Silvercar Is a Better Car Rental Experience

All right, throwaway everything you know about renting a car, because Silvercar does it differently.

What's going on. I'm Richtemiro.

This is Rich on Tech Daily and joining me today is Courtney Lol. She is with Silvercar and you're here to tell us all about how Silvercar is different when it comes to the car rental process and also what you get.

Yeah.

Absolutely, I mean when's the last time that you said I can't wait to rent a car?

Probably never, pretty much never. But here's the thing.

So my thing about rental cars, number one is that they never have a sunroof. Yeah, every Silver car has a sunroof.

Yeah, I mean every the thing about silver cars. We really set out to solve the two biggest pain points for the industry, which is never knowing what you're gonna get and what we call the hassle. With Silver Car, we really take all the headache out of that and make it fun so you get an Audi every time

Okay, So you sign up on the mobile app, you rent it from the mobile app, then when you get to the location, you just scan a QR code on the front of the car.

Exactly and you wait for that to unlock. Your trunk pops open, and away you go.

So tell me who is Silvercar for.

So, Silvercar is really for anyone who enjoys a great travel experience. So, whether you're going for business, you want to make sure that number one time is valuable to you. You want to go from the plane to the car to you're meeting quickly, or you're going on a family trip or a girls' weekend or a guys weekend, and you want to have a really cool car to be able to do that.

Silvercar is that for you?

I think we like to say Sobercar is car rental for the modern traveler.

And I feel like most of your users are very deliberate in seeking this brand out right now right. It's not like you just go to like a aggregator and get a Hurtz or whatever the other companies are out there. These are people that sort of hear about it and want to use the service, right.

Yeah, absolutely, And you know there's no there's no value you can really put on word of mouth. We really do rely a lot on our customers to tell other people about their experience because that's what we we leave with experience. So whether you found out from a friend or you saw it on a you know, ad on Facebook, it definitely something that you seek out. But once you've found it, I will say, you very rarely ever go back.

Okay, so let's talk about the cars. Audi purchased the company in twenty seventeen. So this was a startup Yep, that just did silver Audi's to start with, and then Audi was like, hey, this seems like a good business, let's just buy them since we're using our cars anyway.

Yep, that happens. And what did that mean for the company?

Yeah, I mean it's been really big things. So since the acquisition, which was completed in late twenty seventeen, we've opened eight new locations.

We used to only.

Have Audi A four's, which are their sedans. We've in January we released the Q five SUV, which really opens up a world of new opportunities and options for people with families or those that want.

To go off roading.

And you know, it's really just meant a lot more growth and a lot more offerings. We like I said, we're opening about a new location every month and show no signs of stopping there.

And the cars are all kind of fully loaded, right, I mean, tell me some of the things you get Wi Fi, GPS, GPS.

Serious radio.

And then in certain locations, so for example, if you're going to Denver or Salt Lake City and you want to go on a ski trip, we offer ski rocks for no extra cost, or San Diego we have surf racks for no extra cost.

So we offer you a lot of that.

Usable technology, but also the things that you need to just make it a more epic trip.

Also, baby seats, like car seat rentals, you now have like included basically.

So we actually so we offer car seats at no extra charge. And this mother we actually announced a new partnership with Italian car seat maker Peg Parago.

It's a really high end luxury car seat.

We did a study that showed that around seventy percent of people are not comfortable with the car seats that they get from normal car seat providers, a normal rental providers, and they're charged twenty five dollars a day to do that, so we wanted to offer something that again improves the experience, and we don't want to charge you for it.

And it's all I see the theme, the luxury theme, kind of the well premium theme.

I guess is really what it is.

Absolutely okay, So you said why FI get the navigation the satellite radio. I thought this was interesting too because two things I recently tested A ride in this thing, took it up to San Francisco for the week weekend maybe I think it was, and I didn't. I forgot, actually forgot to fill it up on the way back. Ye, So I was like, oh gosh, how much am I going to be hit with? And the fuel charge was actually very reasonable, So tell me about that part of it.

Yeah, So we don't hit you with that terrible nine dollars per gallon charge that you'll get at a lot of the other location of the other competitors. We have fair fuel pricing, so we just charge you for the price at the pump. So if you're in a hurry and you need to drop off the car, you don't have to worry about two weeks later getting a two hundred dollars bill for half.

Of a tank of gas.

It was like I think five dollars for the fill up or some Yeah, we.

Had charge you a five dollar convenience piecee for.

This thing, and it was it was committed.

And then the other thing is that I went through a toll, which I have sworn off with other car rental companies because I did a toll one time in New Jersey and it was like a five dollars toll became like thirty dollars.

Absolutely.

I mean, those are the things that we find that competitors really nickel and dime you on. We just like to lead always, as I said, with customer experience and what's the fair thing to do, what's the right thing to do. And so you only get charged the tolls that you go through, and the amount of those tolls you don't have to charge get charged extra for a transponder or any of that stuff.

That's surprising, though.

I will say you probably could have charged me an extra buck to five dollars for that convenience and I would have been fine with it, right, But I.

Only got the four dollars charge. I was like, this is pretty good, and I bet.

You'll rent from Silvercar again, right.

Probably the goal tell me about the prices for Silver Car, So what is it for an A four, What is it for a Q five.

Yeah, So while we do talk about being a premium car rental company, we're really pleased with the fact that we can offer very competitive prices. So A four's are going to start at about fifty nine dollars a day. Q five, which is the suv, is going to start at about seventy nine dollars a day, which if you look at you know, all the things that you get and not that nickel diming. It really is comparable to kind of that mid sized car class at a lot of the competitors.

And where are you? Where Where is Silvercar located?

So we are in twenty three locations. Those are really some of the biggest airport markets in the country. So you think about all up and down the coast of California, New York, Miami, we just opened up a Dulles location. We're in Texas and Chicago. The easiest way to figure that out though, is once you download the app or go on the website, it shows you all of our locations as well as some that are coming soon.

And the name is Silver You actually only rent Silver.

Cars, so you literally always know what you're.

Going to get, and what was that?

So that was the founders, I guess they just thought that was neat that they did that, Like you're getting the same car every time, no matter where you rent, which is kind of nice as a if you're a frequent business traveler, it's kind of nice to like, I mean, they stay in the same hotel, get the same car.

You kind of like like that familiarity. Yeah, exactly, absolutely.

And you know, one of the interesting things was when we looked at silver, it was something that appealed to both genders, and it was something that gave you sort of a premium feel more so than.

A bright red car or a black car or a blue car.

So we did a lot of research into why we chose silver, but ultimately, yeah, there's that familiarity and you always know what you're gonna.

Get and who is your customer.

So we like to say our customer is the modern traveler. So we've got families for leisure as well as business travelers. I think one of the interesting things when you almost look at what we call utilization, how many cars are out we have utilism, the amount of utilization for the weekday and the weekend, and then you kind of think about that in terms of business versus leisure travel. So really, no matter what your need is, there's a Silver Car for you.

Now. I remember at one point back in the day when I rented from Silver Car, they picked me up like curb side. Can you tell me kind of at the different locations how you get to this, because it's not always in the rental car facility per se exactly.

So one of the things that we jokingly say internally is once you've been to one airport, you've been to one airport. So they're all a little bit different in what their requirements are. But so some of our locations like Austin or John Wayne, which we recently opened in we pick you up.

Kurb side in an AUTI.

Others, when you open me app, it'll show that you go to a shuttle and that drops you off with the location. The nice thing is is that you're able on the website to take a look at what that process is beforehand. You're also able to see it on the app. And most importantly, we have a concierge who's in touch with you from the time you land until the time you get to your car never on your own.

All right, Silvercar, Courtney, Lol, thanks so much for joining me. How can folks learn more about Silvercar?

Just go to silvercar dot com and then that'll take you to all the different locations that you need and the way to download the app.

All right, there you have it, Silvercar. I've done this several times. It is quite the experience. In a world where travel can definitely be stressful and rental cars are generally known to be not the best cars in the world. Silvercar really does feel like you're kind of taking a premium car on the road. It's a nice aspect of your business trip or your vacation, whatever you're using it for.

So check it out. Thanks so much for listening.

If you like the podcast, go ahead and leave a review in Apple Podcasts. That way more people discover it. I'm Rich Damiro. You want links to everything to talk about here.

Just go to Rich on tech dot tv. I'll talk to you real soon.