Video: Car rentals move to deliveries

Many vehicle rental firms such as Snap Rentals and Europcar Mobility Group plan to do deliveries for cafes, restaurants and some other food outlets during the COVID-19 alert level three restrictions.

Others such as zero-emission car sharing scheme Zilch say they have been approved to operate under level three as a fully contactless service.

Zilch EVs are available to drive from all Auckland and Christchurch locations, the company saying it has tightened cleaning protocol, undertaking regular, thorough cleaning of all Zilch cars. Cleaning kits remain inside cars for use during trips.

It also has a YouTube video suggesting EVs can help cities reduce emissions and other pollution. “While we’ve stayed at home our cities have been peaceful. Fewer gas guzzlers on the road have meant less air pollution and less noise pollution. Let’s keep it that way.”

Mevo car share has an app called Regulr which allows Wellingtonians to order food from local eateries. It comes with $10 of free Mevo credit so people can pick up their order and maintain social distancing, and it’s gifting Regulr’s restaurant partners with a $30 Mevo credit to use during this busy time.

Snap Rentals is setting up Snap Delivery, which includes using some of its Tesla Model S EVs – its story featuring in the coming May edition of EVtalk magazine.

Europcar Mobility Group provides car and driver bundle services to help cafes and restaurants get back in business – offering its electric BMW i3s as well.

It launched the “Together” programme in late March to support the mobility of essential services in light of the COVID-19 crisis, providing healthcare personnel and other essential services with access to discounted short, medium and long-term rental solutions for their staff.

As part of this, the group’s car rental brand in New Zealand, Europcar, will work in partnership with the hospitality and food retailer industries to offer a rental service of vehicles with drivers, to help meet the increased demand for delivery services during level three restrictions.

The car rental bundles include the vehicle, fuel and a driver for four hours, eight hours or daily.

A tailored solution can be arranged, with weekly and monthly packages also available with or without a driver and fuel.

“The initiative will support small business owners in launching a delivery service while avoiding the huge commissions payable to some well-known food delivery operators and at the same time, using the existing Europcar workforce to keep as many employees in work as possible.”

“We’re really pleased to be able to offer this solution to those small business owners who have been doing it tough the last month or so”, Europcar sales manager Melissa Carter says.

“We really hope it helps get them back on their feet, especially for those who have never offered a food delivery service in the past.”

Furthermore, at selected locations customers can rent the electric BMW i3 to save on fuel costs.

Any vehicle, driven under this scheme will be subject to rigorous cleaning and disinfecting measures after each rental, as well as ‘zero contact’ policy with Europcar employees in branches.