Tesla has introduced a rental program for customers that offers the use of one of its cars for three to seven days starting at just $60 per day, plus taxes and fees. Along with the cheap pricing, Tesla is offering many perks to go along with your rental. These include unlimited mileage, free Supercharging, and the use of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for the rental’s duration.
Perhaps the only limit is that you can’t leave the state in which you rented the Tesla. The company will, however, give you a $250 credit towards a new Tesla if you buy one within seven days of your rental.
Why Is Tesla Doing This?
Studies have shown that once people try an electric vehicle, they become hooked. A recent study from the Global EV Alliance shows that 92% of EV owners surveyed say they would never return to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. Thus, getting butts in seats is one of the best ways to sell the idea of owning an EV to skeptics.
This isn’t even the first time Tesla has tried to get curious buyers to try out its vehicles. The automaker currently allows three types of test drives: a regular one in which you take a car for a spin around the block, a 24-hour test drive that lets you take a car home for the night, and a 48-hour test drive that offers a whole weekend with a car.
Currently, Tesla’s new rental program is limited only to a few of its store locations. These include the Tesla Stores in San Diego and Costa Mesa, California. If popular, though, the service could easily spread across the country, and quickly at that.
TopSpeed’s Take
If we were visiting southern California, but if we did, we’d highly consider renting a car from Tesla instead of Hertz, Enterprise, or Avis. Sure, the standard rental car companies advertise cheaper prices in some cases, but those are for the sub-sub-sub-compact models with hardly any convenience features to make your drive more comfortable.
We would happily pay $60 a day for a Tesla Model 3 and all the high-tech gadgetry that goes along with it. And the free Supercharging is a major cost savings, too. If you’ve ever brought a rental car back with just an ounce less of fuel than what you left with, you know what we mean.
Would renting a Tesla convince us to buy one? Probably not, at least not before having the chance to test drive its many worthy competitors that are now on sale. But we have to admit, this form of “test drive” is far better than your typical 15-minute one, especially for those who’ve never experienced an EV before.
Source: Teslerati
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