Lyft has announced that it is expanding its Lyft Rentals program – initially started in California – nationwide. This expansion is thanks to a partnership with SIXT rent a car, which has 280,000 premium vehicles worldwide. Beginning in August, Lyft riders in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Miami will be able to rent a SIXT car through the Rentals tab in the Lyft app. After this three-city launch, the brand plans to expand to all cities in the SIXT rental network in the United States in the coming months.
“Lyft is leading the charge on offering our riders a range of transportation options on top of our core rideshare offerings, such as bikes, scooters, and transit and now we are doubling down on that effort with the expansion of Lyft Rentals,” said Cal Lankton, Lyft’s VP Fleet & Global Operations, in a Lyft press release. “Partnering with SIXT enables us to rapidly expand the reach of our rentals in a time when customers are looking for hassle-free and intuitive transportation solutions. With our vision for car rentals, we are offering a completely integrated, frictionless, and transparent experience for transportation that renters have come to love.”
Lyft has said that it has reimagined what renting a car might look like and solving problems that might be even worse for customers now considering the pandemic. Some of those problems include – long wait times at the rental counter, uncertainty about which car renters will leave with, and stress on getting home after returning. The brand is solving those problems by cutting lengthy paperwork, reducing contact, and sped-up pickup and drop-off. These changes help renters pick the exact car they’ll leave with and provide Lyft credit to get home after the rental is finished. SIXT has also introduced digital mobility services for customers that will allow them to completely integrate the brand’s premium fleet into Lyft’s friction-free car model.
“As a matter of principle, SIXT pursues a partnership approach to meet the challenges of modern mobility,” said Sebastian Birkel, President SIXT United States, in a Lyft news release. “With Lyft, we have an innovative partner at our side with whom we are already working successfully – since 2019, SIXT customers in the USA have been able to use Lyft’s service under the “SIXT ride” tab via our SIXT App. We are now very excited to expand this cooperation by the integration of our rental products into the Lyft app starting in August.”
More on Loyalty360 on Car Rentals and Customer Experience: