Automo Wants to Facilitate Car Rental for Foreign Tourists

The difficulty of private car rental in tourist areas is one of the reasons why Automo was launched. To DailySocial, Country Head Automo Singapore & Indonesia Charles Lin said that starting from his personal experience when traveling to Bali and often having difficulty renting a car directly, the idea finally emerged to launch Automo.

"I see the options for car rental are still limited in Indonesia, especially for foreign tourists. Only a few taxi services are available, even online transportation [services] are still difficult to enter airports and tourist spots."

With its platform, Automo can bring driver partners with a choice of cars, ranging from standard ones to luxury cars for foreign and local tourists.

"Our hope in the future, Automo is not just a transportation that delivers from point A to point B, but can be rented for a certain time by everyone," said Charles.

Automo, which has only been in business for two months, is targeting the Singapore and Indonesia markets. In Indonesia, Automo initially focused on the Jakarta area. In addition to gathering teams, Automo is also still trying to recruit partners/vendors to join. As a new startup, Automo wants to ensure that the user experience will be well received.

"We also continue to receive input from vendors and understand well the customs and regulations that apply in Indonesia related to car rental," said Charles.

Monetization strategy

Regarding the monetization strategy launched, Automo will later take 10% commission from every order made by the user to the vendor. Automo also wants to ensure that all ordering processes to payments can be done in the application, so there is no need to leave the existing platform.

"Later on, the application will become the main media equipped with various supporting features. If it is running, we will also increase the percentage of commissions for Automo," said Charles.

Apart from attracting new vendors, Automo also has plans to offer additional income to current online transportation drivers in Indonesia, namely Go-Jek and GRAB, to join as a partner.

"Hopefully, with the concept we offer, registered online transportation drivers can use their private car for one full day for Automo users," said Charles.

Automo targets and fundraising plans

Currently, Automo claims to have investors. Although reluctant to say who the investors are, Charles emphasized that the investors are from the automotive world and are a conglomerate of property companies, not from venture capital.

"In the future, we may be more interested in raising funds for angel investors for the next stage, not yet for VCs. We plan to get additional capital of around IDR 1-2 billion," said Charles.

In 2018, Automo is still adding to the team and trying to make relevant technology for partners as well as users. In addition, Automo also hopes to expand its service area in major cities in Indonesia, such as Medan, Jogjakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Bali. Automo also wants to increase its service options, not only car rental, but also motorbikes, yachts, jets, luxury cars as well as commercial vehicles.

"The most important thing is, Automo wants to increase the volume of business with our partners, by providing easy services, especially for foreign tourists who come to Indonesia," concluded Charles.