In big cities with very dense populations, such as New York,
for example, finding a parking lot can cause stress for the car owners. Besides
limited space available, the rate offered - which technically is a rental fee -
is also quite expensive.
Private taxi service like Uber or GrabTaxi may be used as a
solution. But still, there are many people who feel more comfortable to use
their own cars for traveling. Regardless of idealism of each car owner, a
service called Zirx wants to offer interesting solution to overcome the problem
of limited parking space. This service is actually a valet service that can be
called anytime when the consumers need it.
Zirx works in a simple way: you just need to open the application on your smartphone (Android and iOS), and then specify the location of the car right now (in your office, for example). The Zirx staff will meet you on the office and bring your car into the Zirx's partner parking lot - of course not on the side of the road. When you want to go home, the car will be escorted back to any location you specify
The pegged rate is $ 15 per night. For comparison, in the
San Francisco where the Zirx headquarter is located; the parking rates could
reach $ 12 per hour. Zirx also offers a monthly plan for $ 299.
While the car is being handled by Zirx staff, you can also
order additional services with extra costs. The services offered for example
are filling petrol, oil change or car wash. When the car is delivered back to
you, the gas tank has been full and the exterior is already clean.
Zirx applies a payment system similar to Uber: by using
credit cards - simple and easy. About security, Zirx has been guaranteed by
insurance worth 2 million dollars so that the clients don't need to worry about
something bad happened with their cars.
So far Zirx operates only in four cities in the United
States, but they recently managed to obtain funding of $ 36 million, so it's
possible that Zirx will go international in the future just like Uber which
initially operated only in the US.