Can the establishment of a car rental company break the deadlock?

As the discussion on "private cars" continues to escalate, the Ministry of Transport has recently made a clear statement that it supports legal and compliant rental vehicles as private car services and prohibits private cars from accessing private car platforms, which means that private cars must be "rental vehicles." Recently, Yidao Car announced that it would "spend 8 billion yuan" to establish a car rental company to deal with the identity issue of private cars.

However, Beijing Youth Daily reporter learned that after Beijing implemented the policy of limiting the purchase of passenger cars, only a few thousand quotas were provided to car rental companies each year, and the number of quotas allocated to each car rental company was extremely limited. It is still unclear whether new car rental companies can "get a piece of the pie", and the scarce "rental licenses" in first-tier cities will also become the key to the survival of special car companies in the competitive landscape.

Phenomenon

Private cars are banned from entering the platform, and the special car service platform is "thinking of ways" to deal with it

Recently, the Ministry of Transport issued information stating that the current private car business has a positive effect on meeting the high-quality, diversified and differentiated needs of the transportation market. Private car software companies should follow the rules of the transportation market and prohibit private cars from accessing the platform to participate in operations.

On the same day, Yidao Yongche, which is engaged in "private car" services, announced that its subsidiary "Yidao Rent a Car", which is engaged in car rental and other businesses, will be established in the near future. In the view of industry insiders, this is the company's response to the official statement.

Yidao Car Rental said that the company has reserved 8 billion yuan for business development, with the aim of opening up channels between light-asset Internet technology platforms, heavy-asset car rental companies and financial businesses, and establishing an innovative model that spans the three traditional fields of driving services, car rentals, and car-hailing.

The staff of Yidao Car Rental said that the company has just been established and will apply for more compliance indicators and qualified vehicles in the future. The above deployment, which has been completed in three months, has solved the policy compliance issues that have been plaguing car-hailing software companies.

Faced with the official suspension of the special car services provided by "private cars", some special car companies are seeking in-depth cooperation with rental companies, some special car companies choose to "stubbornly refuse to admit cooperation with "private cars", and some special car companies choose to wait and see.

Yesterday, Zhu Douping, vice president of Didi, said that Didi Taxi has no intention of setting up a car rental company for the time being. Previously, Zhu Douping told the Beijing Youth Daily that the business deployment of the private car service will not be adjusted for the time being, and the promotion in the market will be based on customer service needs as the only demand.

Causes

Why do major car-hailing operators use private cars?

After the "policy red line" was made clear, Yidao, the leading domestic "private car" operator, quickly expressed its position, the meaning of which is self-evident.

At present, the business car rental brands on the market include Yidao Yongche, Uber, No.1 Special Car, Didi Special Car, etc. There are more than 5 business car rental brands in Beijing alone. Although the special car companies claim that the vehicles they use are all "car rental companies" and not "private cars", whether from the investigations of traffic law enforcement departments in various places or from the reporter's own experience, there are very few real "rental vehicles" and most of them are private cars.

Last year, Beijing's traffic law enforcement department found 47 "special cars", all of which were private cars. A Beijing Youth Daily reporter experienced 7 special car services from different special car companies. Only once did the driver say "the car is a 'rental vehicle' and he was employed by the special car company", 5 times the driver clearly admitted that it was a "private car", and once the driver remained silent and did not answer any question.

Industry experts believe that if car rental companies have enough qualified vehicles, they will start their own private cars and will not let Internet companies or software companies "have a piece of the pie". Some car rental companies that cooperate with private car software do not own all the vehicles. Many vehicles are actually private cars registered under the name of the rental company.

There are a large number of "private cars" in the use of private cars, mainly because car license plates are a "scarce resource" in first-tier cities. In 2011, in order to curb pollution and traffic congestion, Beijing launched a lottery system for passenger cars. Subsequently, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and other places also implemented car purchase restrictions. It is almost impossible for private car companies to purchase a large number of vehicles to establish "their own team".

analyze

Car rental companies still have difficulty solving indicator issues after establishment

In sharp contrast to the scarcity of vehicles and licenses, the demand for private car companies has exploded amid rounds of subsidy wars. When passengers cannot get a taxi, more and more passengers are choosing private car services. So, can establishing your own car rental company solve the identity problem of private cars?

Earlier, the relevant person in charge of the Car Rental Management Office of the Transportation Bureau of the Municipal Transportation Commission mentioned during a guest visit to the Capital Window that as of June 30, 2013, there were 753 car rental companies in Beijing, with a total of 40,789 cars. A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily checked official data and found that the city's car rental companies did not receive many "car purchase indicators". In 2013, 83 car rental companies in Beijing received a total of 3,400 indicators, the company with the highest "score" received 157 indicators, and the lowest allocation was 20 indicators.

According to the "Beijing Rental Passenger Car Quantity Allocation Method", car rental companies are divided into three categories according to corresponding conditions. Class A companies have excellent assessments, a vehicle scale of 200, and a tax payment, that is, a social contribution rate of more than 600,000. Class A companies meet these three conditions. Class B companies have good assessments, a tax payment of 60,000, and a scale of 20 vehicles. The rest are Class C companies. There are very few companies that meet the requirements of Class A companies. Most companies are in Class C, and only Class A companies can apply for more indicators.

The official website of the Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission and Transportation Bureau shows that in the second half of last year, the city allocated 1,220 fuel-powered rental passenger car quotas, and 56 car rental companies received between 20 and 31 quotas. According to media reports, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou have stopped issuing new car rental licenses.

In this way, even if the ride-hailing companies set up their own car rental companies, they will still face the situation of having no cars available in first-tier cities due to "no quotas and no licenses".

Discover

Large rental car companies have entered the private car market

It is worth noting that as the policy on the use of "special cars" becomes clear, China Auto Rental, which has the most car rental licenses , has quietly made efforts. The elevator advertisement in the community where the Beijing Youth Daily reporter lives shows that "China Auto Rental" has been publicly tested nationwide, with the first ride within 50 yuan free, and feedback can be given 1,000 yuan in fare.

The Shenzhou Private Car, which is currently undergoing public testing, has nearly 100 employees, including independent teams for drivers, operations, and customer service, while the marketing and some technologies will be shared with the Shenzhou Car Rental team. According to the plan, within half a year, Shenzhou Private Car's business will cover first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Correspondingly, Shenzhou Private Car will launch an independent APP application, and the subsidy intensity will be on par with other private car platforms. It is reported that Shenzhou Car Rental has also invested hundreds of millions of yuan in the private car business.

A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily checked the official website of the Municipal Transportation Commission and Transportation Bureau and found that in recent years, China Auto Rental has always obtained the most "car purchase indicators" among its peers. An industry insider once revealed that China Auto Rental has the most car rental licenses. Whether in terms of fleet size or the total number of licenses held, China Auto Rental has exceeded the sum of the second to tenth companies in the industry, ranking first in the country, and this number is still growing steadily.

It is reported that China Auto Rental currently owns more than 130,000 vehicles.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.