The 2015 “Spring Festival travel rush battle” has arrived as expected. Although the Ministry of Railways has issued new ticketing policies for the travel season, the situation of “hard-to-get tickets” doesn’t seem to have improved. The annual challenge of scrambling for tickets remains prominent this year, though compared to previous years, an increasing number of people are starting to pay attention to emerging travel options during the holiday transport peak.
Recently, a reporter noticed an advertisement for a car rental app called Aotu Shared Car Rental in the elevator of their residential compound. The ad claimed the platform offers 7,000 vehicle models at rents up to 50% lower than market rates. The reporter promptly downloaded the app. A quick glance revealed that car rental prices during the Spring Festival period had indeed remained largely unchanged—taking a Mercedes C-Class as an example, the daily rate during the holidays stayed around 300 yuan, the same as the regular price, which is quite appealing.
Ms. Feng, a local resident, expressed her approval of this new car-sharing rental model. This Spring Festival, she plans to bring her parents from Beijing to Shanghai to celebrate the holiday together with her husband’s family. In past years, the six members of her family couldn’t all fit into a single sedan, so they always had to drive one car and call a taxi, which was very inconvenient. This year, she decided to rent a seven-seater vehicle on the Aotu Shared Car Rental platform so the whole family could travel together in one car. We roughly calculated the cost for Ms. Feng: based on the price of a Buick GL8 on the Aotu platform, with a daily rate of about 300 yuan for three days plus insurance, the total came to just around 1,000 yuan. That total would only get you one day’s rental for the same car during the Spring Festival from traditional rental companies.
Of course, some people plan to stay put for the holidays, while others intend to travel far. Mr. Xue, a local resident, plans to go on a vacation to Europe with his family this Spring Festival, but he’s genuinely worried about leaving his beloved car parked in the residential compound for half a month. After learning about the Aotu Shared Car Rental model, he decided to list his car on the platform during the holiday season for others in need to rent. “I won’t be using my car while I’m abroad. Might as well rent it out. I’ll be on holiday, my car will be working, and when I come back from vacation, I’ll even have earned some money. How great is that?” When asked if he was concerned about the safety of his car while it’s rented out, Mr. Xue said, “Aotu Shared Car Rental offers an insurance package worth up to 2.05 million yuan, which is pretty reassuring. Actually, I feel it’s safer to rent out my car than to leave it parked in front of my home.”
The reporter specifically interviewed Ms. Guan Yijing, PR director of Aotu Shared Car Rental. Ms. Guan stated, “According to current data on the Aotu platform, as the Spring Festival approaches, orders on our platform have begun to surge daily. Compared to the traditional car rental industry, where vehicles are hard to find and prices skyrocket during holidays, Aotu Shared Car Rental consolidates idle private cars during the Spring Festival period and promises ‘no price hikes for holiday rentals.’ It’s our small way of contributing to society during the annual travel rush by helping more people rent better cars for less money during the holidays.”
Through the reporter’s investigation, it’s not hard to see that in today’s rapidly developing internet era, going home for the Spring Festival is no longer confined to one single method—more diverse travel options are emerging in line with market economic trends. The rapid development of the P2P car rental industry is bound to bring new changes to people’s lifestyles and travel habits. For the P2P car rental industry to go further and grow stronger, relevant regulations from the appropriate authorities should also be introduced as soon as possible to standardize industry practices while providing consumers with greater protection.