Car sharing is growing in popularity as citizens understand the distinct advantages that come with it, from hassle-free mobility to saving the planet! Here's an alphabetical breakdown of the elements that make car sharing an extraordinary innovation!
Access
Car sharing and rental platforms like Drive mate offer easy access to various cars that suit your every need. Working professionals can take our most in-demand sedan for a quick meeting in the town next door, or families can hire a 7-seater van for a holiday in the outback. There are 1500+ cars to choose from; start here.
Book, unlock, go
Gone are the days of waiting for car rental companies to go through a lengthy approval and delivery process. It takes only 2 steps to book a car with our brilliant smartphone app, with features like a GPS guide to locate your car, locking and unlocking the car with your smartphone directly, and even controlling your entire schedule. Available for iOS & Android users.
Convenience
Car sharing offers a variety of operating models that are best suited for your wallet. There are 3 models ideally you will find across Australia - Hourly, Daily, and Monthly rental options. Drive mate takes it one step further and offers limitless rental periods to suit your lifestyle. According to Savvy in a recent report, it takes about $13,782 of your hard-earned money to own and operate a car every year in Australia. The cost is even higher for larger cities like Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane.
Documentation
When renting a car, you only need a valid Australian driving license or an international driver's permit. At the same time, provisional and learner license holders are not eligible to rent a car. Verifying if the guest has a 2-year driving experience will be safer as a host. Complete your verification on the Drive mate passenger dashboard and get the car of your choice.
Explore
Did you know there are about 1000 estuaries along our country's coastline? The Australian border extends for approximately 34,000 KMS, the sixth largest in the world. Explore every nook from Darwin to Hobart and Perth to Brisbane, and soak in the majestic views across the diverse topography and sprawling landscapes.
Family cars
When looking for a car to rent for a family, it's recommended to follow a 6-step checklist.
Safety
Value
Reliability
Comfort
Drive Experience
At Drive mate, we consider all these factors when choosing the cars to list on our portal. Now, we offer nearly 400+ cars across major Australian cities tailored to a family's daily or holiday travel needs. From the most prized Volvo XC90 to the Suncamper Sovereign - you can select a car that fits your budget, need, and rental duration.
Go Green
With Drive mate’s car-sharing platform, you can contribute to reducing the use of petrol and reduce the carbon footprint to save the environment. In our commitment to protecting the environment, you can choose from a growing fleet of EV and hybrid cars.
High-grade security
Drive mate's proprietary technology offers renters and car owners the best protection. For car owners or hosts, your earnings are secure and credited to your account within 1 week of the rental period finishing. While we also have insurances in place for non-payment and deferring payments by renters. At the same time, renters are protected by insurance against any kind of mishap.
Insurance
All cars on car-sharing platforms are insured completely; however, you need to be careful as each has different insurance coverage levels. The most common of the insurances found on ride-sharing platforms is Third Party Liability coverage. At Drive mate, we're concerned about the benefit we provide to both the people - Hosts and Guests. That's why a top-tier policy protects every car with coverage up to $40M, which includes vehicle damage, car theft, and 3rd party loss. What's best, it has NO impact on your current insurance and no-claim bonus.
Joy
A core promise we always bring to every community member is JOY. You experience this every step of the way. The joy of earning from your owned car that's lying idle (95% of cars are inactive for 85% of the time, as a study suggests) or the joy of being able to drive your favorite car around without bearing the cost of actually owning it.
Keyless Access
Drive mate offer a service of operating entirely remotely. You don't need to meet the host or the guest to exchange car keys. With the Drive mate go, you can get complete keyless access to your chosen car. Forget the hassle of coordinating with the host at a time that might not be suitable for you or them to drop off and pick up the car.
Limitless Rental Renewals
We know the cost benefits of renting a car every month outweigh that of owning a car for a long time. And that's why we have limitless renewals on any car you choose to rent for more than a week. A trait that's unique only to Drive mate's car-sharing portal.
More Earnings
Who knew owning a car could also help you make money? Enter the phenomenon that's gripped Australian travellers - Car Sharing. Earn extra moola by listing your car on the Drive mate platform and renting it out to verified members. You can adjust your rates as you deem fit through the admin dashboard. Earn 20% more on the Drive mate platform than any similar car sharing platform. On average, owners earn up to $560 / month on a Mercedes Benz S-Class.
No Wuckas
There are absolutely no wuckas when it comes to sharing a car. You have the power to choose everything in just 1 single click. Choose the area for pick up or delivery, select your car model, and choose the rental length requirement. On the other hand, you can choose to accept or reject the guest's request to borrow your car.
One-click booking
You don't need to visit a car showroom, you don't have to go for extended test drives, and you certainly don't have to wait for your car to be delivered. Get the car of your choice whenever you want it, in as little as 2 hours from the time of booking, all in just ONE CLICK!
Peer to Peer
Here’s a term that gets used often in the car-sharing community. It simply means, renting a car is as easy as borrowing a car from your neighbor or peer. Much like Napster and Torrent files made it easy for you to access your peers' music or movie data he/she was willing to share, with car sharing, you get access to a host of cars your ‘peers’ are eager to share at a certain fixed fee.
Queensland
A holiday with family or friends calls for a car with oodles of leg room, a large boot and supercooling capacity. The Mercedes-Benz Vito or even the Toyota Hiace are some of the popular cars rented on the drive mate platform. Visit Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef to dive into marine life or visit ecological habitat centers and visit the Koalas. Anytime between August to October is an ideal time to catch these furry and cute native animals of Australia.
Reviews
Car sharing and renting offer complete transparency to the guests knowing the experience renters had with their rented cars. Read the reviews properly, and try to identify if the hosts can match up to your expectations. Only choose the ones with the highest reviews for the best customer experience. Drive mate's parent company in Singapore Drive lah is rated 4.7 on Trust Pilot, the largest review submission portal for businesses across the globe.
Sharing is caring
A National Transport Commission report estimates the average pollutant emission of a single passenger car in Australia to be about 4.8 metric tonnes. Car sharing reduces the number of cars driving on the road, which leads to less air pollution being contributed by cars daily. This way, guests and hosts can contribute to improving the environment by caring for it, with Drive mate's easy sharing.
"As we progress technologically, the world needs to innovate to help reduce environmental impacts on national and worldwide spectrums."
Travel Anytime
Stop waiting in queues at the bus station or searching for the best flight timings & deals to latch on to. With car sharing, you can jet set on a holiday in less than 2 hours! Drive from Sydney to the Twelve Apostles in Victoria or head to Cole's for your monthly grocery shopping, run at the drop of a hat. Be flexible with your timings, and rent a car as if you owned it.
Uber vs Car Rental
A question that gets asked often by all our customers. Here's the simple math: An uber costs about $1.5 / KM to the passenger in Sydney or Melbourne. The average traveling distance covered by a working professional in a day is 15.4 Km, according to a study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This means you are spending about $50/ Day on traveling via Uber, whereas renting a car can be as low as $29 for the entire day. And you can have complete privacy while you go about your day!
Verification
This is one of the most central elements of having a great car-sharing experience. At Drive mate, every member of our car-sharing community is vetted on 1-on-1 criteria to ensure that both parties involved can have a safe and gratifying experience. If a guest manages to provide the wrong information at the time of verification, we follow a 'Zero Tolerance Policy and take corrective action when required.
Weekend Getaways
The 9 to 5 drive can be burdensome, and travelingDrive mate to new places is always a calming experience. With car-sharing weekend getaways in a car, you can call your own (for a short while at least) are no distant reality anymore. Drive mate offers daily and weekly car rentals at highly affordable rates.
Xers
At Drive mate, our proprietary technology makes car sharing and renting a seamless and completely secure process. According to a study, more than 55% of all car-renting Gen Xers considered safety and security the top priority.
Yabbies
A freshwater delicacy you will find most common in South Australia. Impress your date by driving up the coast to a famous restaurant in a sleek convertible, or head out with your mates for a weekend of surfing and shrimps by renting out our cars. When driving with your mate and a rented car from Drive mate, anything is possible.
Zip, Zap, Zoom
The backpackers 3 magic words, even when it comes to car sharing. Zip up your bags, Zap to your pick-up location and zoom away without any hassles and downtime. Drive mate ticks all these boxes and more! Try it out for yourself.
Also read:
How to rent a car with Drive mate Car Sharing App, Australia
Revolutionise Family Travel: Top Benefits of Car Sharing in Australia
