Opening a car via an app: This new short term car service has Dubbo locals excited

With a lack of short term vehicle rentals in Dubbo, KINTO has found a new market of residents to appeal to.

The service offers a range of Toyota vehicles for hire for as little as an hour to as long as a year, for a flat fee calculated on the time you require the vehicle and kilometre charge based on the distance you travel, which includes insurance, roadside assistance and fuel.

Local resident Claudia Morrison recently booked a KINTO after seeing a notice for it on Dubbo City Toyota's website.

"My car did break down and I just needed to hire a vehicle for a few hours until it got fixed," she said.

KINTO vehicles are unique as booking and accessing them is a fully digital self-service experience.

For those hiring passenger vehicles, the entire process from collecting to driving is entirely keyless, allowing for no contact pick up and collection, anywhere, anytime.

KINTO app users select which model they wish to rent, find where the car is using the app's map, as the app connects automatically to the vehicle via Bluetooth, which allows for remote unlocking, and for passenger vehicles they use a push button to start the car.

"I downloaded the app, then had to add in some details such as my drivers licence and stuff like that, then from there you choose a car based on their availability," Ms Morrison said.

Ms Morrison said it was really helpful to be able to do everything from the app, including unlocking the car, paying for the vehicle and booking the car.

"It's all at your fingertips," she said.

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Ms Morrison said for the price and freedom of being able to drive anywhere without having to wait was one of the main things that attracted her to use a KINTO vehicle.

"You don't have to wait for a taxi or an Uber to turn up, you can just hire it and use the car when you need to," she said.

Working at the Dubbo Turf Club, Ms Morrison said she could see herself hiring a KINTO again.

"We have our Dubbo City Toyota Gold Cup coming up and it will be really convenient if we need another vehicle to pick stuff up and stuff like that," she said.

"Rather than using my own vehicle I can hire a KINTO for a few hours if we need to pick up some stuff."

Ms Morrison said KINTO was an "awesome" thing to have in the Dubbo region.

"It is very convenient, and something a bit different. I feel like it would be something more available in the city, so it's good to have something like that in the country," she said.

KINTO General Manager Mark Ramsay said the cities have long embraced car sharing, and they noticed that younger drivers in regional areas were looking for the same service.

"Short term car hire and sharing options shouldn't be limited to capital cities," he said.

"We're finding customers in regional areas use our cars for a range of reasons including those visiting the area for work, families who use KINTO instead of running a second vehicle and for circumstances where they might wish to use a different type of vehicle."

Toyota's vast dealership network has allowed this expansion to happen.

"Like other places in the world, Australians have embraced car sharing due to the rising cost of living including petrol expenses, a greater focus on environmental sustainability and also convenience," he said.