 "Zoomcar launches doorstep delivery service across country")
Self-drive car rental service Zoomcar has launched its doorstep delivery service across all seven cities - Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh - it currently operates in. The company which is looking to expand its service to 25-30 cities in the next 12 to 18 months hopes the service will help increase bookings by 50 per cent.
Users will be able to beckon a car a location of their choice and avail a pickup upon their return for a fee of Rs 300 on top of the charges for renting the car. Zoomcar says it has rebuilt its booking process and put in place the capabilities and manpower to enable doorstep delivery and retrieval services.
“Customers are at the forefront of all our technological innovations at Zoomcar. We are constantly upgrading our services to enhance customer comfort and convenience and to leave them with a memorable experience of self-drive time and again,” said Greg Moran, co-founder and CEO of Zoomcar, said in a statement.
Apart from expanding its service across more cities, the company says it plans to increase the number of cars available on its platform from 2,000 to close to 15,000. While Zoomcar says it plans to raise more funds via the venture capital route this year, the capital expense for growing its fleet will be reduced by taking loans from banks and leasing them from third parties.
In Delhi, Zoomcar claims it has seen a 100 per cent growth in bookings during the odd-even experiment so far. With the governments forcing citizens to opt for alternate means of transport, Moran expects self-drive to get a boost as more cities could consider similar steps to reduce traffic on their own roads.
For now, the company will focus on serving Tier 1 cities, but does see a market for self-drive car rental services in Tier 2 towns as well. While it will enter smaller cities, the major increase in its fleet will be in major cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi.
