Collaborate adds luxury service to DriveMyCar in partnership with Mercedes Benz Melbourne

Sharing economy proponent Collaborate Corp (ASX:CL8) has announced a luxury business venture in partnership with LSH Auto, currently the world’s largest dealer group for Mercedes-Benz cars, with a view of offering what it calls a “premium vehicle rental service” that will offer customers a valet driver as part of a luxury offering.

Trading as Mercedes-Benz Melbourne, LSH Auto has signed an agreement to supply vehicles to the DriveMyCar marketplace and the launch of a premium vehicle rental service which is expected to serve as an initiative to allow new customers and travellers to access and experience a range of luxury Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

The first collaboration between DriveMyCar and LSH’s Mercedes-Benz dealerships will launch at Melbourne Airport whereby DriveMyCar will make a range of new Mercedes-Benz vehicles available, including A-Class, B-Class, CLA, C-Class, X-Class and GLA vehicles available for rent to Melbourne residents and incoming visitors via the Mercedes-Benz Melbourne Airport dealership.

Collaborate says that its newly-agreed partnership will offer travellers a unique service upon arriving at Melbourne Airport with a valet driver taking customers from the domestic and international terminals by a Mercedes-Benz valet driver and conveyed to Mercedes-Benz Melbourne Airport to collect their chosen vehicle.

Courting the elite

The venture is aimed at tourists, business travellers and those “seeking to experience Mercedes-Benz for weekends away or extended vehicle evaluations,” the company said.

Both LSH Auto and Collaborate have said both companies intend to promote the new service to their respective addressable audiences including existing Mercedes owners across Australia.

Additionally, the service serve new and existing DriveMyCar customers who are seeking a luxury driving experience in tandem with added service features not offered by other car rental companies such as Hertz, Avis and Thrifty – companies that are considered to be focused on large sales volumes rather than a personalised haute-couture experience which Mercedes wants to convey as part of its brand image.

Collaborate has confirmed that its Melbourne Airport service will be launched in November 2018, in time for the seasonal increase in vehicle rental demand.

In addition to its DriveMyCar service, Collaborate offers several other services focused on “collaborative consumption” and a “peer-to-peer” business model that wants to harness what’s become known as the “sharing economy” – a method of monetising goods and services that is based on renting and borrowing, rather than buying and owning.

Collaborate currently has two other core business segments that supplement its DriveMyCar service that has already become “Australia’s leading peer-to-peer car rental business” – namely MyCaravan, a carbon-copy of its car business aimed at caravan users and Mobilise.com, a rental marketplace for under-utilised assets.

“LSH Auto Australia have demonstrated themselves to be at the forefront of providing luxury vehicles to consumers. We look forward to partnering with Mercedes-Benz Melbourne to expand the opportunity to enable more consumers to experience Mercedes Benz vehicles as part of DriveMyCar’s rental offering,” said Chris Noone, CEO of Collaborate Corporation.

Having announced the deal this morning, shares in Collaborate were unchanged at $0.014 per share.