Niconico rent-a-car, is it reliable?

Just wondering is Niconico / Nikoniko car rental agency is reliable, and whether it's okay for a foreigner to rent a car there.

Why I'm asking for reliability:
Their english website only lists 6 of their presumably hundreds of shops. This smells iffy to me, unless there's some kind of legitimate reason for doing that. And although the Japanese website is easy enough to use, it looks like all compact and K-cars are listed at exactly the same price, including hybrids. This is also weird, and I'm afraid selecting a hybrid might incur a surcharge when I go to the shop for pickup.

Why I'm asking for foreigner-friendliness:
Means they're used to serving foreigners, e.g. they provide English support staff when a vehicle breaks down, they provide English documentation, English satnav, etc. I know Toyota, Nissan, Nippon, TimesCar, Orix, and Budget are fairly good in this regard, but I've never used Niconico.

Someone I know (a Japanese) has used Nikoniko, and there seem to be reasons for their low price. I cannot say anything about their foreigner-friendliness, though. (If they list only a few locations in English, what I can imagine is that it could either be that they only selected a few locations that are popular among foreigner visitors, or those are the only places they have any English or other foreign language speakers.)

According to my acquaintance who�fs used their service:
Pros: The car rental fees are like 20% cheaper compared to other major rental companies.
Cons: The cars are not in the best of all shapes (there are dents here and there, though functionally ok); the cars are not that well maintained (they seem to go through maintenance/check-up only every 6 months); car navigation systems are not the most updated one so that you cannot get info on estimated arrival time; one serious issue is that you cannot purchase insurance that covers single-car accident damages through their website (though you can get it if you book at their physical location).


As far as my acquaintance goes, he says he would use it again (for business use, as he needs to save cost), but i would actually not, because I don�ft rent for that many hours that the cost difference would not be a great benefit, while having no self-inflicted damage compensation in the insurance would be a cause for concern (myself Japanese, so i can read the insurance terms and stuff).

It a low end provider.

I was looking at them as I was recently looking at them for a rental. And had not know of them before.

I haven't used them, so take my opinion as nothing gospel.

My view-
Low cost means low services.
Limited services for international visitors.
Do not travel far from pick up location due to above point.
Use only for daily 12hr hire.

I've used Niconico several times. (For reference, I'm Japanese).
I'm never going to blame that company, but if you expect very foreigner-friendly services, You should exclude Niconico from your list.

It doesn't reject foreigners (a friend of mine from the US living in Japan told me that he often uses it for short-term use), but it clearly seems to lack reliable support specifically for foreign tourist users compared to other companies. In its own website, it emphasizes that its reception and support are basically in Japanese, and highlights the requirement for a phone number reachable within Japan.
These clearly suggest that it doesn't have enough resources to provide English-friendly services specifically for foreign tourists.
It may be slightly similar to a low-cost carrier (LCC) airline. (I'm a frequent LCC user, though) It offers cheap fares in exchange for limited services, customer support, and vehicle insurance.

Now you may realize why you can't expect too much from it. Being cheap always has specific reasons.

it is franchised system whose members are gas stations, car garages, etc. it is difficult to serve one completely organized service. some may be very good but, some may not be good.