It is a fact that a large part of those in large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona spend most of their hours standing still, even though they continue spending even though they do not move: they have to pay the insurance, the registration tax, some even still have them. letters. From this loss of money, the idea arose in France of making private cars available to other people to get money and to be able to contribute to the expenses. |
This is how Drivy was born, a tool that allows those owners who wish to rent their car to other people for several hours (at least four and not all cars) and especially for days, weekends or longer seasons. It is a carsharing in the round-trip modality, different from the best known, free-floating, whose cars are rented by the minute. It is not the only company that is dedicated to it; in fact, the American company Getaround has just bought the French company that currently operates in six European countries.
, Drivy has 5,500 rental cars, approximately half in Madrid and Barcelona, about 1,250 in each city. The rest is spread over other large cities, especially Valencia, Malaga and Seville. Although any vehicle owner can enter the Drivy community to rent their car, the reality is that the demand for this type of service arises in large cities, a demand that in Spain already has 200,000 users who have rented at least a car.
Sam and Paulin, founders of Getaround and Drivy, respectively.
Jaume Suñol, head of Drivy in Spain, explains that the arrival of Getaround will give the company a boost, both with marketing and advertising campaigns to publicize the service, and by promoting the technology behind the company. “They will invest, which will place us on another scale,” he points out.
How does the rental work?
Drivy is, as Suñol points out, an intermediary that matches supply and demand and, yes, it makes a powerful computer tool available to owners and users to carry out the service. From there, each owner is his own businessman and decides at what price to rent the car, being able to vary it every day.
Logically, it will change depending on the make and model of the car, age, mileage and condition; of the area where the car is; the days depending on the foreseeable demand -increasing on weekends, bridges, holiday periods- or the profit expectations themselves. However, although it is a decision that each owner makes, from Drivy they make recommendations so that the car is not left out of the market.
Owner of a car rented at Drivy.
Likewise, the owner determines the availability of the vehicle -vans can also be rented, which are in high demand by the way-. Anyway, today yes, tomorrow no, this weekend yes and the long weekend no. And, equally, the owner can determine all the conditions that he considers appropriate: smoking is not allowed, pets are not allowed…
All this information is managed in the Drivy tool, including prices, the availability calendar and also contracts, since the business is carried out directly between the owner and the user.
Modalities and cost
You can choose to put the car for rent under two modalities: the normal and the Drivy-open. In the first, the owner must meet at a pre-established place to hand over the car keys to the user and request the driver’s license to verify that it is in order, that the driver is over 21 years old and has at least a permit with a seniority minimum of two years. And sign the contract.
One of the few Drivy cars with external badging.
In this modality, listing the car in Drivy is free and is paid based on the rental. Of every one hundred euros obtained from the rental, the owner keeps 70 euros and of the other 30 euros, 10 are to pay the insurance that is carried out with Allianz, another 3 euros for the roadside assistance service with RACE and the other 17 are for Drivy.
To avoid the hassle of having to meet with the user -usually the owner determines the appointment times- Drivy has developed a car delivery system through a mobile application very similar to other carsharing companies. In this case, the owner has to pay a fixed rate of 29 euros per month, in addition to the commissions that are the same as in the previous modality.
Drivy-open
Suñol points out that the future of this service is in the Drivy-open modality, although it is recommended for those owners who seek to obtain profitability from their car and not for sporadic rentals. However, for those owners who decide to make the leap to opening via mobile, the installation of the system is free, as it is also free to uninstall it if the car owner is not convinced. For that, it has three months of trial in which you do not have to pay the fee.
For the installation, Drivy has a service of professionals – at the moment only in Barcelona and Madrid, although it is planned to extend it to Valencia, Malaga and Seville – who travel to the owner’s home and in about 45 minutes it is assembled.
Jaume Suñol, head of Drivy Spain.
The system is carried out through the car’s on-board computer, which is contacted by the OBD (On Board Diagnostic) which, in addition to accessing the central locking that allows the car to be opened -the key is inside the car- also provides information of the fuel that exists before the rental and after so that I can price the difference and the kilometers. The latter is especially important, since the price is for a maximum of 200 kilometers per rental day; if they are exceeded, they are charged separately.
pseudo-professional owners
Drivy’s top manager explains that there are three very different types of owners at Drivy. The pure individual who does not seek to make a profit on the car, but rather to obtain some money to cover part of the car’s expenses and which account for 80% of the 5,500 cars registered in Drivy.
Actual owner of Drivy.
A second block is made up of private entrepreneurs who have seen Drivy as an opportunity to earn money, who started with a vehicle and after verifying its benefits have been adding new cars, some more than ten. Many have registered as self-employed
-although many already were before- and have even created a limited company. In the third block are fleets or professionals such as dealers or rent-a-car companies who see Drivy as a way to win customers.
Actually, the weight of Drivy’s business is in these last two types of owners, because despite the fact that they contribute 20% of the fleet, they generate more than 60% of the total rentals. In short, they seek profitability and want to keep the car as busy as possible. And from this more professional perspective, Drivy-open is an essential tool for being able to manage several vehicles without having to worry about meeting customers to hand over the keys.
Currently, of the 5,500 cars, only 400 are in the Drivy-open mode, 100 in Madrid and 300 in Barcelona, although with the entry of the American Getaround in the capital, a strong boost will be given to the activity to attract both owners and new users and expand the radius of action to other large cities.
Legal protection
Jaume Suñol explains that private car rental is legally protected and, in no case, is it unfair competition from traditional rental companies. It is an activity liberalized by Aznar in the However, as an economic activity it must be taxed by VAT (21%), so when a more professional management is carried out, although in many cases complementary -hobby business they call it in Drivy-, it is when Interested in registering as a freelancer?
Advantages for the user
Drivy makes sense within the carsharing phenomenon, which the sector says is unstoppable. Suñol believes that at least in the big cities, car ownership will tend to disappear, partly due to the policies of some municipalities such as Barcelona. “Within cities, public transport, free-floating carsharing and alternative mobility will gradually reduce the weight of private cars, so the carsharing round-trip for days will cover travel needs outside the cities”, he explains.
A user opens a Drivy car with his mobile.
However, Drivy is not the only company that offers carsharing by the day, Ubeeqo or Respiro are two of the most important, not to mention the more traditional rental companies that also rent by the day. Jaume Suñol points out the price as a strong point, although he acknowledges that there is not much difference, especially in holiday periods. However, as there is a wide spectrum of cars, with different ages, you can have a more differentiated offer, in addition, prices change depending on the dates.
Along with the price, Suñol emphasizes the comfort provided by the proximity of the cars and the multimodality of the fleet as the main virtues of Drivy.
Regarding payment, the user who needs to rent enters the website or downloads the application, indicates the location where they want to take the car and the rental dates, as well as the type of vehicle they are looking for, and the search locates the available cars. and the price that each one of them. The system also allows the user to choose if they want a Drivy-open car to be able to access it without having to meet the owner and if it is under the “immediate reservation” mode, which does not require confirmation by the client.
Once the car has been chosen, and with a click on “reserve”, the system requires a registration if it is not already registered and the type of insurance that is wanted, with a greater or lesser excess. Once the process is completed, the system requests a credit card number with which the payment will be made.
Facebook Comments
Disqus