indian market a few years ago, Avis Car Rental Services offers self-drive cars in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai.

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