Kyte (Series B): Disrupting the $54B+ Car Rental Industry
Are competitively priced rental cars delivered to your door too good to be true?
The US car rental market is a $54B+ industry, dominated by traditional rental car companies. Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, Alamo, Thrifty and Dollar are guaranteed brands you’ll find at every major airport in the US.
And while prominent, users definitely don’t choose them for their great customer service or user experience. I once waited over an hour at Avis at Boston’s Logan Airport, where the customer service managers took their time because the lines were there everyday — why hurry?
Yet when you look at the players that I have tried to disrupt the space, Zipcar (now an Avis company) faded away due to the inconvenience of parking locations and Turo has become the marketplace for renting exotic cars.
This is where Kyte has come in. The recently announced Series B startup touts competitively priced rental cars, that are delivered to you — think Uber but rental cars.
What’s the Product?
Right from the home page, Kyte claims to deliver rental cars to your door, on demand with no lines, no paperwork, no refueling on return, and full flexibility. Ambitious and magical if executed.
I entered my delivery address (Kyte operates in 14 major cities) and was asked to choose my car type.
$44/day for a Nissan Versa and $61/day for a Hydunai Tuscon is a steal.
I checked the prices on Avis for downtown San Francisco and the same dates (4 days). An economy car is $120/day and a SUV is $148/day. And I’d have to pay for an Uber to get to/from the Avis lot.
Beyond price, the magic of Kyte is in the user experience. Say goodbye to wasting time waiting in airport car rental lines. Instead, a car shows up at your chosen address and time, and you’re handed a car to hit the road.
Kyte has also sprinkled in some surprise-and-delight features:
Tolls: Drive through tolls like normal and pay per toll after your trip (goodbye insanely expensive daily passes for tolls at Avis)
Gas: Kyte refills for you at local gas stations prices (goodbye insanely expensive gas even though there’s always a gas station <0.5 miles away from the rental car lot)
Free Additional Driver(s): Others in your group that are 25+ can drive for free if added to the contract
The experience sounds almost too good to be true, especially at that price point.
Where are the downfalls?
The flaws
Airports
The most common, painful car rental experience is likely the long line at the airport. Can Kyte completely eliminate that? Imagine having your rental car delivered to the arrivals terminal. You put your bags in the car and hit the road.
Not so fast. Kyte’s airport experience is by far the most clunky part of their service.
Instead of meeting you at the airport, Kyte leverages handover spots that they claim are near the airport. You’re instructed to take public transit and meet a surfer (delivery person) at a random street corner. There are no signs and the handover spot for SFO is 10 miles away..
If you’re traveling to another city and would normally rent a car at the airport, here’s what I’d suggest: check if where you’re staying is in their delivery zone (available on their website). If it is, I’d take an Uber to your hotel (or a hotel shuttle) and have the Kyte dropped off there.
Customer Support
I firmly believe that a great product experience is more than software. The experience from customer support is critical — they’re the face of the company for most users. When you’re able to speak to someone from their team, they’re great. The challenges are:
Their in-app chat sometimes takes over an hour to reply: Imagine wanting to extend your trip but want confirmation that you can keep the car for a few more days before the return time in 1 hour.. but no one gets back to you for an hour. Do you drive back to the return location but know you’re wasting time if they confirm the extension?
No phone number: I’m the first to admit that I prefer online customer support solutions rather than picking up the phone (years of horrible comcast xfinity phone service have scarred me for life). But when it comes to moment-in-time services like a rental car, a phone line to call and get answers quickly is important.
Takeaways
Incredibly priced rental car service that works great if your in their delivery zone (think weekend trip from SF to Tahoe).
I’d avoid their airport experience, and “hack it” with a hotel/office address that they deliver to if it works with your schedule.
By the way, they’re hiring across engineering, operations, growth, product and more. Check out their career page.