A Comprehensive Comparison Of Rental Car Services | Nitin Gupta Digs It Deep

Self-driven cars have been a recent hit with all the travel buffs. So, when we had our office trip planned for The Heritage Village, Manesar – we decided to avail one of the many services. For a total of 12 people, we needed a comfortable ride at an easy pocket-cost.

I had to research through multiple options, such as MiCar, ZoomCar, to study their car rentals charges, kms caps and the range of cars being offered. Here is a brief of my study and research before I finalised, Let Me Drive for an Innova.

Company	Let me Drive	MYLES	ZOOMCAR	MICAR	revv
iNNOVA	2481 /Day	2,630/day	4,080/day	2530/day	129/hr
dUSTER/ tERRANO	-	2,230/day	-	2380/day	95/hr
sCORPIO	-	2,500/day	3,120/day	-	89/hr
fORTUNER	4899 /Day	5,200/day	-	-	-
sWIFT DEZIRE	1529 /Day	1,500/day	-	1830/day	-
ECOSPORT	-	2,000/day	3,120/day	-	89/hr
fIGO/ i10Grand	1339 /Day	1,100/day	2,280/day	1480/day	56/hr (i10 Grand)
eTIOS	1733 /Day	1,550/day	-	1830/day	-
aMAZE	-	1,650/day	2,640/day	-	-
ERTIGA	1733 /Day	1,900/day	-	-	-

* Data Source from Individual website, and all prices is INR

KMS CAP	250km/Day	No CAP	250Km/day	No CAP	No CAP
Security	10,000 INR	50,000 INR	5,000 INR	10,000 INR	5,000 INR
Drop car	600 INR	NO	NO	100 INR	200 INR
Pick up Car	600 INR	NO	NO	100 INR	200 INR
27 x 7 Help	YES	YES	YES	Yes	YES
Response on phone	9 / 10 Great	N/A**	8 / 10 Moderately Good	5/10 Moderate	8/10 Moderately Good
Pet FriEndly	N/A**	N/A**	N/A**	Nope	Nope

* Data Source from Individual website, and all prices is INR
#A few of the pointers have been picked up from the very popular thread from Team-BHP

** We haven’t / didn’t had the chance to try them.

The booking procedure was very simple. You had to just login to register yourself with a list of mandatory documents Driving License and Identity Proof. Please keep a copy of them handy for verification process when you get the car.

The booking confirmation was received via email within minutes.

Pay Mode : e-WALLET – Only (because we were using AMEX).

Model	TOYOTA INNOVA
From	18/09/2015 - 06:00
To	20/09/2015 - 05:00
For	2 Day/s
Travelling to	Manesar, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Cars Driver	SELF
Base Cost	₹  5638
AddOn Services :
PickUp	₹ 599
Drop	₹ 599
Refundable Deposit	₹  10000
Extra Km Cost	₹  10
Paid	₹  16636
Total Amount	₹  16836
Discount	₹  0
Credits Fuel (Extra)	₹  200 ₹  1000

Several key points that you must be aware of:
• Each car model has a minimum billing amount. For the options I searched, they amounted to a minimum of 2 days of rental.
• The total amount was inclusive of full & comprehensive insurance (accident, theft etc.) as well.
• Yes, there was an upper limit on the number of kms, once could drive per day - 250Kms per day! For our booking of 2 days, this amounted to 500kms for each car (we booked two Innovas). Quite a fair deal which that fits our budget.
• Self-drive rentals come with an All-India taxi permit, However you need to take the State Taxes Separately!
• The best part about the rental car services is that you can decide the start & the end time, which makes the travel and ride all the more convenient and enjoyable.
• Let me Drive, provides the car with full tank of diesel. So, when you return the car back, you can chose to either top up the tank full or Let me Drive can charge it against your card.
• You can always get in touch with the 24 hour roadside assistance (+91-9999096556).

The Pickup Experience:
Since we were a group of 12, we needed the pickup to be at one common point, so that the travel could be ease and no one would have to wait for someone else. Of the many pickup locations in Delhi, we that the car be delivered at my place. Also, because several pickup up were lined up.
We were pleasantly surprised when we walked up to the Innova we asked for. The car was a BRAND NEW piece which has been invoiced (probably) just a few months back and had an odo-reading of the value 20,000 kms.

The Innova Experience:
We booked ourselves two Innova, each of them were the Top Most Model with passenger AC’s.
What's More (Now, these were never offered during our experience with another self-drive service - Mi-Car)–

• The car was clean and tidy.
• The tyre's (including the Stepney) were in great condition.
• The car's jack was not damaged!
• To my surprise they had a very comprehensive Medical Kit.
• For an outside Delhi ride, you will be provided with a tubeless puncture repair kit and small tire inflator. (This will cost you extra)
• The car was well equipped with a breakdown triangle and fire extinguisher.
• Not to forget they also sent a GPS on an additional cost, unlike my last trip with MiCar (something they missed).

The best was the punctuality and minimum paperwork which took less than 5 mins!

Each one of us fitted well, without complaint. The massive boot space easily swallowed our luggage. The absence of turbo lag plus the light controls made Innova a breeze to drive around Delhi. Innova’s excellent ride quality and great suspension lead to us to a comfortable ride all through the Delhi-Manesar expressway. Innova left us with a great experience. The drive cruised at 100kmph with ease.

We returned the car after 2 days of driving ~200 kms approx. The Innova is a very fuel efficient vehicle. The diesel gauge had dropped 1 of all the fuel bars - that too, when we were nearing the pickup location. Since we were nearing the time of pickup, I asked the Let Me Drive executive to charge the additional diesel amount against my card.

The Drop-Off Experience:
After the drive, I wanted to take some rest, I asked the company to pick up car from my residence. Since this company charged per day basis the car can be kept till 6 in the morning, then is when they bill you for the next day, I chose to get it picked up at 5 AM the next day.

To my amusement, No one came to pick up the car or even called till 11 in the day, I had to follow up it with them to remind them to pick up the car, after an hour, arrived two gentleman dressed up nicely, did a recce around the car, took a signature and went off!

By the time I got home post sending the car back from my society gate, a soft copy of the invoice was in my inbox.

The Innova we rented:

Equipped with the Fire Extinguisher

Nice and Clean - Remarkably Good!!