Self-drive car rental service, Zoomcar announces its plans to shift to a 100% marketplace model by the end of the year. The venture will sell off its fleet of owned cars in the coming time and will push up its associate programme further. The platform currently works with 2,600 cars which is a combination of cars actually owned and those of associates. But as disclosed by founder Greg Moran at a recent press release, these associate cars will now account for cent percent of its fleet.
The car rental platform initiated the said associate programme back in April, last year. Under the programme, users could link to the platform by providing associate car service and hence generate revenues for themselves. On the part of Zoomcar, it keeps 25% of revenues that its associates make as commission.
The inventory-led model is usually not preferred these days among the car services industry. Meru Cabs, Ola and Uber are among the few ride hailing services which work on the marketplace model — providing some employment opportunities to the society. Among the self-drive car rental startups, Myles and Revv, are also attracting private owners towards their rental platforms in order to supplement their fleet.
Greg Moran further stated,
Cost is certainly a consideration, but not the prime consideration. This provides for a much better customer experience and allows us to scale more. The biggest challenge has always been various supply constraints.
To boost up the process, Zoomcar has also launched an app-solution called ‘Cadabra’. The said app allows customers to unlock the cars rented, without having to interact with car-owners. It will also benefit the owners as the app will be put up in the associate cars through which the owner can keep a check on how the customers are driving. Moreover, it will update owners about fuel levels, distance travelled and engine health. The system will further offset maintenance and insurance costs for the company.
The venture recently scooped a funding from Chinese VC firm Cyber Carrier CL of about 10 million which will be utilized under the same.
