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Audi Launches App-Based Car Rental Service | DrivingSales News

Audi Launches App-Based Car Rental Service

April 29, 2015 0 Comments

The sharing economy has caught on a lot recently. From Airbnb to RelayRides as well as Uber and Lyft, it’s clear some consumers like to either rent things or make money renting them to others. However, when it comes to cars, websites like RelayRides allow consumers to rent a vehicle for a few hours or the entire day. The condition of the vehicles varies widely as does the price. However, those cars belong to consumers who don’t have a massive supply. This is precisely why Audi’s dip into the car rental realm is particularly intriguing.

Audi has launched Audi On Demand. It’s an app-based service that allows consumers the opportunity to rent any Audi vehicle. Once a consumer chooses the Audi they want to rent, a concierge shows up at their house with the vehicle and a full tank of gas. If consumers would rather pick up the vehicle, they can do so from an Audio On Demand garage. The current launch is only taking place within the city limits of San Francisco between 7am and 8pm. Renters only have to place their vehicle reservation two hours in advance with earliest reservations allowed being six months before pick-up.

Much like a typical rental car, consumers can put as many miles on the Audi that day as they want, with two exceptions. The S/RS as well as R8 both have mileage limits of 200 miles per day. Audi On Demand vehicles don’t use keys. Instead, the service is truly app-based. The vehicles can be unlocked and started using the app. The range that it will cost to rent these new Audi vehicles starts with the AllRoad at $165 dollars per day and goes all the way up to the most expensive rental, which is the R8 Spyder, which costs $1,285 per day. The maximum time for which one vehicle may be rented, according to the Audi On Demand website, is 28 days, which would come out to $35,980 if someone opted to max out the rental on the R8 Spyder.

As Business Insider reports, Audi, which outsold Mercedes-Benz last year and trailed only BMW among luxury sales, has found a way to get potential buyers into their vehicles. By allowing rentals in their own system, Audi is able to control the vehicle rental process and put potential buyers literally into the drivers seat to one day purchase an Audi or recommend it to a friend in the market for a new vehicle. They’ve also found a way to make money off of vehicles that may otherwise sit around and depreciate.

What do you make of this move on the part of Audi? Do you think that this pilot program will be a success and thus spread across the nation or world? Furthermore, do you think other automakers will try out a similar program and allow consumers to rent their cars?

About the Author:

The DrivingSales News team is dedicated to breaking the relevant and the tough stories affecting car dealers. Have questions for DrivingSales News? Reach the team at news@drivingsales.com.

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