P2P car rental agencies like
Getaround are playing a big part in driving market growth but still, the pedagogical work on the rates to be practiced is still on. Unlike what’s been predicted years ago, peer-to-peer car rental, one of the most profitable sectors of the collaborative economy, has not slowed down the pace for years.
The competition is fierce!
Private car rental companies are battling it out to claim the leading position of this new market with hundreds of thousands of vehicles in their listings in Europe and abroad, including tens of thousands in the UK. To continue the competition momentum, some agencies want to accelerate the deployment of technologies that open the doors of the vehicle with a Smartphone and eliminate the need to meet to hand over the keys. The housing, rented at approximately 29 Euros per month, is particularly appreciated by the owners who complete several rentals per month. 500 vehicles would already be equipped, particularly in Paris. The experience is definitely intended to be extended even more in the coming years.
What's the relationship like with classic car rental agencies?
More surprisingly, such car rental companies have struck deals with conventional ones. For instance, a customer looking to rent a car in fifteen days is sometimes offered 3 vehicles from a big and multinational classic rental company among the first 20 vehicles. This helps private car hire agencies meet some last-minute requests as explained by their CEOs. It has to be said that these solutions are currently still in a testing phase.
How can the prices be arranged?
The prices displayed by the classic renter are not necessarily much more expensive. This illustrates a problem faced by the new agencies: some individuals are attracted by the prospect of supplementing their incomes by renting their Peugeot 307, Polo or Fiesta but the price they ask for is prohibitive. "We still have a pedagogical work to do on this subject, agrees Paulin Dementhon, the founder of Drivy. We have just developed a recommendation engine that takes into account the year and model of the car, in order to provide more specific advice. It's not up to us to set prices, but a marketplace like ours has to make sure that the offer that's being suggested is consistent enough”. Other agencies provide similar recommendations to their customers and grant them a few weeks to adjust their rates in high periods (summer holidays) in order to take advantage of the stronger demand, as do the classic renters, without having to leave the market.