KUALA LUMPUR: Got a spare car at home you wish could be profitable without having to sell it? Or perhaps you’re keen on experiencing a car you don’t own for a few days.
If you’ve ever considered the two options, perhaps you would like to give TREVO a try.
TREVO is a P2P car sharing marketplace app that aims to link car owners and renters without all the hassle, and remain equally profitable to all parties.
Officially launched by SOCAR Malaysia, TREVO offers 300 cars to choose from. With over 20,000 registered guests, the app has already notched 1,000 bookings since its introduction in Oct 14, last year.
Users are said to be able to loan a car for as low as RM55 per-day (for a Perodua Myvi), or go all the way for a Rolls Royce if they are so inclined – for, of course, a much higher rate.
“With the official launch of TREVO in Malaysia, we are excited to introduce the next chapter of car-sharing in our overall multi-flex story to Malaysians,” says TREVO general manager Susan Teoh.
“We want to empower Malaysians to drive their dreams. For guests, we provide more mobility choices to help them fulfil their travel dreams, while for hosts, we offer the opportunity to earn extra income to offset the cost of car ownership. We also conduct community workshops to help optimise the value of car ownership.
“At the end of the day, we want to create a thriving TREVO community of like-minded people who share a goal to improve mobility, contribute to less carbon emissions and enable a better environment for humanity. We can’t wait for our first of its kind TREVO activation centre to be launched,” she added.
According to SOCAR Malaysia chief executive officer Leon Foong, TREVO’s platform differs by aiming at long-term loaners (two to two-and-a-half days on average, unlike SOCAR’s hour-rental centric model), along with the notion of profitability for both hosts and guests.
“Car ownership in Malaysia is amongst the highest in the region with 93 per cent of households owning at least one car. However, with real wage growth slowing down over the past few years, we acknowledge the financial burden that comes with ownership.
“With TREVO, we are showing our commitment to the multi-flex ecosystem by allowing a new segment of users who want to make money from sharing their cars when they are not using them to alleviate their financial burden.
“For guests, we hope to be able to curate best in class vehicles in terms of selection and quality at very attractive prices,” he added.
To assure users ease of use, TREVO has created an experience team to deal with all matter of difficulties that users may face, such as logistics, accidents and theft, among other complexities. This is on top of user screening, data compilation, insurance coverage and the assistance of technology to monitor the vehicle’s condition and progress.
Korean company SK Holdings Co Ltd said it is excited to invest in TREVO after seeing the rapidly changing attitudes towards car ownership and choice of transportation locally.
“The strong growth of SOCAR Malaysia has shown us the value of investing in car-sharing platforms in Malaysia, thus inspiring us to channel more investment into this sector,” said SK Holdings’ executive vice president Shin Jung-Ho.
Currently, most vehicle hosts are based in the Klang Valley – but coverage is expected to grow with an increase in the user-base.