Low cost wheels: how does the new low cost car rental business come from one of Flybondi's owners?

"The other day, a friend told me that he was going to Bariloche, on vacation, by car, from Buenos Aires, to spend a week there, that's crazy," he said. Julian Cook, the Swiss entrepreneur who, until December, was the CEO of Flybondi, the first company low cost country, of which he remains a shareholder and vice-chairman.

"Flybondi has grown to over 500. I had started the project from scratch and had been working full time for three years. My strength lies more in launch activities than in day-to-day operations. Since August of last year, we spoke to the board of directors and we decided to leave. And I went to do something else, "he says Infobae.

The first thing you will do is call Wow Rent a Car, something that defines as "complementary and new generation car rental service" which will start operating this year, with 1,000 rental units in the main tourist points of the country, and with which will bill the first year, according to the employer's estimates, about 5 million USD.

This is to say cheap rental cars in tourist places. "We are going to do the same thing as with planes, but with this market"promises to cook.

The idea was born a year and a half ago, after traveling with Flybondi, the main cities of the country. "The Argentine air market was underdeveloped and much before the arrival of Flybondi and the market low cost, but that of rental cars is much worse. Today, there are only 15,000 vehicles, compared with 30,000 in Chile and 700,000 in Brazil. Argentina should have four or five times more"valued.

The idea of ​​Wow is to arrive with services to the main tourist points of Argentina. "In everything you need by car: Salta, Mendoza, Bariloche, Jujuy and Cordoba, perhaps less in Iguazu, and as the offer is so bad or nonexistent, many people continue to ride from afar to make it, "says Cook. In principle, Wow will have agreements on packages with Flybondi, but do not rule out adding other airlines and companies from the tourism sector.

– How will the system work?

– In general, overall, the car rental experience has not changed in the last 20 years. We arrive, we must wait in line, wait more than half an hour. Many procedures are done with the pbadport or the document, someone gives you a key … Thanks to the current technology and the experience of the companies of car sharing, it is clear that everything can be done better, more agile and friendlyIn addition, at a lower cost. Wow, you will drive from an app that will tell you where the car is, open it from the phone and leave. Everything is more efficient. We will have premises in the airports and in the center of the main cities. We target the tourism market and we will not compete with the car sharing.

– How much will the rent cost?

– Today, the average rental price is 50 USD per day. In Chile it is half and in Spain a third. There are margins to reduce costs and provide good service. We will be 50% lower.

– How many cars are you going to have?

– In 5 years, about 5,000 cars. This is the logical step after the low costYou arrive cheaply and continue to travel with your own transport at a reasonable price. With Flybondi We promised to triple the air market in 10 years and we are doing it. Why manage as much? You take one low cost and rent a car.

– Are you going to buy all the vehicles?

– Yes, we are talking now with car manufacturers, which are very bad, with sales accounting for 50% of last year. We choose our strategic partner in May. This will be around 1,000 units for the first 12 months. For him start-upAround 800

– With which car brands do you negotiate?

– with all. In the world, when you rent, you never know which car they will offer you. They tell you such a model or "similar", and it is always "similar". We will launch the service with one brand model, but we have not yet defined it. It will be a compact car, which represents 80% of the rental market. Maybe an entry-level SUV.

– Do you ask for a lot of discounts in this negotiation?

– Yes, that's part of the key to this case. We are talking about something big and we are looking for a price. It will also be an excellent showcase for this model.

– Who are the investors in the project?

– We close the first round of investment. Some shareholders have already been confirmed, but I can not say for the moment. I have a partner who is also in the travel business, but for now the visible face of the project, it is me. For the moment, everything related to loans is very complicated, the rates are soaring. Maybe we take equity to buy the first cars, depends on the credit. The funding is the same: it will not be less than 5 million USD to start, not counting the cars. This is a local project for the first two years. We then plan to expand in the region and eventually enter into agreements with other car brands. We do not want to have a car manufacturer as a partner because that would limit growth and other possible agreements.