[busydrive]

I have been using Zoomcar from the time they entered Bangalore. I have used their cars in Jaipur, Guwahati, Vizag apart from Bangalore.
In the past the experience used to be good. However with the onset of Zap this has taken a very bad turn. Three times last year my bookings were cancelled due to unavailability of cars! Twice I got such dirty cars that I had to take the car for a wash before I could ask my family to board it. This Zap thing has spoiled their name and I am not going to use their services unless they provide a way for me to book their own cars. Their own ones are still ok (I have personally checked the ones available near Sakra hospital in Bangalore). The Zap ones are all over the place and in bad state.
Revv - the cars are not maintained well. While they check the car thoroughly before accepting return they don't work on the maintenance and cleanliness part to proper extent. Have stopped using their services.
DriveEzy - Once got a very nice Ertiga for my airport run. Nextday got a terribly maintained one. They are also using the Zap kind of model where they don't own the cars.
Next was Vroomdrive and so far I found them ok. They asked for Aadhar card while registering and that was my only problem, else their cars I found to be better and they also seemed to be working on the feedback provided on return. Not sure how long they will maintain it though.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by theflyingguy

With kids and wife getting bored and impatient, this was out of question. So I accepted the car and drove to Pune.

You would be a daredevil to use such a car even when you're alone.

But with family that includes a baby??

For that I can't seem to come up with an appropriate adjective..

[sanyog26]

Overall, my experience with ZoomCar has been fairly good.

The first time I opted for a ZoomCar was in Kolkata during December 2016. Opted for a Ford Aspire TDCi and received a fairly decent car with clean interiors. Basically, nothing to complain about. The parking lot was at a mall's basement parking. The attendant was helpful. A good experience overall.

My second experience with Zoomcar was in September 2017 (in T. Nagar, Chennai) when I chose a Ford Figo TDCi for a day. Car was in a good condition, cleaned and no mechanical issues. I was staying in T. Nagar, Chennai and the pick-up point was in Kodambakkam, barely 1.5 kms from my place, so took an Uber and drove to their parking lot. The guys out their were supportive. Overall a good experience.

The very next day (on a Sunday), I was struggling to find a rental car at ZoomCar near my place at T. Nagar Chennai, but was lucky was find a Swift LDi at Porur, which was a good 16-17kms from my place, but I didn't mind taking an Uber till that place since I badly needed a car for the day to search for a flat in the area due to my transfer to Chennai a week ago. Although that Swift was not in the best of the condition, but the attendant was overall helpful and upon my request, he thoroughly washed the car. Returned the car the same night, however, no attendant was at sight. So I chose to take a few pics of the car, upload them on their App and left.

My 4th encounter with ZoomCar was when I received a message from ZoomCar regarding an offer of 50% off on my next booking, applicable on a weekend. It was Saturday morning during October 2017, and I booked a Ford Figo yet again. But to my surprise, the customer care guys called me an hour before the scheduled pick-up time on that Saturday morning and informed me that the Figo in question was out for repairs and offered to either cancel the booking for a full refund or an upgrade (an Elite i20) at no extra cost. I accepted the latter offer. Imagine, at a cost of Rs. 650/-, I had a fairly premium hatchback to my disposal for 12 hours, diesel cost inclusive. Unfortunately, someone hit the front-left headlamp which cracked and due to this, I had a minor issue while returning the car at night, for which I don't hold them responsible. Overall, an ok experience.

In the meantime (December 2017), I had some guests from Delhi and wanted to show them around Chennai. Was unable to book a ZoomCar and opted for a Revv for the first time. Booked a Honda Amaze, although slightly costly when compared to ZoomCars, but VFM for sure. Extremely clean cars, both inside out. Kept it for a day and returned it the same night, trouble-free experience, I must say.

Next month, in the second week of January 2018, I had 3 friends visiting Chennai for a week and we had planned an almost 2000 kms trip down south (Chennai-Pondicherry-Rameshwaram-Dhanushkodi-Kanyakumari-Madurai-Tirupati-Chennai). Booked a Figo TDCi from ZoomCar. Pick-up point was around 6kms from my place in T. Nagar Chennai, took an Uber, picked up the car. It was in decent condition, though not phenomenal, considering my previous month's experience with Revv. Anyhow, car drove well over 5 days and AC was excellent considering 4 adults on board with full luggage. Car performed really well. Returned the car after 5 days. Hassle-free experience.

2 days later, I booked a Swift VDi from Revv. Superbly clean car, both interiors as well as exteriors. The car was delivered at my flat in T. Nagar Chennai bang on time at 4:30am on a Saturday morning sometime in January 2018. I had to drive down to Kanchipuram that morning and return the same day. Hassle-free experience and a brilliant, almost unused car. Returned the car the night (Revv's executive came at my place for pickup), which was a smooth affair.

5 months later, my parents flew from Delhi to Chennai for a week and once again, I booked Figo from ZoomCar for 4 days for my trip covering Chennai-Pondichery-Madurai-Rameshwaram-Chennai. There was some issue with the Turbo-Charger/fuel filter which resulted in poor-pick-up. The tyres were worn out and I had to change one of the tyres at Rameshwaram since there were some bubble on the outer surface, which made opt for a safer alternative. Overall an ok experience, barring the two aforementioned issues. Returned the car at the end of 4 days. Not much trouble.

Thereafter, booked a Swift LDi from Zoomcar for a one-day trip to Tirupati from Chennai. The car was in good condition except the fact that it was difficult in inserting the key in the ignition. Upon enquiry, the ZoomCar attendant told me that the previous customer had lost the original car keys and this was a duplicate key and hence slight niggles. I was told that I will get used to it and anyhow, it was a day's trip only. With no option, I accepted their offer. Fortunately, faced no issue on the way and returned the car the same night in one piece.

My next experience was with a Mahindra XUV500 with ZoomCar in Delhi last June 2019. My pick-up point was around 10kms away in Noida and my dad and I drove till Noida in our car and brought home the sprankingly new XUV. This particular XUV had only 4000kms on odo and was barely 2.5 months old at that time. Lucky me that I got a brand new car at a super attractive offer (almost 30-40% discount). I kept that XUV for a total of 3 days and drove to Nainital and Ranikhet and was genuinely impress at the deal I got for an almost new car. And yes, the interiors were absolutely clean. Returned the car 3 days later at the same parking spot in Sector-16 Noida on a Sunday evening. Trouble-some experience except the fact found no-one at the parking spot and had to park it myself without any human intervention (except the general parking attendant who was not a ZoomCar employee asking me to park the car a little further after the car was remotely locked).

In the end, I feel I have had an overall good experience with rental cars in India and would definitely keep using them in future. However, I must say Revv better maintained cars them compared to ZoomCar, although that comes at a price since Revv is more expensive than ZoomCar. So basically, for the price you pay for a ZoomCar, the service is ok.

With regard to other members posts regarding poor quality cars from ZoomCar, I feel it depends on us as customers to treat their cars well. The bad condition of their rental cars is due to the abuse by the customers only. So it's not fair to criticize them except in extreme circumstances.

[Aqua]

So I used Zoom Car, for the first time in Oct 2019, after hearing good reviews from my colleagues.


So it happened that my extended family was coming to my place and I needed a 7-seater for that. My car is a 4-5 seater.


So I booked a Zoom-Tata Hexa for 2 days. At the time of booking the app mentioned a particular mall where I could pickup the car. About 24 hours before pickup I got a message from zoom car mentoning a new location for pickup, which was totally a shady place on the road and almost 5 kms from the earlier location.


Nonetheless, I went at the location. To my horror, the car was so dirty (inside-outside) that I would not even touch the car. But I had no other option since my family was waiting. I called the call center about the dirty car and they told me get it cleaned and they would reimburse only 500 Rs. I said nobody will clean this huge car for Rs 500. And the amount of dirty this is, they will infact charge double the regular amount. And also why would I waste my planned holiday to get a car cleaned just because Zoom Cars bad service.


The car looked like it was used in a rally, inside out. It had dents and so and the left footboard was missing!


The car had dirt inside which would have clogged the vaccum cleaner if used. It had insects inside.


Even the car mechanically was abused so much that the clutch seemed like a truck clutch!


But I had no option since I could not get another car from Zoom or any other aggregator. And had to use it only.




This is the last time I used Zoom, I have even deleted the app from my phone. Never am going to use Zoom and not recommending to anyone. Infact recommending not to use Zoom Cars.

[manjunathkl]

Originally Posted by bblost

I will never use ZOOM CARS ever again.

I have never used Zoom Car in the past. I will never use Zoom Car in the future. I have heard horror stories from my friends and on T-BHP members who have rented a Zoom car.

Summary of issues reported:
1. Complex and often exorbitant pricing
2. Cleanliness of the car exterior and interior
3. Experience of pick-up and drop is worst
4. The booking process is buggy/confusing and will lead to wrong bookings and billing errors
5. Customer Service is NON-EXISTENT for practical purposes
6. In case of even minor accidents, customer's penalty is too high, inspite of insurance
7. All cars are base variants and lack any creature comforts or decent safety features.
8. Speed limit of 80Kmph for the entire drive
9. Sometimes the cars are poorly maintained and breaks down

I have rented cars/bikes in Goa from unbranded car rentals. I had a significantly better experience than Zoom Car experience I get to hear. It is a shame that a corporate run by smart MBA executives delivers such a bad experience.

Revv seems to be a lot better. If I use it, I will report the experience.

[aashishnb]

Every time I thought of looking at a self-drive rental car, it turned out that hiring a full taxi (with a chauffeur) worked out to be cheaper.


It just made more sense to take a taxi and not have the hassles of driving yourself.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

Every time I thought of looking at a self-drive rental car, it turned out that hiring a full taxi (with a chauffeur) worked out to be cheaper.

It just made more sense to take a taxi and not have the hassles of driving yourself.

Depends on the trip length. For within two days or a single day trip (what cabbies charge as 8 hours 80 km) a self drive is far cheaper.

[Gansan]

^^ OT

I recently had to take a cab from Trichy to Chennai and Ola outstation showed Rs 6k for the straight trip, including tolls. Then my son booked a cab from Drop taxi. The total amount paid was Rs 4.5k including tolls, and a small (~20 km) deviation and a couple of hours waiting thrown in. The tariff was Rs 12 per km, Rs 300 driver bhata and Rs 200 waiting charges. Toll charges we have to pay. If we take for a round trip it is Rs 10 per km.

[RahuKetu]

I hired a TATA HEXA through Zoom Car nearly 2 months ago from Chennai to Puducherry for three days time. I had a mixed bag type of experience with Zoom Car. Car was parked in open ground and directions provided by them through Google maps were exact. Booking process was smooth.

However the car was dirty and had many scratches and broken tail lights. I extended my trip to Chidambaram, thereby increasing my kilometres more than the prescribed limit of 280 KM. I was unable to make that extra payment through their app. I raised ticket which was answered very vague by the customer care team. In place of providing exact solution, they just sent long standard FAQ e-mails. They however sent regular reminders in form of SMS to deposit the balance amount. Finally, after 3-4 days I got a phone call to deposit the money. After little bit of hot talk, they sent me link to do the payment which was finally successful.

[Turbohead]

Customers not responsible to pay compensation to third party in case of loss or damage.

Source:https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le31044437.ece

The Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Chennai has rejected a plea by car rental firm Zoom Cars India Pvt Ltd that the person who availed the services bears the responsibility towards third party in event of any loss or damage as per its member agreement, in a road accident case. It said the member agreement has not been produced and held that the company, as the owner of the car, is liable to pay the compensation to the person injured in an accident.


In his petition, Kumar said that while he was walking along the GST Road at Tirusulam overbridge service road, a car hit him on May 31, 2017 and as a result he sustained injuries. . Zoom Cars India Pvt Ltd, owner of the vehicle and The New India Assurance Co. Ltd, its insurer, were named as respondents.

In its response, Zoom Cars said that it is engaged in the business of letting out cars to its customers for a short period of time. At the time of accident, the car was let out to Mr. Amritan Shu and the person who availed of the services of the rental car bears the responsibility towards third parties in the event of any loss or damage arising out of the use of the rental, it added and prayed for the petition against it to be dismissed.

Based on the FIR and other records, the tribunal ruled that the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent act of the driver of the car. It fixed a compensation of about ₹3.77 lakh and directed the insurance firm to pay the amount.

[gatsby_great]

Had a below par experience upon booking a scorpio with zoomcar in Indore. Vehicle wasn't found at the indicated spot and had to travel 07 kms to get it. Vehicle wasn't clean at all and there were too many dents and rattles. At least O wasn't charged anything extra for that.

[evil_grin]

I've used Zoomcar in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar and had good experiences. The only complaint I had was the cars weren't very clean.

I'm yet to try Revv. Going from what you guys are saying, I should give them a try.

[Jajabor]

I have a very bad experience with zoom during my trip to Gujarat in January. I had booked a XUV 500 from zoom while boarding my flight to Ahmedabad from Guwahati I got the details of the XUV in zoom app pickup location was airport.

But after landing in Ahmedabad when I checked the zoom. App it refused to give the XUV details even after multiple tries. I than called zoom customer care to which the customer care executive said that she will get back to me. Me and my friend had no other option but to wait it out and we couldn't even go out of the airport as we were travelling with my 5 year old daughter and there was no waiting area outside the airport.

After 20 mins I got a call back from zoom customer care informing me that the XUV which we had booked is not available and they only have a Creta to offer to our disappointment and accepted the Creta with no other choice. As for the airport pickup location we had to hire a auto and travel for 4 kms to their parking.

It was quite unprofessional for zoom not informing me about a XUV not being available which I had booked well in advance and I coming to know only when I called them on getting the vehicle details after landing in Ahmedabad. I had registered a complaint with zoom but nobody from zoom cared to contact me after my trip was over.

[nikhilthegunner]

Originally Posted by Jajabor

I have a very bad experience with zoom during my trip to Gujarat in January. I had booked a XUV 500 from zoom while boarding my flight to Ahmedabad from Guwahati I got the details of the XUV in zoom app pickup location was airport.

It was quite unprofessional for zoom not informing me about a XUV not being available which I had booked well in advance and I coming to know only when I called them on getting the vehicle details after landing in Ahmedabad. I had registered a complaint with zoom but nobody from zoom cared to contact me after my trip was over.

There are 2 paragraphs that completely contradict each other. You booked the car a couple of hours before arriving in Ahmedabad and claim to have booked well in advance. I didn't understand this. How is booking some 2 hours before driving called booking well in advance? Isn't that a sort of short notice booking for Zoomcar? Would understand if you booked it like a week before or earlier than that.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by nikhilthegunner

There are 2 paragraphs that completely contradict each other. You booked the car a couple of hours before arriving in Ahmedabad and claim to have booked well in advance. I didn't understand this. How is booking some 2 hours before driving called booking well in advance? Isn't that a sort of short notice booking for Zoomcar? Would understand if you booked it like a week before or earlier than that.

It’s a punctuation issue. Obviously he had booked well in advance and received the details of the XUV when he was boarding his flight, two hours prior to the pickup.

In any case I don’t get why this is the OP’s fault in your reckoning. Even if Zoom allows the customer to book two hours in advance of a pickup, they should have the car ready, shouldn’t they?

People plan trips depending upon the rental bookings they make (I know I have). We are hearing of more and more cases of Zoom not delivering on their promises. Perhaps the time is ripe for a better-organised competitor to step in?