You’ve already stood in the aisle of the plane waiting to disembark. Then you waited in line at customs. Then you waited around the baggage carousel looking for your luggage, which hopefully arrived in one piece. But another line after that? Forget it.
Ever eager to remove the administration and delays from our lives, Estonians have come up with a contactless digital solution for the process of renting a car. It’s called Liigu. Which means “move.” And that’s precisely the aim of this company—to get you moving.
“Exactly one year ago in Nice, France, we delivered a Liigu car to our first ever customer,” says Annemari Muru, CEO of Liigu, in a LinkedIn blog post from August 9th, 2022. Nice was the starting point for their operations, back when they only had 15 cars in their fleet. After one year, they had served “over 1000 customers in 12 cities and in 5 different languages.” Within 20 months, this number had surpassed 5,000.
The nitty gritty of their early days is something to get into on another day, though. You’re probably wondering how exactly this rental system works.
First, users need to download the “Liigu mobility” app from the app store. Then, one needs to create an account, adding identification documents and a payment card inside the app. Once that’s set up, users select the “rent” tab and specify their pick-up location as well as the dates and times of their pick-up and drop-off. Everything takes place within the app: booking the rental car, finding the car, unlocking the car, and locking the car when you’re out and about.
In addition, Liigu offers 24/7 customer support (including a WhatsApp chat) from a team that speaks six languages. The app and website are available in 16 languages. It doesn’t matter what time you arrive to pick up your car or how late you’re dropping it off, you’ll always have a human being to assist you if needed.
What does Liigu have going for it other than the app-based booking and use? Well, despite how new this company is, their vehicles are located in convenient places, within a few minutes of an airport’s arrivals area, for instance. Users are sent a photo of the car and its parking spot to make it easier to find.
If your credit card company does not offer car rental insurance, Liigu has you covered. According to their Terms of Service, “All Liigu rentals include Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Theft Protection (TP) and Third Party Liability (TPL) insurance. This means you are covered in case your Liigu car is damaged (CDW) or stolen (TP).”
If, like many North Americans, you’re used to driving a car with an automatic transmission, then you may also be enticed by the fact that all of Liigu’s cars are automatics. So you won’t have to think about changing gears while also navigating unfamiliar streets.
And even with this convenience, the price is more affordable than the automatic vehicles offered by competitors. Let’s say you wanted to “start your Tuscany road trip at Pisa airport” as Liigu says on their website (don’t mind if I do!). For a one-week rental, picking up and dropping off the car at Pisa International Airport, you could rent a Toyota Yaris with space for five for 846.46 Euros (105.81 Euros per day). A Volkswagen T-Cross with five seats costs 995.84 Euros for seven days (124.48 per day).
If you were to rent a similar automatic car (such as an Škoda Kamiq) from a company like Europcar, at the same destination for the same length of time, the approximate total cost would be 1,061 Euros (133 Euros per day).
So there is a cost savings with Liigu if you’re looking for a modest automatic vehicle. Other options include slightly fancier BMWs or Volkswagen vans with eight seats.
However, if you’re comfortable driving a manual transmission vehicle, it is true that you could get a cheaper rental from a company like Europcar. In this case, a Fiat Panda with room for five could be rented for a week for approximately 725 Euros (91 Euros per day). It depends on what you’re looking for.
There are a few other things to bear in mind when renting through Liigu, as suggested by previous customers. You can book a vehicle in one city (e.g. Pisa) and drop it off in another (e.g. Milan Malpensa Airport). But you should book ahead of time because, as their booking system would appear to indicate, in these cases cars get sold out a few months in advance.
Liigu explains that “Like every other car rental company, we keep the customer’s security deposit until the contract between us has ended.” With that in mind, users have recommended calling your credit card company before leaving, so that you can explain the upcoming security deposit charge before arriving in a new country. And although Liigu’s cars are noted for their cleanliness and quality, it’s still a good idea to make sure all existing damage is documented and communicated to prove that you didn't cause it yourself.
The destinations you can rent from in Europe are numerous, 18 to be precise. With a reliable, charged smartphone and data turned on for internet access, you can get moving in cities that include Lisbon, Nice, Paris, Riga, Tallinn, Bordeaux, and Barcelona.
The next time you’re travelling in Europe, you might want to consider using Liigu.
