Self-driving cars 'sold out' before the holidays, but if you know how, you can still rent them at the last minute

The closer to the holiday, the higher the car rental price.

The 5-day Hung King Commemoration Day and April 30-May 1 holiday is the time when many families return to their hometowns, travel..., leading to an increase in the demand for self-driving car rentals. This is also the time when self-driving car businesses are busy at full capacity to provide cars to serve customers.

According to VietNamNet reporters, with one day left until the holiday, the majority of self-drive car rental establishments in Hanoi have "closed their books" and are even preparing to hand over cars to customers.

At the QT88 self-drive car rental facility on Khuc Thua Du street (Cau Giay district, Hanoi), all of the more than 30 cars had customers who signed contracts a week ago.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Trung - the owner of this establishment said that during the April 30 - May 1 holiday this year, the demand for self-driving car rental increased compared to previous years. The "hottest" are still popular car models such as Toyota Vios, KIA K3/Cerato, VinFast Fadil, Mazda3,... However, the rental price only increased slightly by about 10-20% compared to normal days, not as high as during the Lunar New Year.

Specifically, A-class cars like KIA Morning, Hyundai Grand i10, VinFast Fadil cost around 600-700 thousand/day. B-class and C-class sedans range from 700-900 thousand/day; and slightly more "luxurious" cars like Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson or Xpander cost over 1 million/day. Similar to Tet, customers must rent for at least 4-5 days and cannot split them up.

Contacting another self-drive car rental facility in Van Quan (Ha Dong, Hanoi) on the morning of April 28, the staff there said that there were still cars for rent, but they were some old "grass" cars like Hyundai Grand i10 or Toyota Vios, the price was not cheap, ranging from 700-900 thousand VND. However, this is a rare facility that still has cars for rent.

Most self-drive car rental establishments have been "sold out" for about a week now. (Illustration photo: Hoang Hiep)

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nam (34 years old, residing in Thanh Xuan district, Hanoi) is in need of renting a self-driving car to take his family back to his hometown. He said that renting a self-driving car during the holidays is like "the slow buffalo drinks muddy water". If you do not book early, you will not have a satisfactory choice and the price will be high.

"Through an acquaintance, I just booked a 2016 Hyundai i10 for 800,000 VND/day. However, the car is manual, not automatic as he wanted. With 5 days of spending 4 million VND just for the car rental, not including the deposit, but I still have to grit my teeth and pay because my family needs it," Mr. Nam shared.

Self-driving car rental apps are booming

In fact, for a few years now, car rental is not only for companies and businesses specializing in self-driving car rental, but people who have unused cars can also rent them out in many ways. The most popular is through car rental applications (apps) such as Sugo, Traveloka, Zoomcar, Mioto, Xego, Chungxe,...

Participants, regardless of their status, must register as members and pass verification steps to be granted an account. To rent, the car owner must prove that he or she is the "owner" or authorized; and the renter must have a valid driver's license. Otherwise, the two parties will work directly with each other to make a deposit and legal commitment.

These applications help people with spare cars to post all information such as car model, year of manufacture, condition, rental price, time and location available for rent,... and more importantly, help people who need to rent a car to access easily and quickly.

Apps make renting and leasing self-drive cars easier.

Mr. Do Thanh An (residing in Dong Da district, Hanoi) owns a 2015 KIA K3. During this holiday, he and his family traveled to Phu Quoc for 4 days without using the car. After a while of 'searching', he tried posting some pictures and his rental price on a self-drive car rental application and after only 30 minutes, a customer near his house contacted and "closed the deal".

"I rent it out for 750,000 VND/day, a little lower than the market price, but I require customers to rent for at least 5 days. Just 1 hour after posting, a customer contacted me and "closed" the deal. They made an appointment to come to my house early in the morning of April 29 to pick up the car," said Mr. An.

According to this car owner, self-driving car rental applications are a great solution for families with spare cars to increase their income not only on holidays but also on normal days, when traveling in the city is mainly by motorbike, not by car.

Also through such an application, Mr. Trinh Minh Giang (Ha Dong, Hanoi) has just rented a Suzuki XL7 to take his family to Quang Binh on the upcoming holiday. Before that, he was very hesitant because although his family had a car, it was only a 4-seater, so traveling far with a large group of people was quite difficult.

"I thought there was no chance to rent a good, cheap car for a holiday trip, but luckily thanks to diligently "hunting for cars" on the apps, I was able to rent a satisfactory 7-seater car to take the whole family on a trip. The car owner also lives quite close to home, so it was convenient for both parties. I took a photo of my driver's license, ID card and paid a deposit of 30 million and that was it," Giang happily shared.

Right after closing the deal to rent a 7-seat car for 1 million/day, Mr. Giang immediately posted his KIA Soluto for rent for 800 thousand/day, and very quickly someone contacted him to make a deposit.

It can be seen that, with the development of technology, self-driving car rental is no longer "locked" to specialized car rental establishments, but anyone can share their car with others. Customers can freely choose without having to spend too much effort like the traditional way.

To rent a satisfactory car, customers usually have to book several weeks to a month in advance, but when knowing how to search on applications, sometimes "slow buffalo" does not necessarily have to "drink muddy water".