When will Rivian start selling to rental companies?

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

When fleet sales open and when rental companies decide to buy.

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[waitingonanr1s]

Well that is just hilarious. There are articles everywhere documenting how rental companies are giving people EVs who didn’t ask for them and not providing any instructions or guidance of any kind. Those people then have a bad experience and not only blame the rental company, but swear off all EVs as terrible. I’m not sure what these companies expected, but if they are still trying to figure it out, that is a really bad sign for them

Their silly business practice of letting cars go without any tracking of how many are reserved, etc. has always been an Achilles heal for them. Crazy how nothing has changed since this Seinfeld episode over 25 years ago.

Turo has it's own challenges, but that's the one nice thing about it. The car you reserve is the car you get.

 

[COdogman]

Their silly business practice of letting cars go without any tracking of how many are reserved, etc. has always been an Achilles heal for them. Crazy how nothing has changed since this Seinfeld episode over 25 years ago.

Turo has it's own challenges, but that's the one nice thing about it. The car you reserve is the car you get.

That is just classic.

Before we opened our business I had a job that required lots of travel so I have spent more time in airports and rental car offices than anyone ever should. They are like dealing with carnies - double speak and shady tricks all the time. Once I had a Hertz office in Germany claim I scratched a wheel on a different car than I actually rented. Tried to charge me $2000 for that. After that I make sure I take pics of the car I get, including at least one that captures an employee or indication it is from their location.

They are also getting in trouble in multiple states because their systems are so old they can't keep track of their cars. And they will report a car as stolen even after a person returned it on time. People are getting arrested and the rental car companies won't even drop the charges after being proven wrong. IMO they deserve all the bad press they get.

 

[Count Orlok]

Didn;'t Huetz just stop its dealio with TesQa?

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Rivian’s fleet management software should make life easier for rental companies. But, this would mean they need to install chargers at their locations. That is a significant expense. They’d also need to train employees on charging and all other nuances of BEV operation. With business booming, i.e. easy money, they are happy to recover revenue lost during COVID. I don’t think they are in a spending mood. It’s just easier and faster to rebuild their fleets with ICE and not have to spend as much time onboarding new staff.

 

[proto]

I was at Washington National a couple of months ago and Budget had a R1S there in the fleet. An employee told me that they added 40 to the fleet a few months earlier, although most had been dispersed due to one way rentals, etc.

 

[oskeei]

I just got memo earlier this week that federal travelers (civilians, military and contractors) may have to rent EVs (although they say in cases where it's the same or cheaper than ICE) and utilize EV Uber and Lyft when on official travel. Guessing demand for EVs should increase if it's adopted AND enforced.

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