My Friend And Problem Of Car Rentals In India
Each and every year - my friend comes over from London to go around India. It has been going on for the last 17 years and every year we face a big problem - that is finding a car on hire!
Basically, we are not interested to see monuments or forts. What we strive for is to see the real India - its people, villages, fields, nature and so on. As India is big, we have to take either trains or flight to go from one corner to another. But the problem arises when we want to have a look around a particular area the way we want to - to drive slowly through the mud road and enjoy the serene environment of rural India.
My friend has to visit lots of countries in Europe and America as his job demands it. Once in a while, when he gets some spare time he just searches the internet ( viz. car hire Spain or car hire France ) - books his tickets and the car is delivered on his hotel door. He then can go anywhere he wants and leave the car there without worrying about returning the car.
Here lies the difference or should I say shortcomings of car rentals in other countries and in India. True, one can hire cars even in India. but Indian companies do not offer the freedom other countries offer. One has to take an accompanying driver with the caror have to return the car to the pick up point.
There might be several reasons for this kind of drawback that the market is facing despite it having huge potential. A car is still an exclusive domain of affluent people in India whereas every 1.5 people in Canada own a car. So car hijacking or theft is rampant in this part of the world. Also, bigger companies are not yet in the market thus the network of a car hire company is too smal unlike international network of car hire companies in Europe or Americas.
Hopefully , someday in the near future, me and my friend could land in Kochi, hire a car, drive through to Bangalore, leave the car there and again go to another destination. With booming economy and introduction of the world’s cheapest car “Nano” by Tata Motors, Indian car rental market will soon catch up with other countries like all other services sector in India is doing. This will also give boost to its tourism.
