Zoomcar to switch to marketplace-only model by year-end

Self-drive car rental start-up Zoomcar is planning to shift completely to a marketplace model by the end of the year and will sell the cars in its fleet over time.

Zoomcar currently has a fleet of 2,600 cars- a combination of cars actually owned and those of associates. But in a press release on Wednesday, founder Greg Moran said that cars owned by associates would account for 100 percent of its fleet by the end of the year.

Cost is certainly a consideration, but not the prime consideration, said Moran. "This provides for a much better customer experience and allows us to scale more. The biggest challenge has always been various supply constraints,” said he.

Zoomcar started its associate programme, encouraging people to attach their cars to its platform, in April last year. Under the programme, users could link to the platform by providing associate car service and hence generate revenues for themselves. On the part of Zoomcar, it keeps 25% of revenues that its associates make as commission.

The inventory based model has become outdated in the cab hailing market with Ola, Meru, Uber working on the marketplace model.

To make the car-owners feel more secured and confident about leasing their vehicles, Zoomcar has also launched an app-solution called ‘Cadabra’. This app allows customers to unlock the cars rented, without having to interact with car-owners.

Zoomcar will fit cars with its Cadabra solution which logs information on how its customers are driving and provides feedback on this. This also enables car-users to get real-time information on fuel levels, distance travelled and engine health. The system will further offset maintenance and insurance costs for the company, said Morgan.