In 2014, we had first written about Myles, a self-drive car service which was launched by Carzonrent, which is one of India’s largest fleet car operators. While there are many an options to hire self drive vehicles around the world, such as Hertz and Avis, none existed in the Indian organised car rental market before this one. They used to charge a solid INR 30,000 INR towards a security deposit, however, it has been brought down to a more realistic INR 5,000 INR on your credit/debit card as of last year. And this limit is released within a couple of hours after you return the car, hence you don’t have to have funds blocked with them for long.

This year, we figured we will take a few road trips as well besides the whole #redcarpettrip kind of long travel experiences. So, last month, we decided to make a trip to Nasik, the wine capital of India which is approximately 165 kilometres away from Mumbai, a 3 hours drive. Since, I hadn’t gotten behind the steering wheel for a while, I chose to pick up a small car from the hatchback segment with Myles.

The Booking Experience

Myles had 2 types of pricing available for the car, which depends on the days you rent the car. Most festival days and weekends are called premium days, but I could not locate a list on their website. Here was the pricing offered for hiring a hatchback in Mumbai, where a day refers to a 24 hour cycle and not a calendar day.

• Regular Day Rate : INR 1600 per day
• Premium Day Rate: INR 1800 per day

We were 3 people so a Hyundai i10 would work just fine. We booked the car for two days since the plan was to get on the road one morning and come back the next evening. You have to keep in mind that the premium day pricing does not show up on the first screen, but when you zoom in on the Fare Details.

You do have to note, that to hire a car, you need to be at least 23 years of age and hold a valid driving license in your own name, apart from identity documents (Passport/Aadhaar Card/Voter ID) and a credit or debit card in your own name. While Myles had tons of pickup options around town, the car I wanted was available only at their main garage near the Mumbai Airport Terminal 2, so we decided to pick it up from there. We paid up online, and immediately got a confirmation in the mail.

The Pick-Up Experience

While the car was supposed to be delivered to us at the airport, at 5:30 in the morning we got a text message asking us to come to the garage near the airport, since they had a lot of bookings that day. Tough luck if you are new to the city, since it is hard to find this one, and full of mosquitoes in the dark. It was quite a hunt to find this place at 6 in the morning.

Once at the office, we signed a formal contract which listed the details of the car, our contracting period, applicable charges and their terms and conditions. They uploaded scanned copies of my passport, driving license and the payment mode used on their systems. At this stage, they blocked an amount of INR 5,000 on the card, which would be used to pay future expenses if any they needed to charge to us. All paperwork signed we were escorted to our car.

Car Condition, Inclusions

We got an almost new Hyundai i20 Grande that had run 6860 kilometres so far. An important thing to note is that most cars given out by Myles are diesel fuelled. The car had some minor scratches, which were jointly inspected by the Myles representative and us, and then documented on a handover sheet which we both co-signed.

We received the car with a full fuel tank. We could either return it back with a full tank or Carzonrent would charge us for the amount of fuel we used, along with a 15% surcharge. The car came with an all India commercial registration (yellow number plate) and we were handed over a file with a copy of all the documents such as the registration certificate, insurance and permits.

The fine print instructed us to keep the car at a top speed of 100 km/hour, beyond which we would be charged a fine for exceeding the speed limit in a graded manner. There was no upper limit on the number of kilometres one can drive per day and we had the flexibility to decide on the start and end timing of my hire.

The drive Mumbai – Nasik – Mumbai

Mumbai to Nasik was a fairly easy drive and even after a short break midway we were able to cover the distance comfortably in 3 hours. The road condition was fabulous, the power thrust of the car excellent, smooth and car drove soundless at a constant speed of 100kms/hr. If it was not for the speed limit I could have easily zipped the car at 120 -130kms/hour, though I decided to respect the rules.

Eventually, we got a view like this to be sticking to the rules.

Over the next 2 days, we explored 4 vineyards and since January and February are harvest seasons the vineyards were laden with grapes ready to be plucked. On our return we also took an impromptu detour to see the birth place of river Godavari. The drive to Trimbakeshwar is laden with green landscape and mountains all the way through.

The Drop Off Experience

We drove the car for about 440 kms, and closing in to the drop-off point, filled up the tank before we turned over the car. Unlike, the pick up experience our drop off experience was a breeze. It took us just about 10 minutes to drop the car, for the Myles people to complete the inspection and for us to hail a cab back home. We were also informed that within the next few hours, they would release the amount after completing the documentation, and sure enough, we got an invoice in the mail by the time we woke up next morning, and the amount was released.

Bottomline

Myles is a good service and my first experience with them was nothing but positive across the board. I won’t hesitate hiring a car with them again, and we are already two trips old with Myles as we write this. What they could do better is to start a loyalty program, and make the relationship more on going than just transactional.

If you would like to try out Myles, you can use our link here, which would take you to the Myles website and give you an INR 600 discount on your ride.

Have you tried out Myles? What has been your experience with them?

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Pros

+ Usually new cars
+ Unlimited Kilometres
+ Easy Processes and documentation
+ Consistent service

Cons

- No loyalty program

Rating