Trying to book a car from mid dec-Jan, but it does not allow choosing a date in 2020. Is that intentional?
Not intentional! Working to fix now.
Readit Newsamosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
> human-free pickup and drop
> arrive at the pickup location, show the attendant your reservation email
> drive back to lot and hand the keys to the attendant
Just pointing out this pitch inconsistency, love the idea and hope you guys spread to other cities soon!
Oof, that's glaring. Thanks for the catch!
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
Do you know anything about autoeurope.eu?
I am renting there for years, sometimes months in a row, and nothing and no one can compare with prices + coverage.
They somehow squeeze big players like Alamo and Hertz, providing exceptional prices for their rentals
I've heard of them but haven't done much research. Will definitely check them out!
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
You may also want to check out NextCar - these folks own a bunch of East Coast dealerships and decided to start renting around their dealerships: https://nextcarrental.com/
They work out of dealerships as well as airports which can provide an edge for some local rentals.
Interesting--I'll definitely give these guys a look. More and more dealers are getting in to the rental space on their own.
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
I work for one of the major players in a similar space, and the best advice I can give you is to stay away from delivery because of the capital expenditures (lots of fundraising or massive credit lines) it would take to set up that network.
The "easy MVP" of delivery will be tempting - drive the vehicle to the customer, drop it off, the employee takes uber back but I would suggest staying away from that temptation.
I'd be interested in the deprecation curves you're modeling on the vehicles as I'm just trying to ballpark what that break-even point is for the dealer. The other issue for the dealer is that while they have excess inventory, they typically have excess inventory on vehicles that aren't moving quick enough so I don't think the target is luxury models but more functional users (e.g. your situation in NYC makes sense. You need a car to get away to a destination and the car itself doesn't matter much as long as it's clean and runs)
Looking forward to seeing how you guys grow.
That's exactly where we're at in the thought process on delivery. Much more efficient to bring the customer to the car, not vice versa, and not all that much worse a UX.
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
In most states dealership cars typically have dealer plates which only allow them to be driven during test drives or by dealership employees. How do you handle that?
We require that dealers tag and title the cars before giving them to us (usually $200 which we reimburse).
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
This is great! I use Zipcar/Turo/Avis quite a bit since I don’t own a car. Some notes:
* I would pay extra for unlimited mileage without worrying about overages. This is a major pain point for longer Zipcar trips to Tahoe or Oregon/Nevada
* The deductible is really high. Zipcar lets me pay extra for a $0 deductible.
* Mileage and deductible should be more visible, I had to go and read the actual terms. A small summary before booking might be good
* Mileage overage of $0.50/mile is pretty high considering I’m paying for gas
* UX nit, the calendar widget on the landing page requires me to scroll through a bunch of early morning AM times before getting to my time. The dropoff picker should default to the month of pickup as well.
I’m a big fan of your focus on minimizing hassle. The uber credit is clever! I’ll definitely try you guys for my next trip.
Awesome feedback. Regarding mileage--the terms on the website are slightly outdated and we don't have mileage limits--so none of that mileage overage nonsense. We're also in the process of lowering the standard deductible $500 and adding a zero deductible option for an extra $10/day.
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
Where in SF do you serve? Literally just the city?
Are there mileage limits, since these cars are presumably sold as new/ish?
Right now all our lots are located in SF proper, and we provide $10 of Uber credit each way to get there and back. We're working on ramping up operations in Oakland right now though.
There aren't any mileage limits.
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
Perhaps, if you have not already, put in a "buy this car now" feature into the app for the dealer and the clients. It should spring up after a certain amount of time, and/or at journey end.
That way the dealer can use this as a way to manage clients trying before they buy, and every rental client is a potential buyer.
Obviously allow the dealer to make offers to the client, but non-obviously allow the renter to make offers to the dealer. And obviously take a (small to start) commission.
That's a really interesting idea. Only problem I foresee is that we might have rentals on that car lined up into the future, though we do have duplicates of most of our cars so we could get around that.
amosgewirtz commented on Launch HN: Carve (YC S19) – Rent Cars from Local Dealerships · Posted by u/amosgewirtz
This is amazing, wish you'd launched on Friday and I would have been one of your first customers.
I live in SF, needed to go to an event in San Jose with 2 other friends who live in the city. Looked at all the options on Friday. Zipcar needed a membership card which I didn't already have, Turo was slightly more expensive for the car near me ($60/day), Lyft Rental was super-duper expensive ($109 for the day), Lyft rideshare was even more so ($120 each way). Ultimately went with National, which due to my company's corp plan, was $40/day ($60ish retail) for any car (got a sports car), with CDW and liability and no deductible (both due to corp plan) with a slow checkout experience in SoMa. With Carve offering an (admittedly less nice) car for $45/day with Uber credits both way and a quick checkout, I would definitely take that up. Would be even nicer if there was a loyalty plan (so that my rentals for work can subsidize my private ones) and home delivery.
Quick UX bug: On the latest version of Chrome on a laptop, if I select a pickup date and then the same date as my dropoff, it seems to clear the pickup date. I can still successfully hit search and see the right results.
Ahh, we'd love to have had you try it. Next time :)
Loyalty/membership program is something we've been thinking about and will likely implement sometime over the next few months.
Great bug catch!