Evolution and Change in India Self Driven Car Rental Market Space in the last 5 years: Ken Research

Car rental industry in India has showcased a remarkable growth of double digit during FY’2010-FY’2015. During FY’2015, the market dynamics in car rental industry has drastically changed. The organized players have penetrated the market and acquired a significant proportion of market share.

Lured by the favorable opportunities in this market; new players have emerged into this segment which has driven the market revenues to over INR 300 billion in terms of transaction value during FY’2015.

The market for car rental has been dominated by unorganized players. However, the scenario is changing rapidly as new players are entering the market and are trying to counter larger portion of market share by providing competitive pricing, equipped with latest technology such as GPS and biometrics in their cars. In lieu to this, the organized players in the market are growing at a fast pace and will overtake the market share of unorganized players in the coming years.

It has been observed that the car rental companies primarily offer chauffer drive for intra-city travel. This is where self-drive car rental services have emerged as a suitable option, since the car rental companies do not offer intercity car services.

The concept of Self drive car rental is different from traditional car rental and has influenced many people who like occasional access to a vehicle of a different type than they use day-to-day.

Backed by investors, self drive companies have instigated to provide users an option to drive a car for long as well as short inter-city travel. The self drive car rental market derives majority of its revenues from long distance travels being registered during FY’2015. Apart from offering convenience to select among the range of self driven cars, these cars also provide better driving experience, and an extra seat as against chauffer driven car.
Moreover, the other reason for which self driven cars are used is for status symbol, since these self driven companies enables a user to have luxury cars, at affordable per hour and per day prices.

The market for self drive car rental has come into existence in India during 2010 with meager fleet size being served on self driven basis. This concept in car rental industry has gained wide popularity and thus, the self driven car market was able to post revenues worth INR 50 crore during FY’2010. Since FY’2013, the market for self driven cars in India has observed emergence of global players such as Avis Global, Hertz and several others, which fueled the market growth. In addition to this, rising urban population, growth in personal disposable income, growing preferences towards car travels for long distance leisure trips has further provided spurt to the market growth.

The organized market for self driven cars in India has been dominated by Carzonrent, Avis India, Zoom Car, Car Club and Mi Car. The other significant industry participants include players such as Myles, Auto Riders, Eco Rent a Car, Zoom Cars, Car Club, and Mi Cars. Most of these companies operate on the basis of Pay per Use Model, in which they charge only for the actual kilometers travelled.

The Self Drive Car rental industry provides huge opportunity for players who want to venture in this industry, since it is a largely untapped market and provides the players with high potential growth. The rise in number of tourists’ arrivals, increase in personal disposable income and increase in number of internet users will certainly change the market dynamics of the car rental industry for self driving.

The publication by Ken Research on India Self Drive Car Rental Market will be available in the month of February. The potential readers can refer to the scope of the sector coverage in the publication.