Okay, so to be entirely honest, I didn’t rent a car for $2 an hour. I rented a car from $4.82 an hour. But I wanted to get your attention ’cos $2 is like only a third of even your smallest ang pow (no one gives $4 any more, right?), and yes, it’s possible to pay just two bucks —actually, it’s $2.14 — and ‘own’ a car for a whole 60 minutes.
The car I picked was a Honda Vezel, which comes under the “Standard SUV” category, and during super off-peak hours, the rental is $4.82 per hour. This is a promo rate — the usual price is $5.35. But what you’re interested in is what you can get for $2.14 an hour, right? That would be cars under the Economy Sedan category (Toyota Altis, Mitsubishi Lancer GLX, Mitsubishi Lancer EX or similar cars that are six years or older) or cars under the Economy MPV category (which would be a first generation Toyota Wish that’s six years or older). And the $2.14 rate is for super off-peak hours, which is 12am to 6am on weekdays.
Yes, yes, the chances of you wanting to rent a car during those dead-of-night hours are pretty slim, so here’s the price for peak hours — $6.96 per hour from 7am to 11am on weekdays, 5pm to 11pm on Mondays to Thursdays and from 5pm onwards on Fridays, and whole day on weekends. Any time that doesn’t fall within the super off-peak hours and the peak hours would be considered off-peak, and the price is $4.82 per hour.
It’s all happening at Tribecar (say try-bear-car, yeah, like the NYC neighbourhood), a car and motorcycle sharing operator where vehicles can be rented for both leisure and commercial usage (yes, you can use the cars to drive for Grab or Go-Jek) on an hourly or daily basis. It’s been around since 2015. What’s new in 2019 is that they are targeting millennial drivers by extending car rental to new/on probation drivers who are under 23 years old — unlike many other rental companies who require drivers to have at least two years’ driving experience (that means, not P-plate lah) and be at least a certain age, or who charge much higher fees or have extra costs for new drivers.
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1/101/10Some of the offerings in Tribecar's fleet. All cars come with the blue Tribecar decals. -
2/102/10The Honda Vezel we rented, which we picked up in a HDB multi-storey carpark. -
3/103/10The inside of the rented Honda Vezel. -
4/104/10The blue Tribecar decal is a dead giveaway that this car does not belong to you. -
5/105/10A Mazda 3 — a popular car model in SG — in the Tribecar fleet. -
6/106/10The Tribecar homepage. -
7/107/10The Tribecar fleet, which includes the Audi A3 as well as MPVs, vans and motorbikes. -
8/108/10A car available for rental to new drivers on probation. -
9/109/10Tribecar rental rates #1 -
10/1010/10Tribecar rental rates #2