Self-drive car rental service attracts customers, prices increase before April 30 holiday

Services forcar rentalis very popular before the holidays.holidaylong term. (Illustration: Minh Hieu/Vietnam+)

There is still nearly half a month left until the April 30-May 1 holiday, but currently many companies and agencies that rent cars for self-driving in the capital have already fallen into a situation of "sold out." This year, the holiday lasts up to 5 days, so many people take advantage of going on long trips, leading to the self-driving car rental service.increase in pricedizzy.

It's not even a holiday yet and it's already packed.

Mr. Hoang Viet (Hai Ba Trung District) often uses private car rental services to travel on weekends and holidays. Since mid-April, he asked to book a 7-seat car to take his family back to his hometown on April 30, but received only notices that the schedules were full and there were no more cars from the rental units.

"Last year around this time, I had many options for booking a car, but this year, everything is completely different, I couldn't find a car. Even at some locations, I had booked in advance since the beginning of the month, but when I called back now, they said they had canceled the appointment," Mr. Viet shared.

Similarly, at the same time, at a car rental unit in Thanh Xuan district (Hanoi), when asked to make a rental appointment, the staff here flatly refused. The reason was that although there were nearly 20 cars left at the dealership, all of them had been "reserved" by customers until the end of the holiday. In order not to "displease" customers, this staff also said: "Currently, the store is trying to find and mobilize additional resources from outside and will call back if there are additional cars."

According to records, the number of people using self-driving car rental services at the present time has increased sharply by 200-300% compared to normal days. Units said that the demand for car rental has increased many times after the epidemic, when the trend of traveling or returning to the hometown of people has become higher and higher. Therefore, the supply of self-driving cars has become more limited and the car rental price has also increased accordingly.

Mr. Manh Hung, owner of a self-drive car rental facility on Nguyen Van Huyen Street (Cau Giay) said that he currently has about 20-30 cars for rent from popular to mid-range such as VinFast Fadil, Toyota Vios, Mitsubishi Xpander, Toyota Fortuner... with competitive rental prices for everyone to choose from.

According to Mr. Hung, the market price for self-drive car rental in Hanoi has skyrocketed from one and a half to two times. Specifically, 4-seat cars of class A and B such as VinFast Fadil, Hyundai Grand i10, Toyota Vios have rental prices of up to 700,000-1,200,000 VND during the holiday, while before that it was only about 400,000-600,000 VND.

“The 7-seat car segment is the most popular choice among consumers because it can carry many people and luggage. Therefore, the price has increased to 1-1.2 million VND/day for some models such as Mitsubishi Xpander, Toyota Innova... while on normal days it is from 600,000-800,000 VND/day. If you choose higher-end 7-seat models such as Toyota Fortuner, Kia Sedona, Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V... the rental price will increase to 1.2-1.6 million VND/day,” said Mr. Hung.

Rental price of VinFast Fadil 2022 model on a car rental app.

In addition to the traditional car rental market, some car rental service applications such as XeGo, Chungxe, Mioto, Tripx... are also bustling. Car rental prices here are higher.marketTraditional rental rates are around 5-10% and are also gradually “selling out.” Some units even only accept rental contracts for 3-5 full holiday days, not agreeing to rent individually for 1-2 days as before. In addition to the rental fee, customers must pay other fees such as insurance, services, etc.

“The car rental price has increased by 1.5 times and we still have to rent in blocks of 4 days. I also checked prices at many places and finally decided to rent a 7-seat Xpander for 4 days of the holiday. I have to accept the high price because everyone needs to use a car during the holidays," said Minh Vu, a car renter.

Be careful when renting a self-drive car

Renting a self-driving car is becoming popular and easy, even for new drivers. However, to avoid unwanted risks, renters should also pay attention to some important factors when renting a self-driving car.

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As one of the people who regularly use self-drive car rental services, Mr. Viet Hung (Hai Ba Trung district) said that the experience of renting a self-drive car on holidays is to register months in advance and even deposit money to choose cars that are satisfactory in quality.

“One experience is that before receiving the car, customers should carefully check the engine, spare parts, exterior and interior to see if the car has any scratches or damage. If you find any problems, you should take pictures with your phone and report them to the owner right away so that they can understand and not complain when returning the car,” said Mr. Hung.

Checking the vehicle's machinery, operation and exterior before renting is also worth noting. (Photo: PV/Vietnam+)

In fact, there have been many cases where, due to subjective lack of careful inspection, both the car owner and the car rental customer did not discover scratches or strange signs on the car. When returning the car, the two parties had a dispute and in the end, the customer was still the one who suffered the loss, having to compensate for mistakes that were not caused by them.

In addition, customers should also check the remaining fuel level in the car and it is best to test drive the car. If it is not okay, they can request to choose another car.

After receiving the key and handing over the vehicle condition, the customer needs to check the vehicle registration, compulsory insurance, vehicle circulation license, and vehicle inspection. If the car is mortgaged at a bank, the civil registration must be valid and have the bank's seal.

In addition to the above experiences, Mr. Van Thanh, owner of a self-drive car rental facility on Tran Khat Chan Street (Hai Ba Trung District) shared that customers who want to rent a self-drive car also need to pay attention to protecting the car and absolutely do not use alcohol while driving because cars are often worth several hundred thousand, even up to billions of dong, just a small collision causing scratches will cause the customer to rent the car to pay large compensation.

"For the self-drive car rental process to go smoothly, customers who rent a self-drive car need to remember to bring all the necessary documents for the procedure, including: Household registration (original) or business registration of the company if the car is rented in their name; ID card (original); original car or motorbike driver's license worth 18-20 million VND or cash equivalent in value," Mr. Thanh added./.