Where is the future of “shared cars”？What mistakes did Youyou Auto make during operation？What kind of company can survive in this industry？We chatted with Li Yu, the founder of Youyou Car Rental，Maybe this article can give you the answer to the above question。

"Youyou's business is closed?"

"Yes，Business closed，The company will have a formal announcement tomorrow morning，You can see the announcement，I am really inconvenient now。”

March 2017 10:30 pm，Li Yu, the co-founder of Youyou Car, is taking care of his children at home，Received a very rude call。

The person on the other end of the phone said he wanted to interview her now.

“I’m putting the baby to bed，Let’s pick it again tomorrow。”Li Yu said.

The other party stopped talking and hung up the phone.

The next day，An article titled "Youyou Auto goes bankrupt: the office building is empty、No Way for Users to Refund” made headlines in the media。

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actually，Before preparing to shut down Youyou Car，Li Yuhe and his partners have contacted platform users through various methods to handle refunds，But in the end, 7% of users could not be contacted。Youyou Car’s business has been stopped at this time，Only online services can be shut down。

Coincides with "3·15"，After the remaining users who have not processed refunds find that they cannot log in to the Youyou Car App，Starting to become anxious。The media took notice，The news about "Youyou cars maliciously withdraw money and run away" spread rapidly。

actually，Later, most of the media interviews Li Yu accepted after the project was shut down were out of "helplessness" and "forced"，In order to clarify that she did not "maliciously withdraw money and run away"，Explaining his failure experience to various media over and over again。

Although this feeling is like rubbing salt on her wounds，But in order to clarify the facts，Li Yu has made many efforts。

At this moment，The storm of "rolling money and running away" has passed。But for Li Yu，This company 188bet app download that has been in business for 3 years has already suffered enough，Financing、Transformation、Closed，They have been constantly looking for the company’s profit points and survival strategies，Also pursuing a 188bet online sports betting better user experience，Gradually give in and compromise。

But，When the sharing economy is most popular，It has become a "failure model"。

2015，Car time-sharing rental is gradually gaining popularity in China，Although the rise of the concept of "sharing economy" has given it blessing，But the most important reason，It is still the government’s vigorous promotion of subsidy policies for the new energy vehicle industry。

The crazy financing of shared bicycles in a short period of time，It also pushed the field of short-distance travel to a climax in an instant。

Tencent Ventures’ incomplete statistics based on public information，There are currently 36 domestic companies involved in the car rental field，where，15 projects have received financing，Three companies have reached the end of Series B。Only a project to lay out outlets in Beijing，Reached 19。 

The industry is in a hot spot，Players of all kinds are fighting fiercely，The sudden collapse of Youyou Car became the first bucket of cold water in this lively scene。This once triggered a big discussion in the industry about "whether the business model of time-sharing car rental is feasible"。

“I never thought there would be such a day。"Li Yu paused for a few seconds，say。

For user experience, transform from P2P to B2C

actually，Please call Youyou Rent a Car before using the car，First established in 2014，The main business is a private car sharing platform。

(Youyou Auto Financing/Transformation History Chart)

There are already many players in the P2P car rental industry in 2014，PP Car Rental、Botu Car Rental and Baojia Car Rental were both fast-growing companies at that time，Youyou Car Rental is also considered one of the companies with smoother financing。

But the P2P sharing model has many pain points that are difficult to solve,For example, private car services are difficult to standardize，Untimely response to user orders，The order acceptance rate varies，The cost of obtaining vehicles in the P2P car rental model is high but the efficiency is not high。

After more than a year, Youyou Car Rental is still difficult to get favorable reviews from users.

Therefore，In order to obtain a 188bet online sports betting better user experience，Youyou Car Rental plans to transform into a B2C model in 2015。

“70% of user needs can still only be realized through B2C，There are a large number of self-owned vehicles on the B side，The most important thing is，can provide stability、Standardized services。”Li Yu said.

actually，The P2P car rental industry at this time，The price war has become extremely intense，Low entry barrier、Difficult to supervise，As a result, the development of the industry is not as smooth as imagined，Many P2P car rental companies have to lay off employees。

After thinking about it for a long time，October 2015，Youyou Car Rental has officially transformed into a B2C time-sharing rental model Youyou Car。

Li Yu said frankly,In the first three months of transformation，They have not thought about how to break even。“It’s not that I haven’t considered profit and loss，But before doing it，I don’t know what the profit-loss ratio will be like。”

However, Youyou vehicles are still undergoing small-scale testing in Beijing，Introduced vehicles to the office buildings of some small and micro enterprises，Found that the demand is exploding:During peak hours, 15 people often rob one car.

The success of the test period gave Li Yu great confidence.“Shared cars must be the direction of the future，It’s just that no one can predict when this model will be profitable。”

Do you want profit or user experience?

When Youyou Car Rental had just transformed into Youyou Car，There is no company with a pure Internet background in the market that has set foot in this field。Most players are subsidiaries of automobile manufacturers or have set aside a segment of the traditional car rental industry for time-sharing leasing。

The two well-known companies at that time were Green Dog Car Rental and EVcard，Their business model is very different from Youyou Car: the frequency of car rental is generally only once a day；The user’s car rental process is more complicated，Photograph ID card、Pay deposit、Card application, etc.，The procedures are very similar to traditional car rental companies，Long time consuming，Bad experience。

Let’s chat here，Li Yu said very touchingly，Youyou Car has created a new model:Let users use time-sharing rental cars as conveniently as owning their own car。

This is also what she considers to be the most important point in the "Internet model" - focusing on user experience，And，When the company was just starting out，She firmly believes that the biggest reason why timeshare rental has not exploded in the market is that it is too inconvenient to use。

In order to achieve the best experience during the use process，Youyou did two things with the car:

First，Allow new users 188bet Online Sports Betting and Casino to drive away in 1 minute。New users don’t even need a deposit，No need to verify ID card，No need to bring ID card to take photos，No signature required。All he has to do is take a picture of his driver’s license，You can drive the car away immediately。

Second，Place the car closest to the user。The traditional shared car model is to first enclose the land，Demarcated parking spaces，Build a charging pile later，Users can rent and return cars intelligently at locations with charging piles。Youyou just abandoned the charging pile，Place the car closest to the user: such as the elevator entrance、Subway entrance。

Until now，All timeshare rental platforms can do these two things，Still very few。   

It is true，The user feels great。Only the NPS value (Net Promoter Score) disclosed to us by Li Yu，It can also be called word of mouth，is an index that measures the likelihood that a customer will recommend a business or service to others)，77% is indeed a beautiful number。

However, the cost of Youyou vehicles is also high because of this，Serious losses，What surprised them was，This turned out to be the trigger for the company’s collapse。

According to Li Yu,Youyou Car’s monthly loss is as high as 2 million yuan.

At that time,The company’s total costs are mainly divided into two parts: The biggest cost is renting a car and renting a license plate，Operation expenses are the second largest cost。Operating expenses include parking fees、Charging fees and operating personnel fees。

Let’s talk about the cost of renting a car first.

First，All Youyou Cars’ cars are leased。

In Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen，Fuel vehicles are not encouraged by the government，New energy vehicles that are more environmentally friendly are quite popular。If you want to do timeshare leasing，You need a separate license issued by the government，Obviously it is easier for new energy vehicles to get license plates。

In addition，Domestic fuel vehicle mortgage at that time、The industry chain of dismantling and selling in bulk is very mature，The risk of leasing a fuel vehicle to a user is higher (youyou car rental has had a vehicle mortgaged by a user)；New energy vehicles have not yet formed such a chain，Risk control is better。

"In Beijing，License plate，Enterprises with background generally awarded by the government。”Li Yu said.Youyou Car cannot obtain a new energy vehicle operating license，You can only rent a car from Green Dog on a long-term basis with the car and license plate、Leasing new energy vehicles from leasing companies such as BAIC or parking lots，A total of 300 vehicles have been launched in Beijing area。

Although the country is vigorously supporting the new energy automobile industry，But leasing new energy vehicles is not good for Youyou Vehicles，There is no subsidy。“BAIC is subsidized by the state。Manufacturers of new energy vehicles also receive state subsidies，But，These subsidies will not be distributed to timeshare leasing companies。”Li Yu said.

Secondly，The huge operating expenses also make it difficult for Youyou Car to move forward。

Li Yu’s memories，On the operation of Youyou Car，One pitfall is that the number of personnel was not adjusted in time after the transformation，Resulting in higher costs。Before transformation，Youyou Car Rental has nearly 500 employees，After the transformation, there is actually no need for so many employees。But considering possible future expansion，They still retain a lot of "idle" personnel，Resulting in excessive personnel costs。

Secondly，On the network settings，There are 70 outlets in Beijing。

After half a year of operation，Youyou Car found that this number is far from enough，So we started to cooperate with ETCP。They divided the "return point" into areas，There are operation centers and charging stations in each area。Users only need to return the car at the ETCP parking lot in this area。Cooperating with ETCP is to pay an annual fee，The method is to charge by parking time。

But there are no charging piles in the ETCP parking lot。Therefore，If a car is parked in the ETCP parking lot and no one rents it out within 15 minutes，The nearby operation station will send someone to drive the car to the operation center，To reduce parking fees，And maintain and charge the vehicle。

Such an operation method is rare in Beijing，Most time-sharing rental platforms require users to park their vehicles in designated parking spaces in designated parking lots (parking spaces with charging piles)，Some even ask users to plug in the charging plug。

In comparison,The operating cost of Youyou Car will obviously be much higher: The user parked the car in any ETCP parking lot，When the vehicle’s battery is almost exhausted，Operators need to drive the car to the charging pile for charging in three shifts，Then put it back to the place closest to the user。

And for users，Only need to pay 0.The car rental fee that is the sum of the duration fee of 2 yuan/minute and the mileage fee of 2 yuan/kilometer can use Youyou Car’s considerate service。

More services provided、Youyou Car with 188bet online sports betting better user experience，The price is almost the same as other time-sharing rental platforms。Other platforms are not profitable yet，What should Youyou cars rely on to survive？

Is the time-share car rental model feasible?

The best month for Youyou Cars，The profit-loss ratio can reach 90%，Almost even。

But in the end，Youyou Car still failed in the financing process。You can see it according to the official news released by Youyou Car，Main reason for discontinuation of operations，It is due to the failure of investment funds to arrive as scheduled。

Lack of funds，It makes Youyou Che unable to continue to practice this model，It can never be proven when it will be truly run through。

But more than three years of operating experience still brought a lot of reflection to Li Yu:

“Timeshare leasing is something that requires a ‘background’ to do，It is not a simple Internet business that can create a world just by relying on the Internet。”

where，The most important thing is "car、brand、Charge、Stop” four things。Of these four things:

"Car"——

Need resources for OEM vehicles，For example, the business model of Green Dog Car Rental，Although its timeshare rental is losing money，But it has helped BAIC sell thousands of cars，This business model is right；

"brand"——

Need to be able to obtain a government license or have government resources，For example, companies with government background，The business model is also right；

“Charge” and “Stop”——

Requires parking space resources and charging pile resources，This can also save a lot of costs。

"If none of the above resources are available，Then don’t enter this industry。”Li Yu said.

The essence of car time-sharing leasing is asset management，How to obtain greater income through higher operating efficiency，And how to reduce vehicle acquisition costs，is a key issue in its operations。

In addition，Infrastructure construction in the field of new energy vehicles directly determines the development speed of the industry。But，Policies for new energy vehicles are slowly tightening，License will only become more and more precious。

Convenient parking lots and charging piles are also being expanded,Li Yu is convinced，The operating costs of shared cars can be reduced within two years。“The mileage of new energy sources has been increasing，From 150 kilometers before to 300 kilometers now，The future will gradually become longer。Also，Charging facilities are constantly improving，This way，The frequency of operations can be reduced。”

In interview,Li Yu has been repeatedly emphasizing that he is still very confident in the car time-sharing rental market: This must be the direction of the future，It’s just that it hasn’t reached the explosion point yet。

When we asked her，If I could do it again，will choose to pursue profits，When you still choose to pursue the best user experience，Li Yu’s answer: There are different choices in different scenarios。The capital market is very hot in 2014，Will definitely pursue more users，Build word of mouth；But now capital is tightening，When financial investors are more cautious，Must make profits。

"Until now，No financial investors have entered the timeshare leasing field yet，We see that all projects receive strategic investment。 And we are not willing to hand over control of the company，Always looking for financial investment。

If I could do it all over again，We should embrace strategic investors as soon as possible。”Li Yu said.

Attachment: Financing status of domestic car-sharing leasing projects that have received financing:

*This article comes from Tencent Technology, author Zheng Kejun, original title "The death lesson behind the car-sharing craze: Youyou Car Li Yu reviews three years of entrepreneurial experience》.