Recently, several large car rental companies in Japan have discovered a strange phenomenon.
After receiving the returned vehicles, the car rental company checked their odometer and found that some of the vehicles had surprisingly low mileage, and some users did not even drive the taxi point, with zero driving distance.
These "strange" users are really confused by the car rental company. “We simply don’t know what they do with our car,” a car rental company said.
"We can only see from the data that a considerable number of people rent cars are not used to drive." The problem with
is that these behaviors of not renting cars are not sporadic. Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo once conducted a survey on users of its car-sharing service. About one in eight users said that they rent cars for transportation.
rented but couldn't drive it. What did they do with these cars?
There is no place to eat boxed lunches, so I rented a car
"During the daytime, the only place I can take a nap between seeing customers is the Internet cafe in front of the station." A car rental user told the Asahi Shimbun, "But renting a car to sleep inside, it only costs a few hundred yen, which is as cheap as an Internet cafe."
Renting a car to sleep is just the most common operation.
In addition to taking a nap between work, many people are eating in rented cars. A 31-year-old company employee in Saitama Prefecture in suburbs of Tokyo said: "I bought lunch boxes in a convenience store and couldn't find a place to eat. I could only rent a car to eat inside."
A Japanese netizen showed off his night in the car on his blog / Internet
Some people also rented a car to work inside, or call and talk to relatives, friends and company customers. A white-collar worker said that he prefers to work alone in the car, and the front seats are his own "office".
Some car rental users want to store their luggage in the station’s locker, but all the lockers are full. In desperation, he simply rented a car and stored his luggage in the car.
Storage locker at Tokyo Station. Even if it is not discontinued due to large-scale events, the lockers here are often in short supply / Visual China
These are still more normal uses. After the invention of "renting a car without driving" spread, users' intelligence was not limited to renting a car to eat and sleep.
Gradually, car rental has become a "mobile Internet cafe", and some people watch TV programs in their rented cars. Renting a car can also be a "mobile locker room", and one user said he once rented a car to change his clothes on Halloween. Someone also invented mobile karaoke and rented a car to practice rap inside.
and even users rent a car, which is used to do "face yoga" in it, including a set of movements such as bulging cheeks, pouting, etc. It is said that it can beautify and care for skin, and even lose face.
Faceful yoga example, you can tell why they practice this in the car when they see the expression / Youtube
Car rental is cheaper than going to a cafe
"Car rental does not drive" is popular in Japan, starting from the 2011 East Japan Earthquake. At that time, earthquakes and tsunamis caused power supply to many places to be interrupted. So, many people rent a car to charge their mobile phones in order to contact the outside world.
Several years have passed, and the affected areas are slowly recovering from the damage caused by the earthquake, but the new purpose of rental cars developed by people at that time has not been forgotten. Until now, charging mobile phones and computers is still an important purpose for renting a car in addition to transportation.
Earthquakes and tsunamis destroyed power facilities, and people had to rent cars to charge their communication equipment / network
Car rental has become a relatively common way of life in Japan. In 2018, Japan's personal car rental users exceeded five million, with a market size of US$180 million, and is expected to continue to grow steadily in the next few years. Car rental is very common in people's lives and also provides the possibility of new uses of car rental mentioned above.
is very convenient to rent a car in Japan. The car rental outlets are dense and are mostly concentrated in the center of living areas and commercial areas. People do not need to go too far to get the car.
Moreover, several mainstream car rental companies in Japan can book and rent cars 24 hours a day on their mobile apps, and can go to the car rental site to pick up the car at any time, saving tedious procedures and procedures.
A Japanese car rental store that provides 24-hour self-service / Internet
Not only is it convenient to pick up a car, but it is also very cheap to rent a car in Japan. In Tokyo, the minimum price of a car rental is only 800 yen per hour (about 50 yuan; for purchasing power reference, a bottle of Suntory mineral water in Japan costs about 100 yen).
Moreover, mainstream car rental companies can charge by hours or even minutes, which makes short-term rental cost-effective, so sometimes, renting a car to rest is indeed more suitable than going to a cafe to order a cup of coffee.
I just want to be quiet by myself
More importantly, compared with places such as cafes, car rental has an additional attraction to Japanese people: it can provide a relatively closed and private space.
Currently, more than 18 million Japanese people live alone, accounting for one-seventh of Japan's total population.
Such a huge solitary population has spawned various businesses that provide services and private spaces for single users: from travel agencies, hotels to karaoke, these were places that used to be in groups of three or five, but now they have begun to provide "single-person services".
single-person service is not only for "single people". Many people who want to temporarily separate from their partners for a short time to enjoy the quiet time, those who want to avoid the pressure of their colleagues during lunch break and those who are relaxing alone for a while, and of course, those who sing out of tune but don’t want to be ridiculed by their karaoke companions, all need a place to keep them alone for a while. "Single lifestyle" like
gradually covers all aspects of life. For example, in some stores of Yilan Ramen, diners who are alone can eat in rows of single cubicles. Diners first order food on the buffet ordering machine at the door, and then sit in the small compartment.
After the waiter brought the ramen, he lowered a curtain in front of the diner's table and left immediately. This single cubicle has baffles on three sides, so diners are almost isolated from the outside world, and there is basically no need to contact people throughout the whole process.
Single compartment of Yilan Ramen, you can not contact anyone after a meal / AFP
Private space isolated like this is increasingly demanding in Japan. Especially after the rise of social media, people are more eager to have a space to be alone. Matsushita Suko of Nomura Comprehensive Research Institute once told AFP: "Our research shows that the more people look sociable, the greater the demand for activities alone."
can only sleep well in the car
Another factor that promotes the phenomenon of "non-driver renting a car" is the lack of sleep. The survey found that most users who "rental cars" have used their rented cars to sleep and rest.
Japan is a sleep-deficient country. In 2018, sports watch data from 28 countries showed that the average sleep time for Japanese people was only 6 hours and 30 minutes for men and 6 hours and 40 minutes for women. The shortest sleep time among all 28 countries, 45 minutes shorter than the global average.
Data shows that Japanese people have the least sleep time/itmedia.co.jp
Japanese people who lack sleep have specially invented a word "小氏氏" (小氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏氏"Sleeping" can be seen everywhere. During the day, a large number of white-collar workers dozing off on the subway, and some people can even sleep while standing. In the office, company employees will seize the opportunity to take a nap.
However, people who "sleep" sleep also feel uneasy.
Although more and more Japanese companies have been trying to solve the problem of employees’ lack of sleep in recent years, including allowing employees to take naps at specific afternoons, and even setting up special "strategic sleep rooms" to allow employees to take a quiet nap; lack of sleep still plagues a lot of Japanese people, and napping at work hours is also facing considerable pressure.
Many employees say that even if they "sleep" in the office, their bodies must maintain a position that seems to be working, because if they relax completely, they will be considered lazy.
In this way, taking a nap in the rented car will naturally become a convenient choice. On the way to the business, employees rented a car to sleep, which not only gave them a good rest, but also relieved the pressure on their bodies.
A man took a nap at the subway platform in Tokyo / Visual China
car rental company was half a beat slower
The popularity of the phenomenon of "no car rental" has also surprised the car rental company.
Several mainstream car rental companies instinctively oppose people doing this, because car rental companies charge not only based on the length of the car rental, but also based on the mileage. If more and more people fail to rent a car, car rental companies will lose a lot of mileage costs.
Moreover, many users often drive the engine in their cars and turn on the air conditioner to escape the heat in summer and drive away the cold in winter. Car rental companies believe that doing so is wasteful of energy and is not conducive to environmental protection.
A car rental outlet in Japan / network
Olix company explicitly opposes users' rental car for other purposes other than driving. "When you are not driving, you should turn off the engine." Oris told Asahi Shimbun, "We do not want users to rent cars for other purposes than transportation. We think our company's cars are best used for driving." Some car rental companies are even considering charging certain "vacancies" to users with zero or too short mileage.
But it is undeniable that "no car rental" has formed a trend and has become a habit for many users.
Once a product has a cost-effectiveness to a certain extent, people will definitely invent various new uses. The most famous example is computer storage. Computer storage used to be very expensive, but after the cost dropped, cloud computing and various applications with the word "cloud" have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, changing the technology ecosystem.
. Will car rental companies that are cautious and oppose the phenomenon of "renting a car" also find business opportunities? (Text/Wang Pinda Editor/Zhu Kai)
