[GTO]

Just posting a warning before anyone else trusts Zoom Car with their money. Take a look at this thread (Zoom Car Fraud: Not returning deposits & not facilitating refunds) & you'll see many BHPians haven't received their deposits / refunds for months! Search on Google and you'll find thousands more complaints.

Feel sad because I've been a customer of theirs & had 3 wonderful experiences. But they were all a long time ago. Why I think Zoom Car will shut down:

• The company clearly has no money today.

• The "Zoom Car" brand itself has become a bad name, thanks to not returning customer monies & their poorly maintained cars. Cheat 1 Indian and you just lost 10,000 others.

• Zoom's customer service sucks, according to multiple reviews.

• The travel segment isn't expected to recover for a long time, thanks to Covid.

• No investor will be willing to invest money in this business.

• 8 years since launch and the company still doesn't make a rupee in profits. In FY19, the company lost 200 crores.

• The state of their fleet is pretty sad. Check BHPian posts on the main ZoomCar thread (Zoom Car Reviews - Self Drive Rentals in India). But without any money, how will they get new cars?

• Tried several pivots & new businesses (e.g. subscriptions), but none really gained any traction.

In a nutshell, no money, a brand with negative equity, old & abused fleet, sad customer service, shrinking market (due to Covid) and no profits. How long can this continue? The patient is in the ICU with multiple organ failure - will a donor (investor) come forward at this stage?

[poloman]

I think we should be a little more fair towards Zoom car. This business idea has been a blessing for a lot of people in a country like India where self rental was an alien concept.

Everywhere transport industry is struggling. Hertz has filed for bankruptcy. I had great experience with them. Hope they also revive and make a come back.

The entire travel and transport sector is plagued by refund complaints. Are airlines issuing full refund? In US some airlines have gone to court arguing the refund under these circumstances are applicable only if the airline cancel the flight.

So let us be more uncharitable to such companies. They should ideally give an option for deferred refunds or bookings.

[sj_koova]

Zoom was innovative and had the courage to start something revolutionary in India. We can't completely blame zoom for their sad state of affairs. Their customer base was mostly irresponsible young drivers and our road infrastructure is pathetic. Even if they wished the best, India couldn't offer them the best.
More than zoom, I feel sad for ourselves. I really wanted to hit the road in August. Wanted to do a monsoon vacation in Maharashtra.

[balenoed_]

This is infact a shocking observation.

I thought they are coming up with some innovative ways to make hay while sunshines. Just received this ad as a whatsapp forward 2 days back:



Zoom was never a good value for money to me. Numerous occasions we have planned and looked forward to hire but the rates (on weekends) what it slapped were way too high, probably more than hiring a 7 seater and a driver. Plus negative reviews all over various forums and poorly maintained cars apart.

With a seemingly bleak near future for public transports, I thought it would be brighter days of these self rentals ahead.

[narayans80]

In this country, we have a bad habit of treating others things and public property like crap. This Tejas Express (Luxury train Tejas Express vandalised on its maiden journey) is just one among many incidents that can be quoted.

In relation to cars, let alone yellow boards, even white board cars are driven badly. Rental cars don't stand a chance here.

I wonder how Revv or Myles are doing. They aren't doing anything radically different from Zoom. I think Avis India runs on chauffeured driven model entirely and there is a choice of self-driven/chauffeur driven in the case of Myles.

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Just received this ad as a whatsapp forward 2 days back

Doesn't the ad look like desperate measures to you?

[ajmat]

Some Points to note

1. No hire car makes all its money from actually renting cars. The money is made in volume discounts + manufacturing incentives of upto 40%. The cars will be used for 6 months and sold for either the same price as procured or 30% less than normal retail price. Zoom keeps the cars for ever
   
2. No car hire firm actually has many small branches (10+) in any city. It is normally usually one in the airport and 4-5 scattered around the city suburbs
   
3. Hire cars are reasonably well kept and cleaned after use. The cheaper Zip Cars and the like are not cleaned after every use but inspected daily.
   
4. Users are severely penalised is car is excessively dirty or damaged.

Despite that large hire car firms are not exactly money making. Zoom did not even follow the above rules.

The smaller firms with focussed operations in their area makes reasonable profit as they keep an eye on the car condition and usage.

[haisaikat]

Unlike the concept abroad where there is a different parity between income and livelihood of individuals, here in India an average earning person cannot afford a rented car for their vacation or convenience, and savings comes after your cost to maintain a family, schooling expenses of kids (quality primary education is costly here), insurances for medicals and retirement planning on top of any other assets like house or other things. This is different in abroad where Govt takes care of quite a few of these.

Why? Because of the parity of how much the new car cost w.r.t the income and that is translated to how much the charge of renting ends up to be as company ends up targeting to recover the cost of the car over time. So such renting service in India will fail because they fail to appeal to masses, enough. Many a time a less maintained old car with a chauffeur cost less than self drive rentals of new cars. So fewer takers in the later case.

This way I believe car subscription will also not be able to make a huge mark except that revenue inflow on manufacturer's accounting books that will help boost shareholder sentiment eventually.

For India, used car sellers are in a better position to rent their cars because the cost will be much less to recover and they can sell the car if they find a good buyer, the initial depreciation hit of a new car will not be much of a problem.

[Chetan_Rao]

Zoomcar have been C-R-A-P for a L-O-N-G time. Here's my review from 2016.

I stand by my opinion the only satisfied customers Zoomcar have had are those lucky enough to drive one of their cars before they're reduced to J-U-N-K, and their customer service was never up to any good.

The only sympathy I have is for the poor cars in their fleet. R.I.P.

[Cessna182]

Zoom was innovative, but after they charged me for damage I did not cause, I stopped using them. On most occasions it is easier to rent a cab with a driver for almost the same price as a self drive car.

Also, the complete lack of safety in their vehicles makes them a real hazard. An EcoSport I rented had a broken headlight, bald tires, poor brakes and the car veered to the left. Worst thing? I was not given the option to choose some other vehicle and had to continue the journey in that car.

Also, the VC/PE investors would probably look at selling the company instead of shutting it down.

[TheHelix0202]

Voted 'Yes' for the heck of it, so as not to be pessimistic. But I know deep down it won't survive; the word 'Zoom' conjures up in my mind a myriad of images, many of which depict - for lack of a better word - broken cars often driven by the irresponsible people who hire them. Not to make a generalized statement but respect for common or shared property is something we lack as a nation, because who gives a rodent's hindside about the next bloke using it, right?

[AMG Power]

To those advocating a charitable attitiude towards Zoom..

Have you lost money with Zoom ?

If not, you're being charitable with other people's money.

[Turbohead]

I accidentally voted yes. I meant no.

I personally do not wish for survival of companies with bad business practices. A refund is supposed to be a refund. You do not have license to withhold anyone's money just because you're in a soup.

I personally wish that Zoom goes down. Unless they decide to mend their business practices.

I know it's rude but bad business practices and people getting away with it has been the bane of our nation with respect to customer service.

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

I personally do not wish for survival of companies with bad business practices. A refund is supposed to be a refund. You do not have license to withhold anyone's money just because you're in a soup.

I personally wish that Zoom goes down. Unless they decide to mend their business practices.

I am not advocating companies should withhold refunds, but considering the circumstances, they should have an option to defer them and survive. Some thing like a moratorium. This is not wilful, default I suppose.

Mods: Please correct the typo in my first post, I meant "more charitable"

[prasathlr]

Sigh! I personally experienced the rise and fall of Zoomcar. IMO, The golden period for Zoomcar was between 2013-17. The quality of cars was top notch, the customer service was excellent and price was reasonable. Post 2017 it has been downhill for Zoomcar.

Experience between 2013 to 2017:
In 2013, I was fresh out of college and had joined an IT company. My batch in the IT company was a regular customer for Zoomcar, I and my friends had hired Zoomcars more than 15 times. So many wonderful trips throughout South India were only possible because of Zoomcar. In fact, because of Zoomcar, I became a competent driver, as only I had DL among my friends. I was extremely careful while driving Zoomcar and only once I ended up scratching the rear bumper of a XUV and Zoomcar deducted Rs.5k for it. The whole experience from booking the car, taking the delivery and dropping it off was so smooth. And not a single car in that time gave any sort of trouble. All the cars were very well maintained and ran excellently.

Experience between 2017 to 2019:
I had 2 horrendous experience in this period. All of my friends also stopped using Zoomcar in this period. Everyone had faced some kind of horrible experience with Zoomcar in this period.

• Family trip to Tirupati from Bangalore: Suddenly, I had to fly abroad for work , the company just gave me 2 days notice and booked the ticket. My mother was adamant I had to go to Tirupati before I left India. So I booked a Zoomcar that was very far away from my home. I arrived there on time, but for almost 3 hours they made me wait. The clutch was so freaking hard on top of that, the music system was not working, and the car was not properly cleaned. They gave the car directly to me after the customer dropped it off. I asked them to replace it but they said that was the only car available and I had to accept it. The initial plan was to leave Bangalore by 6PM but by the time I got the car it was 9PM and by the time I reached home it was 10:30PM, we decided to take a small nap and to leave by 2AM in the morning. Once we hit the highway I realized something was really wrong with the car. The car was pulling heavily towards the left whenever you crossed 60 Kmph and the steering rack was vibrating. We somehow managed to travel till Kolar but realized it was way too dangerous to drive. I called the Customer care service and explained the problem, I asked if it was possible to replace the car and to send a tow truck to carry the car. They said I had to drive the car back to Bangalore and that they can't do both the options requested. I fought for refund but they never gave it back. I lost close 10k and didn't even manage to go to Tirupati.
  
  Post that incident, we bought a car and I thought I would never see Zoomcar but I was so wrong!

• Trip to Hyderabad: I and my friends booked a Zoomcar in Hyderabad. My goodness, the car was parked in a really narrow street, only one vehicle could drive through the street. I guess the company had abandoned the hub concept. I had to open the car through my phone but for some reason it didn't work and the guy who was handling the car was not around. I called the customer care but they said they can't do anything. I had to wait for 2 hours for that guy to come and finally we took the car. The car drove from point A to point B. Nothing else worked, the clutch was freaking hard, the car was a mess. We were told to park in the exact location when we returned and in that street that was the only place where you could park the car without impeding the movement of vehicle. When we reached the place to return the car some other commerical vehicle was parked. So we politely told him that we had been asked by the car's owner to park but that guy started arguing with us. So we decided to park it further ahead but the house owner told us not to park there, even though it was on the opposite side and not in front of the house. For 3 hours we tried to reach the guy and eventually the commercial vehicle left and then we parked at that spot. We lost 2 hours of our booking in this whole process and then another 3 hours to the parking drama! The whole experience was such a mess that I decided never to book car from Zoomcar ever again.

Definitely, Zoomcar revolutionized car rentals in India but the model is unsustainable. I am actually surprised that they managed to stay afloat for 8 years. Especially in the last 3 years, the whole experience of renting a car has left such a negative impact on many customers. If car hire was a thing in India, then I would have definitely not bought a personal car. I would have been more than happy to use rental cars for the occasional outstation trip.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by poloman

I am not advocating companies should withhold refunds, but considering the circumstances, they should have an option to defer them and survive.

Well, they aren't issuing the refunds, so the "deferment" you seek is already enforced on customers . Many haven't received their refunds since 5 months, so exactly how much more deferment do you want? 1 year? 3 years? Interest-free? ZoomCar has found a new way of funding!

We don't live in a perfect world. But I do know one thing = if you take a customer's 100 bucks and don't deliver a product / service, that customer should receive his 100 bucks back ASAP.

Think of it from the customer's POV. He is also going through a harsh time due to Covid-19. Would he get "deferment" on his rent? Grocery expenses? Insurance bills? Other outflows?

Regardless, please continue this point on refunds on the ZoomCar refund fraud thread (Zoom Car Fraud: Not returning deposits & not facilitating refunds). We'll be taking this one off-topic. Thank you.