Going the Extra ‘Myles’ with Entrepreneur Incubation Drive

Sakshi Vij is a name synonymous with self-driven cars in India. The 33-year-old, Founder and CEO of Mylescars toiled with the idea of a self-drive in November 2013. “It was important for me to understand that why there is no self-drive service in India. Why are we not looking at mobility, the way the world looks at it? There are autonomous vehicles being made in other parts of the world and we are still talking about cabs, forget electric cars,” quips Vij who created an affordable, flexible and convenient technology that allowed people to own cars in a hassle-free manner.

“Typically, a family in India uses a car for 100 to 120 days on an average. Sometimes you need a car only for a few hours, then why spend on EMIs, parking, maintenance and insurance when you can get the same comfort for a fraction of the cost?,” says Vij.

The vision is to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurs who partner, invest and adopt car sharing in a better, smarter and environment-friendly way in India.

Mylescars has grown from 14 cars in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore to 40 models of 800 cars – compact SUVs, electric cars, hatchbacks, luxury cars, MUVs, sedans and SUVs – in 21 cities in the country, from Goa, Jaipur, Udaipur, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Pondicherry and more.

Having invested heavily on telematics technology that allows the company to receive and store information like location, tyre pressure, break usage of the vehicle, has worked really well for the product.

A recent addition to the venture is the entrepreneur incubation initiative that has seen interest from 2,700 micro-investors to invest cars on the platform. Under the Myles Angels programme, Mylescars will roll-out 5000 cars on the platform by the end of 2017.

On registering into the programme, anyone can become a Myles Angel and get benefits for up to 50 percent return on their investment along with a fixed income. “This initiative has received an encouraging response from young professionals. The programme ensures that one can own a car without bothering about the hassle of owning one and this is what car sharing is in true sense,” she adds.

Once a customer owns a car, he would lease it to Mylescars’ car sharing network, from where Mylescars takes care of EMIs, insurance and maintenance, along with hassle-free operations all through the process.

With a registered base of a million users, Mylescars is proud to have a repeat user base of about 30%. The company plans to launch services in collaboration with major car sellers, as they did with Tata Motors, Mahindra in the past. Currently, Mylescars has been funded for 10 million from Carzonrent, founded by Rajiv Kumar Vij in 2000, and is looking for opportunity in equity funds.