Douyin and other short video platforms for some Internet celebrities to "support the façade" of ultra-luxury models, during the Spring Festival also became a new Internet celebrity in the car rental market, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and other brand models are difficult to find. The price of a "supercar" of several thousand yuan per day still needs to be booked in advance, and the rent is also rising, so that the "niche in the niche" market in the car rental industry tears off the niche label at the same time, but also allows many car rental companies to see new profit growth points. However, the head of a "super luxury" leaser admitted: "The risks behind the highlight coexist. ”
A 20% increase in rental prices is still hard to find
In recent years, the way to open the Spring Festival homecoming road is no longer a train, plane, long-distance car, rent a car and drive home for the New Year has become a new choice for many consumers. The shortage of cars in the car rental market during the New Year's Festival, and the rise in rental prices have also become the new normal. However, what Mr. Ma, a citizen, did not expect was that the supply of ordinary models was tight, and high-priced ultra-luxury models were also difficult to find. This year's Spring Festival, Mr. Ma, who has worked hard all year, wants to treat himself and plans to rent a supercar to take his girlfriend on a trip. But he asked a number of car rental companies were told that Ferrari, McLaren, Bentley and other models have no existing cars, and finally can only rent a Mercedes-Benz S-Class at a price of 1600 yuan / day.
Mr. Ma's experience is not unique, and there was a shortage of ultra-luxury car rentals nationwide during this year's Spring Festival. "This year Chinese New Year's Eve to the tenth day of the first year is the peak of leasing, and the 10 supercar models in the store before the holiday have been rented." A person in charge of a car rental store in Shanxi said that due to the high input cost of ultra-luxury models, the store's self-operated vehicles are basically maintained at about 20. During the festival, the demand for car rental in first- and second-tier cities will rise, and the store will also find the source of the car through other means, but if consumers ask for taxis near the Spring Festival or Spring Festival, they will basically encounter zero car sources. Not only small and medium-sized car rental stores, Beijing Business Daily reporter found on the Maple Leaf car rental platform that before February 10 (the first ten), the rental status of Porsche Palmera, Maserade Levante and other models on the platform showed "fully leased".
In fact, before the Spring Festival this year, some merchants operating ultra-luxury car rentals began to warm up on platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, making the phenomenon of car supply tension more prominent. "Before the user picks up the car, we have to carry out the process of vehicle inspection, taking photos, etc., and the sooner we hand over the car to the user, the sooner we can finish the work." A person in charge of a Guangdong ultra-first-class rental store revealed that before the middle of January this year, the store has begun to treat the car rental type statistics, january 20 began to accept car rental orders during the Spring Festival, due to the large demand, this year does not accept verbal bookings, if the consumer temporarily cancels the order, the deposit will not be refunded. "Ferrari, Maserati, McLaren and other popular models, basically all set before the Spring Festival." If consumers order cars during the Spring Festival, the store can only find the source of the car or allocate other models as much as possible. He said.
Under the tight supply of vehicles, the rental price of ultra-luxury models during the Spring Festival has also risen. According to a quotation obtained by the Beijing Business Daily reporter, during the Spring Festival, the Maserati president model was 1500 yuan per day, and the monthly rental price was 26,000 yuan; the daily rent of the Ferrari 458 model was 4,500 yuan and the monthly rental price was 110,000 yuan; the daily rent of the Rolls-Royce Gust model was 5,000 yuan and the monthly rental price was 120,000 yuan; the daily rent of the McLaren 720S model was 7,000 yuan, and the monthly rental price was as high as 160,000 yuan. "Because of the increase in demand, the rental price of ultra-luxury models in the store generally increased by 10%-20% during the Spring Festival, and the deposit was 30%-50% of the full price of the car rental." A person in charge of a car rental store in Jiangxi said.
However, a person in charge of a large car rental company in Beijing revealed: "The price of the terminal market has risen due to the increase in demand, but the price of cars we supply to car rental stores before the Spring Festival has not increased significantly." ”
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Association, said that the increase in demand during the Spring Festival has also allowed car rental stores to usher in price increase nodes, and various places will adjust prices according to different demand situations, which is also a key time node for merchants to earn profits.
The face of the "post-90s" Business travelers just need
A few thousand yuan a day, more than 100,000 yuan a month, who is becoming the main consumer group of ultra-first-class car rental?
Yang Yang (pseudonym), who has been engaged in luxury and ultra-luxury car rental for 3 years, frankly said that the rise of the ultra-luxury car rental market is inseparable from the net red effect. "Buying a supercar car costs millions of yuan, so some 'internet celebrities' choose to rent a supercar to increase traffic." Yang Yang said that many users rent ultra-luxury models to shoot and produce short videos released on various platforms, which has led to a sharp increase in demand for the originally niche ultra-luxury car rental market.
In addition, young consumer groups are also the main support of this market. Yang Yang told the Beijing Business Daily reporter that many young consumers hope to treat themselves during the New Year, and it is more face-saving to drive a supercar during the Spring Festival when they meet classmates at parties and blind dates. "This part of the user is mostly short-term rental, a few thousand yuan or 20,000 yuan can be solved." Not only during the Chinese New Year, but also during holidays, wedding seasons and other periods, the ultra-luxury car rental situation is very good. He said.
In recent years, the car rental market has gradually matured, and as the "post-90s" have become the main consumer force, rental models have also explored from ordinary models to luxury and ultra-luxury models. According to the data released by Yihi Car Rental, in the first half of last year, the number of car rental self-driving travel orders far exceeded that of 2019, of which "post-90s" became the main force of car rental. At the same time, in the first half of last year, Yihi Car Rental launched a number of luxury performance models, of which 67% were rented by the "post-90s".
"Under the consumption upgrade, users are also paying more and more attention to the quality of models when choosing rental models, and the demand for luxury and ultra-luxury car rentals has been further released." A luxury car rental investor said that during the Spring Festival, it is a time for people to relax, and the total price of short-term rentals such as supercars is not too high, allowing some users to choose to meet the personalized travel experience by renting super luxury models.
In addition to the short-term rental demand during the holidays, the usual luxury and ultra-luxury models are mainly long-term rental users. "The outside world may think that high-priced supercars are the main source of profits for car rental businesses, but in fact, daily luxury and ultra-luxury business models are the main force." A person in charge of a car rental company said that this part of the user car rental is mostly used for business negotiations, and the model chooses rolls-Royce or Bentley and other brand models, and these users have signed long-term lease contracts with the store. "The luxury rental market has high input costs and slower returns, compared with short-term rentals, such users have a longer rental time and more stable orders, which is conducive to stores recovering costs as soon as possible." He said.
In order to better form a binding relationship with long-term rental users, many car rental stores will also launch special services. A person in charge of a car rental company revealed that the store not only provides door-to-door delivery services, but also provides full-time driver services, users need to pay 6,000 yuan per month to the driver, if the car time exceeds 8 hours a day, it will also pay 30 yuan / hour overtime pay, weekend and holiday prices are calculated alone. "Some users also make other business requests to us, such as the need for a full-time driver to know a foreign language." He said.
The risks at both ends of the supply and demand side are not small
The growing demand for luxury and ultra-first-class rentals has also allowed merchants to smell opportunities.
At present, the domestic car rental market is dominated by offline small and medium-sized leasing companies, engaged in luxury and ultra-luxury model leasing, although the input cost is high, but it can also bring higher lease profit returns. However, in order to share the risk of capital costs, car rental companies also choose different forms of operation.
Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that compared with ordinary models, the luxury and ultra-luxury car rental market is still a niche market even if it is hot, so the offline store to be rented is basically 20-25 vehicles to avoid a gap period. In addition to self-operated vehicles, some small rental companies will also rent a car in large quantities from large car rental companies, or from individual users to avoid taking up too much money.
Mr. Ferrari said that he owns two supercars and a Range Rover, and usually rents the Range Rover and a supercar to the car rental company, deducting the intermediary fees of the car rentalrs, and can get tens of thousands of yuan per month in car rental fees. "The threshold for entering the luxury and ultra-luxury rental market is not high, and car owners can make money through subleases by middlemen, and many car owners in my car club deal with idle vehicles in this way." He said.
However, the scattered car source and some "unfathomable" consumers have caused many problems on both the supply and demand sides.
A person in charge of a car rental company said that due to the uneven source of vehicles, it is more prudent for consumers to rent high-priced models or choose large car rental companies. Before picking up the car, consumers and the staff of the car rental company need to check the details of the lease contract, whether the rented vehicle is consistent with the picture label, and confirm whether the car condition and appearance are scratched and damaged, and whether the vehicle insurance is complete, etc., in order to avoid the routine. "The value of such models is higher, and if consumers accidentally encounter bad businesses when renting a car, they often have to bear high maintenance costs in the later stage." He said.
At the same time, the risk faced by car rental businesses is not small. "Luxury and ultra-luxury models start at more than one million yuan, which is at risk of being mortgaged by some 'users'." The person in charge of the above-mentioned car rental company frankly said that whether it is a large car rental company or a small car rental store, in the process of operation, it has encountered the situation that the user rents the car and mortgages the car to others to cash out after the "people and cars evaporate". "The car rental company provides false identity information, and the company will also call the police to find the car later." And the vehicle can be successfully retrieved is still lucky, if the vehicle is rented out and then dismantled into parts for sale, the renter is unable to repay the car, the biggest loss is the car rental company. To this end, at present, car rental companies will carefully screen the owner information, install GPS on the car, and mark clear terms on the contract to avoid problems. He said.
In addition to car rental companies, individuals also encounter many problems when renting out restricted vehicles. Mr. Che said: "When renting a car to a car rental company, the vehicle is insured with a high amount, but if the car rental user violates the contract and drags on the road and has an accident on the track, the insurance company can refuse compensation, so it will try to find a large car rental company as an intermediary service to avoid problems And the car dealer cannot afford compensation." ”
"The vehicle provided by the car rental company should first have legal procedures, and the id card information of the renter should also be carefully identified when renting the vehicle." Yan Jinghui, a member of the expert committee of the China Circulation Association, said that in order to avoid the loss of the vehicle, it is best to install a positioning system and an electronic anti-theft device on the vehicle. Once a problem occurs, it is necessary to promptly call the police to solve the problem through legal means.
Source: Beijing Business Daily
For more exciting content, please download the "Morning Video" client in the app market. Press leads are welcome and are paid as soon as they are adopted. Breaking news WeChat concern: xxcbwx, 24-hour report hotline 0731-85571188.
![One car became a "net red car" and directly challenged the Great Wall CS55 PLUS[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)