Chinese car rental giant eHi Car Services has become the first into the car rental market by launching its online P2P car sharing platform called “hi”. It will leverage its well-established online technology and operation capacity to service a huge market of car owners and users and try to take the lead in the domestic car sharing market.
In line with eHi’s mission statement - “to improve transportation options and optimize social resources in China” - the hi car share platform seeks to enhance car resource utilization to alleviate the pressure on urban transportation and the environment.
An industry observer thinks the P2P car sharing service can extend the benefits of eHi's car rental services integration and add value to car rental services. By leveraging its network of rental agencies as physical transaction locations, it helps to resolve the issues of trust and integrity that used to plague P2P car sharing, while reducing risks and increasing transaction success rate.
eHi said that its hi platform is not strictly a P2P model as the service leverages the brand power of eHi’s car rental service and offline POS network, safety system, service standard and code to ensure even safer and more beneficial service for car owners and users alike. "Our ability to provide a strong O2O element in the service process is precisely eHi’s advantage in the P2P car sharing market," an eHi spokesman said,
eHi has already developed a world-class e-commerce operation by setting up a massive central data service center to manage its CRM, ERP and GPS systems, conducting the majority of its bookings and consultation on its official website, and handling car collection, return and shuttle operations at its agencies.(Translation by David)
