Peer-to-peer car-sharing company Drive mate has opened a new hub close to Sydney’s Domestic Airport.
The hub is located at 40 Baxters Road Mascot, a 10-minute walk from the airport.
It can accommodate 40 vehicles. Drive mate partners with car-share hosts close to the airport, ensuring a steady stream of cars should the hub’s available vehicles be exhausted.
Drive mate’s expanding membership base of 70,000-plus guests can book a vehicle – even while in the air on route to Sydney – and access a car with few clicks in the Drive mate app.
With no queue to pick up keys or sign agreements on-site, the seamless process significantly reduces waiting times.
“As vehicles can be booked for as little as $40 a day, hiring cars near the airport is suddenly affordable, said Dirk-Jan ter Horst, co-founder of Drive mate.
“The vehicle options alone are enticing upon launch – everything from a Toyota Corolla to an Audi Q3, and with more to come as hosts onboard vehicles, guests will have many options to fit their budget best.
“But more importantly, it’s the convenience of booking a vehicle in advance and not having to wait in a queue to pick it up, sign forms and other time-consuming methods just to hire a vehicle are null and void when using Drive mate’s airport hub,” he says.
Drive mate’s vehicles can be hired hourly, daily, weekly, or even monthly, making them ideal for people visiting the harbour city. Petrol and insurance costs are covered with any hire, and fuel purchases are reimbursed.
As hire companies overbook, customers who hire a vehicle are often demoted to a lesser vehicle. According to Drive Mate’s co-founder, Gaurav Singhal, this is not the case with Drive Mate.
“What you book is what you get, delivering an assurance to drivers they rarely get at airports,” said Singhal. “Now, drivers can access the vehicle through the application, open the door, and drive away their booked vehicle.”
Singhal said the company has adapted its model to make the hiring experience seamless for guests and the onboarding and management effortless for hosts.
“We’ve enabled GPS in all vehicles and automated kilometre tracking to take the heavy lifting off hosts when it comes to the billing process,” he said.
“For guests, this also reduces their burden when refuelling the vehicles, as that is all done by the host, or they’re quickly reimbursed for petrol when needed for long trips.”
Signing up with Drive mate takes no more than five minutes via its app or website, www.drivemate.au.
Vehicle guests must return their vehicles to the airport hub before departure. Beyond the airport, Drive Mate has hundreds of cars available in Sydney and nationwide.
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