These are two of my most recent requests and why I need/want/would like to treat these two requests differently.
The very first request was the customer deliberately asked me about what if they go over the mileage allotment. It is fairly generous, but still they thought they would exceed the limit. I don’t want to have another trip with the Azera where the car was gone for 6 days. I earned $146.25 the renter put on 1,065 miles. This seems like a bad deal to me. Since I had that rental I’ve tightened up my prescreening process.
I didn’t even have a chance to do the game theory or the math, but surely there is a deal for me that makes sense. I was potentially thinking that for each 100 miles that he goes over charge a $25 fee. Get this agreed and paid in advance. I don’t believe Relay Rides is set up to handle requests like this. Here is what I believe I have to do. In this situation if I’m going to get that $25 fee over a four day rental then I would need to raise my daily rate by $6.25 and change the mileage to 25 miles per day higher. Once I get this set up then the prospective renter must book the trip right then and there. I have no ability to just set up items for a one time rental. This is now my new price for everyone. I need to have them verify and book the trip, then I have to go back in and manually reset my prices again. This seems very inefficient for me and the customer.
This next request was a ride that I accepted but I had some reservations about doing it. You lucked out Tamara This request was for the Acura MDX. It was the next request though that was for the MDX at these new rates. I finally feel I have the car priced right. The Hyundai Azera is gone and Rebecca Henderson hates taking Uber’s to work and home. I understand her point especially when we own two cars paid in full. The cost ranges from $13.50 to $14.50 for her to take an uber each way. This adds an extra cost for us that we have to pay. I almost said no, I almost asked the renter about ability if they wanted to pay this. Yes I will rent you the car, but since you want it Monday and Tuesday and the other car is gone then you need to pay and extra $60. I understand this may change the deal and the economics push it over where they say no. That’s fine and that’s how the free market works.
I said yes to the request for a few reasons. It was one of those beautifully timed ones where the car is returned and Tamara’s request was for a mere five hours later. Both of these requests are also at fair market value so I said yes out of excitement. It also happens when Rebecca only needs to take ubers into work on two days. I’m not sure if Rebecca Henderson reads these blogs, but I’m not sure that she realizes that she is going out to DIA at 8:00 in the morning to pick up the Acura.
It should be easy to implement from Relay Rides perspective. It just needs to be a blank field and an amount. It could also be set up as a credit. I charge people $70 to pick up and drop off my car at DIA. If these people can give me a ride back and 50% of the time I have a baby in the car shouldn’t I give them a little credit? It’s a two way street and it would be good for both parties.