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Will Car Rental companies go the way of Video Stores?
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:00 am
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:00 am
Thinking rental car companies(hertz,enterprise, avis)....with uber and other taxi type incarnations along with rental of driverless Google cars(5-10 years)....how they all survive and why would they even be needed?
4
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:03 am to Iona Fan Man
Look at Silvercar as a more likely disruption of Hertz, et al in the near-term.
I agree with you but think the time horizon for that is at least a generation, maybe two.
austiger
I agree with you but think the time horizon for that is at least a generation, maybe two.
austiger
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:20 am to austiger
I disagree. Netflix and red box demolished video rental stores in about a 5 year time frame.
After we get through the political and legal hurdles, it will spread like a fire. The savings will be enormous.
Ilb
After we get through the political and legal hurdles, it will spread like a fire. The savings will be enormous.
Ilb
This post was edited on 5/28/14 at 10:21 am
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:26 am to Iona Fan Man
They will likely just morph into a company more along the lines of cars2go & zipcar. Enterprise has already started doing this. Airports will be the only places you will see what we have today, just on a much smaller level IMHO.
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:44 am to BACONisMEATcandy
quote:
They will likely just morph into a company more along the lines of cars2go & zipcar. Enterprise has already started doing this. Airports will be the only places you will see what we have today, just on a much smaller level IMHO.
If they are smart they should have the capital and brand recognition to easily adapt to that model.
However, even Blockbuster couldn't regain ground once Netflix got its foothold. Heck, even BB had a better deal with being about to double up rentals. You could return your video in store, take home a new rental at no additional charge, and have your next movie sent to you.
They even tried to use streaming and redbox type kiosks. I suspect they quickly began hemorrhaging cash because of the high overhead of individual stores that were quickly becoming less profitable.
Posted on 5/28/14 at 10:55 am to I Love Bama
quote:
Netflix and red box demolished video rental stores in about a 5 year time frame.
An extremely convenient service that replaced a service that was an enormous headache & a complete joke of a business model in the 21st century.
How does that compare to renting a car? I don't rent a car to take me from the airport to the hotel. I rent a car when I need to run errands or travel long distances. I think uber and its ilk have potential to put a dent in taxi services but I don't think car rental agencies have that to worry about. If you're spending $30+/day to rent a Hyundai just to take you on one trip then you likely don't have a grasp on efficiency anyway - likewise if you're paying an uber driver to chauffeur you around for a few hours.
This post was edited on 5/28/14 at 10:59 am
Posted on 5/28/14 at 11:11 am to Iona Fan Man
Taxis and car rentals are entirely different niches.
Self driving cars assaults the former.
Not the latter.
Self driving cars assaults the former.
Not the latter.
Posted on 5/28/14 at 11:21 am to Volvagia
quote:
Taxis and car rentals are entirely different niches.
Self driving cars assaults the former.
Not the latter.
how much does a taxi driver make a year...30k? $115/day(not including benes)
without a taxi driver's wages to be paid, all you have is the cost of the car(self driving)+profit...just like the rental model.
the driver costs more than the vehicle...with self driving, you don't have that burden anymore
ETA: I always thought zipcar was created by insiders knowing that Google will need established locations in metro areas when they roll out self driving cars. And Google will buy out zipcar just for logistical ease. But I see now that AVIS bought out ZIP last year.....makes me wonder....because Enterprise is a privately held firm....Google and Avis could be secretly working to taking over Enterprise and Hertz
Ent and Hertz had $22 billion in sales....while AVIS sits a $5 Billion...
and reading the article I got that from in 2012
quote:
With a market cap of only about $1.5 billion, CAR is trading around $14.50 —
today 56.76 USD
guess I was late again
This post was edited on 5/28/14 at 11:37 am
Posted on 5/28/14 at 12:15 pm to Iona Fan Man
I have been in several situations where I needed to get from the airport to somewhere for a meeting, and back to the airport the same day. Renting a car was almost always cheaper than taking a taxi each way.
Remember what happened to the video stores: people didn't stop watching videos... they just changed the delivery method.
I definetly see some similarities in the "lack of customer concern" models of video rental and auto rental. Legitimate competition for rental cars will be a good thing. But, as others have said... I think Zip Car, etc are more challenges to taxi drivers than they are to rental car companies.
Remember what happened to the video stores: people didn't stop watching videos... they just changed the delivery method.
I definetly see some similarities in the "lack of customer concern" models of video rental and auto rental. Legitimate competition for rental cars will be a good thing. But, as others have said... I think Zip Car, etc are more challenges to taxi drivers than they are to rental car companies.
Posted on 5/28/14 at 1:04 pm to Iona Fan Man
quote:
I always thought zipcar was created by insiders knowing that Google will need established locations in metro areas when they roll out self driving cars. And Google will buy out zipcar just for logistical ease. But I see now that AVIS bought out ZIP last year.....makes me wonder....because Enterprise is a privately held firm....Google and Avis could be secretly working to taking over Enterprise and Hertz
Posted on 5/29/14 at 12:25 am to Iona Fan Man
The sad thing is that I don't think you even realize that you didn't counter my statement, but reinforced it.
Taxis and car rentals are two different niches.
Taxis are useful for quick transits from one place to another, which is facilitated by self driving cars.
Car rentals are for when you expect a series of stops in succession and don't want to wait for transit.
As the car will be waiting in the lot for you to use it again, the self driving aspect becomes an optional convinent novelty as opposed to a fundamental shift in practice.
The only real benefit is how you don't physically need to drive it back to the rental place, but the time between then and actually renting the car didn't change.
Taxis and car rentals are two different niches.
Taxis are useful for quick transits from one place to another, which is facilitated by self driving cars.
Car rentals are for when you expect a series of stops in succession and don't want to wait for transit.
As the car will be waiting in the lot for you to use it again, the self driving aspect becomes an optional convinent novelty as opposed to a fundamental shift in practice.
The only real benefit is how you don't physically need to drive it back to the rental place, but the time between then and actually renting the car didn't change.
Posted on 5/29/14 at 7:49 pm to Volvagia
quote:
Taxis are useful for quick transits from one place to another, which is facilitated by self driving cars.
Car rentals are for when you expect a series of stops in succession and don't want to wait for transit.
taxis are driven by someone else, you are paying for that time. without the need to pay the driver, you can take the car for 10 mins or 10 days....rates vary based on how much you used vehicle(like Zip Car, 7/hour, $70/day)
When you are done with the 3 day rental...it goes right back into taxi mode...until it needs to be rented for a longer term use or needs maintenance.
I don't want to argue this really anymore. We'll see how it's implemented...but IYO the current car rental industry will not be effected with the implementation of on-demand, self-driving car service.
What about Auto Insurance companies?
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