When renting a self-drive car online during Tet, what should you keep in mind?

Demand for self-driving car rental for Tet holiday increases sharply - Photo: C.TRUNG

Contrary to expectations of a slowdown, the self-drive car rental market is still vibrant, with demand for booking cars still high in the next few days. Many car rental establishments have to mobilize more cars from other units to meet the needs of renters. Car rental apps are also actively participating in this vibrant market.

Long term car rental

"In recent days, many people have called the company to ask if self-drive cars are still available for rent. We are working with other units to mobilize more cars, ready to deliver cars on the days before Tet," said Mr. Nguyen Hoang Long, Director of City Transport Company (headquartered near Tan Son Nhat airport, Ho Chi Minh City) about customers' demand for car booking.

This company has 30 cars for rent in combos from 7 to 14 days, limiting rentals on odd days. And so far, nearly 90% of the number of cars have been "closed". Realizing that the demand is still increasing, Mr. Long said he is collaborating with units in the same field to share and mobilize more sources of 5-16 seat cars.

In particular, the demand for 5-7 seater cars is receiving the attention of many families who want to travel alone, avoiding crowded places such as bus stations or airports. In particular, when there is information about the Omicron variant in the community, the demand for customers to learn about car rental shows signs of increasing compared to 1 month ago.

According to our survey in Ho Chi Minh City, 4-seat self-drive rental cars are popular with Toyota Altis, Camry, Mazda 3, Honda City... 7-seat cars are Fortuner, Ford Everest, Innova G, Kia Sedona and 16-seat cars are popular with Ford Transit, Mercedes Sprinter.

The daily rental price for a 4-seat car is from 1.1 to 1.5 million VND, corresponding to a rental period of 4 to 14 days, and the total rental price is from 6 to 12 million VND. For a 7-seat car, the daily rental price is from 1.8 to 2.5 million VND, corresponding to a rental period of 4 to 14 days, and the total rental price is from 10 to 25 million VND. According to service providers, the price for self-drive car rental during this Tet holiday has increased by about 30-50% compared to normal days, but has not increased compared to the same period last year.

Book online, home delivery

In addition to renting cars directly at businesses, car rental apps are attracting customers' attention with their variety of cars, competitive prices and accompanying services. Currently, car rental apps that many people are interested in are XeGo, Chungxe, Mioto, Tripx, Exbook, Aleka...

The car rental price list applies the "Tet price" from January 24 to February 10 (December 22 to January 10). The Chungxe app offers 3 packages with different prices: 7-day package, 10-day package and 14-day package with higher prices than normal days but still "saving" up to 20% compared to booking odd days.

Similarly, the Sigo app also has a 10-day Lunar New Year car rental package with a price of 1 - 1.5 million VND/day depending on the model for a 5-seat car; 1.4 - 2.1 million VND/day for a 7-seat car. A representative of the self-drive car rental app XeGo said that there are more than thousands of cars in many segments from popular to luxury, making it easy to book a car in provinces and cities with just a few minutes of operation. Once the rental booking is finalized, the car will be delivered to your home.

According to this person, the app clearly displays prices, customers can choose according to their needs and budget, even 10-20% cheaper than traditional rental services. Customers who want to book a car must have sufficient documents to check when delivering the car such as citizen identification, driver's license and must deposit collateral such as cash (15 million VND) or a motorbike with original valid registration.

Meanwhile, the Aleka app provides car rental services with a license plate for a distance of 200km for 1.9 million VND. If customers want to keep the car for 3 days, the rental fee is up to 11 million VND. Customers must pay an additional 10,000 VND for each kilometer and 200,000 VND for each hour exceeding the regulations.

Commenting on the online car rental market, representatives of many apps said that customers tend to choose cars online with many types of cars, prices and especially home delivery service.

Be careful before receiving the car

To choose a satisfactory self-drive car, in addition to booking early to get a reasonable price, the renter needs to carefully check the documents, the current condition of the interior and exterior of the car. If more careful, the customer should take photos or videos of the condition of the rented car before handing it over, to avoid disputes and compensation when returning the car.

In particular, it is necessary to check more about the number of kilometers, fuel level and coolant. Customers should take the car for a test drive before receiving it to check the air conditioner, steering system... to detect problems early, avoiding unnecessary repairs after receiving the car.

According to Tuoi Tre