Tesla turns to rentals as sales continue to spiral

If you've ever had to rent a car, you're probably familiar with some of the big car rental companies out there: Hertz, Enterprise, Budget, and…Tesla?

Tesla is now getting into the car rental business, according to a new report from EV news outlet Electrek.

The company is renting out vehicles in at least two locations in Southern California, one in San Diego and one in Costa Mesa. However, Tesla is reportedly planning to expand its rent-a-car service to even more locations across the country.

Elon Musk's EV car company is offering rentals starting at $60 per day, with a minimum rental of three days and a maximum rental of seven days. The price also depends on which model of Tesla you're looking to rent. Tesla is including free car charging at Supercharging locations and supervised Full Self-Driving at not cost with the rental.

If a customer falls in love with their Tesla rental and decides to buy a vehicle, they will receive a $250 credit if a purchase is made within one week of the rental.

Tesla is hoping to accomplish a few things with this rental car program. For one, those freebies and purchasing incentives are clearly an attempt to get people behind the wheel of a Tesla in hopes that they end up purchasing a vehicle. 

In addition to that, Tesla's sales have struggled over the past year, largely thanks to a combination of factors like general EV demand and Musk's connection to the Trump administration. Tesla is also now dealing with the expiration of the federal tax credit for EV purchases, which will likely put a further dent in their sales numbers.

However, as Electrek points out, companies like Hertz have seemingly been getting out of the Tesla rental business. The rental company has been selling their fleet of vehicles as resale values for Teslas have plummeted. With those previously mentioned factors still in play, Tesla may also see an opening for the company to ditch the middlemen in the rental car business, and just open up a revenue stream by offering rentals itself.