RentMyRide – South Africa’s first private vehicle renting platform – has launched a Professional Fleet Owner Service division to facilitate the growing demand for private vehicle rentals in South Africa.
The new division utilises the same powerful peer-to-peer rental platform that has facilitated over 15 000 vehicle rentals since its founding in 2014 to help companies and entrepreneurs rent out any or all of their fleet vehicles to prospective customers.
“In the last five years, we have seen more and more South Africans enter the sharing economy by listing their cars on www.rentmyride.co.za and making money from it when they are not using their cars themselves. Over time, we have seen some users build businesses on our platform by adding more than one car to start their own small rental fleet,” says Sebastian Brokmann, founding member and CEO of the company.
Brokmann explains that they started fielding calls from vehicle dealers and vehicle fleet owners who see the success of the platform and want to list their dormant stock on RentMyRide. This has led to the creation of the new Professional Fleet Owner Service division.
The new service is geared for companies listing a number of vehicles, including lower per-vehicle commission, fleet management services such as the picking-up and dropping off of vehicles and 24/7 personalised help from one of the RentMyRide team members.
The company is testing the new service with Pace Car Rental, which is in beta phase with its fleet of rental vehicles.
Says Grenville Salmon, Managing Director of Pace: “Platforms such as RentMyRide are the future of vehicle rental. The system is powerful and efficient, and we believe it will help us grow our business in volume and in reach.”
RentMyRide is currently available in Bloemfontein, East London, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg. Vehicle owners can register on the system and list their vehicles in minutes, although RentMyRide can assist with professional photography and other administrative duties.
For users looking for a rental vehicle, the company offers the benefit of daily usage rates that are on average 40% lower than those of fleet companies, which have to absorb the holding costs of their large rental fleets. The online portal also removes the hassle of long delays and paperwork that are usually required when you rent from a vehicle rental company.
“Our challenge at the moment is to provide enough vehicles for interested customers. Many are tourists from abroad, who have become used to using services such as Turo in the US or SnappCar in Europe, and they are looking for something equally convenient and affordable in South Africa,” says Brokmann.
“We trust that the new Professional Fleet Owner Service will help us meet this need and help businesses to turn their dormant fleets into a steady, cash-flow stream. At the same time, we will continue to market to individuals and help them earn extra income from their assets.”
For more information, visit www.rentmyride.co.za/pro-fleet
