Driving a rented a car can be an unexciting experience and hence often limited to the utility it offers — helping business travellers, tourists and others commute. The good news, however, is that the Rs 9,000-crore car rental industry — growing at 23-25% a year — is adding new frills to the cars that you rent, trying to make the experience more exciting.

Self-drive SUVs for leisure travellers, Playstations for gaming freaks, wireless internet connectivity for corporate honchos, not to mention hassle-free real time bookings and billing through swipe-in cards are just some of the features that are now available on rented cars.

A booming travel industry, especially the surge in business travel, is changing the face of the car rental market. According to industry estimates, there are around 200,000 cars in the car rental industry, although there are only 8,000 in the organised sector. However with growth of travel industry, the car rental industry is getting more organised, say industry heads. The existing players are expanding to tap this potential.

Hertz India will be investing Rs 200 crore this year adding swanky cars to its fleet and targeting the self-drive segment. It is spending Rs 30 crore and will add around 150 limousines to its fleet, targetting the elite traveller.
“To target leisure travellers, we will be adding a mix of compact cars and SUVs for the self-drive segment,” said Rajiv K Vij, CEO, Hertz India. The car rental business in India is dominated by chauffeur driven cars, the self drive segment remains untapped. Hertz India has around 110 cars installed with LCDs and Playstation.” In-car entertainment is well accepted in India,“ says Mr Vij. The company is looking at a revenue run rate of Rs 90-95 crore this fiscal.

SIXT, on the other hand, will be investing around Rs 100 crore to add 550 cars to its fleet. The company is also looking at driver training programmes and latest technology innovations to make the car journey of their clients easy and smooth. SIXT is a European car rent company, whose master franchise in India is held by the Sona Group. It is developing its own software for realtime online booking.

“We are also investing in driver training programmes and on-board billing which will save time,” Sunjay J Kapur, managing director, SIXT India told ET.

The organised players are gung ho about the boom in corporate travel and are targeting this segment by looking at the car lease segment as well. While SIXT will be adding 150 cars, Hertz India will be adding 3,000 cars for corporate lease. Avis India is targeting airports expanding its operations to cities such as Goa and Chandigarh.

It is also looking at the car lease segment. “Increase in corporate travel and coming of international brands is helping the industry become more organised,” says Ravi Lamba, CEO, Avis India. The company is looking at revenue of Rs 80-85 crore this fiscal.