The practice of renting things has been in practice for a while & with the boom of the internet, it has gone to a whole new level. Unlike static items, renting vehicles is a lot more complicated business ( as it is mobile ). A car rental or dealership business nowadays could possibly be exciting though the competitive environment implies that we quite often take some extra help.
Find out here the best car rental software features:
https://goo.gl/7yNcvt
2. • The practice of renting things has been in
practice for a while & with the boom of the
internet, it has gone to a whole new level.
Unlike static items, renting vehicles is a lot
more complicated business ( as it is mobile ).
• As per the rules & regulations of different
countries, vehicle rental business needs to deal
with a lot of strict processes for a smooth run.
• This strict rule & process is also required to
keep things in control and safe guard the
business against un-authorized usage of the
vehicle & theft.
3. • Transportation as a whole has advanced from
horse driven carriages to fuel powered vehicles to
electric vehicles to Autonomous driver-less
cars!
• We are already witnessing a revolution happening
in this field (thanks to the efforts of pioneers like
Google, Tesla etc. ).
• There is an sudden urgency in the air for all car
manufacturers to convert their vehicles to driver-
less mode (or they face a big challenge in the
market & it may lead to their downfall ).
• Even legacy big players like Ford, Volkswagen,
BMW, Mercedes Benz, Toyota etc. are investing a
4. But, How can car rental software be implemented
in Self Driving cars?
• In the upcoming Driver-less car era, clearly tells
us that nearly all the automobile giants in the
world are working hard already to grab a piece of
the pie. Not only Automobile giants but also
startups, companies in other verticals ( .com,
Telecom, Electronics etc. ) are putting their hand
in.
• When it comes to Driver-less cars its a lot of
Mechatronics combined with programming.
Prominent players like Blackberry are coming up
with their own OS for self driving cars. On the
other hand we have Linux & Ubuntu OS’s
powering a couple of leading self-driving
concepts from Google, Tesla etc.
5. A good Car Rental Software Definition
• A good Car Rental Software should be developed
as an app or a plugin that can be integrated or
installed in the Operating systems of Driver
less cars.
• For sure the leading Self Driving car operating
systems will give out API’s or programming
SDK’s for other software developers to create
apps on top of it ( like how we develop apps for
Mac, Windows etc. ).
• But since this is in the transport vertical and
safety is the primary concern, there will for sure
be many checks and moderation on the level of
6. Car rental software Vs. Cab hire software
• Car rental software is used by companies
like AVIS ie. companies which provide self-
driving cars for rent. You can order a car of your
choice and drive it for a certain time period and
return it. You can opt to either pickup the car at
the location of the business or they will deliver it
to you where you are. It is used by businesses
which have a fleet of cars for hire.
• Cab hire software is used by Taxi dispatch
companies for instant hire. It is mostly driven by
a driver. You can order a car from your location
via. a mobile app etc. and it reaches you within
minutes. You can key in your destination and the
driver will drop you at the destination and you
will be charged only for that.
7. 9 Things To Look Out In a
Car Rental Software
1. The top most important thing to look for in
any car rental software would be the presence
of Mobile apps and cloud solutions ( all
synced ). Times are changing & a strong
mobile app presence is a must as most of your
customers will be trying to rent a car on the
go. Do note, that look for solutions that offer
both Android and IOS apps.
8. 9 Things To Look Out In a Car Rental
Software
2. Scalability & Performance is a very
important factor. Since car rental software’s
work in real time and keep polling the server
continually, there is a very high possibility of
a serious performance hit if this is not taken
seriously. Your app or cloud solution should
open lightning fast when opened by any of
your customers.
9. 9 Things To Look Out In a Car Rental
Software
3. It would be really cool if you can get both the
car rental software features and Cab hire
features bundled in the same platform. That
is, you should be able to provide instant cab hire
chauffeur driven features for passengers who
need instant pick-up / Drop & give the ability for
customers to rent a car.
4. The rental software should be futuristic or at-
least have a good road map for the future. As
the trend keeps changing, you don’t need to
loose out on the competition. Select a car rental
software company that has a clear vision & gives
constant new updates with the latest trend being
incorporated continually.
10. 9 Things To Look Out In a Car Rental
Software
5. Look for built in specific features that cater to your
business. Ex: Airport drop as a separate module
built in, Events drop booking etc. as it helps
customers to directly access the particular feature
straight forward and can act as the feature that keeps
your brand in the customers mind the next time he/she
plans to hire a vehicle.
6. While we are super excited about the features in a car
rental software, we should also consider the security
aspects. Make sure that the product about to purchase
has all the basic security checks done. Both the
Mobile apps and the website should be very secure
with no loop holes. If this factor is not given
importance it can become a very serious issue and
11. 9 Things To Look Out In a Car
Rental Software
7. Ability to request a particular
vehicle:
• The car rental software you are planning use
should have the feature for the passenger to
raise a request for the type of car they like to
be added to your inventory. This will help you
get repeat customers (once you add the
inventory to your database ).
• It would be all the more good, if your car
vendors will be directly notified of a request &
the passenger will be notified of the addition of
12. 9 Things To Look Out In a Car Rental
Software
8. Surge pricing based on demand:
One other most essential thing you would need in
your car rental software is the Surge pricing
feature. Its already a proven formula that surge
pricing works by encouraging the drivers to be
available in super busy hours while also providing
a new revenue channel to the business owner.
• Surge pricing helps you as a business owner to
attract passengers with availability of cars during
high demand busy hours. Also it helps you to
easily convince car drivers to drive for your
company as they get paid more. This is essentially
a win-win feature.
13. Does a Car Rental Software require a
system console version as well?
• It depends. In olden days ( 10 years back ), when there
was not much internet connectivity available as it is
now it made sense to have a console version. Moreover
a console version always had that stereotypical strict
look and gave the serious software feel.
• Mostly the console versions processed data that was
not meant to be stored on the cloud but just in the local
HDD. But in any angle, the present day Car rental
software need not be a local console version. Even if it
is, it needs to be connected to the cloud at the back end
by some means for obvious reasons. When this is the
case, the question raises: Why even a console version?
14. Few extra revenue channels that would be awesome to be
present inside a vehicle rental software:
• eCommerce: Yeah, you read that right. Just imagine a passenger
spends a solid 20 mins ( quick ride ) -to- 40 min inside the cab that
he has obtained via. your car rental software. During this entire time,
your app is open. There are plenty of ways you can sell something
to him during this time period. Maybe, you can even make all
your cabs as a moving retail store. If you can have a multi-vendor
marketplace in your UBER app that only shows products uploaded
by the driver of the car. The passenger can browse through the items
and order anything he wants. This is an extra avenue for the driver
to make money & you too can bank on the sales commission.
• Food on destination: Having a cab company, you should for sure
have regular destinations like Airport etc. Create a tie-up with a
catering service / Hotel in the airport to serve delicious food at the
car door-step when the passenger arrives. The passenger will be able
to order food from your app & it will be packed and ready for him to
pickup upon arrival at the airport. You can earn a commission
15. • Surge Pricing: There are times when the demand for cars
are peak. At these times, you can serve the people who
really badly want the car at any cost. So, the car rental
software you employ should have features to enable
surge in pricing during these peak hours. Many
passengers will be ready to opt in for surge pricing to
get a cab on priority. This can be a regular boost in
revenue for you.
• Multiple car types: People always have preference.
Different people have different taste. This mentality of
the consumer has led to huge business models. The
same can be replicated on your car rental business as
well. Check to see if your car rental software has the
ability to categorize the cars that are listed Ex: Sedan,
Luxury, SUV, hatchback etc. You can easily charge a
different rate or premium based on the car chosen by
the passenger.
16. • Test Driving before purchase: Check out this
scenario. You are planning to buy a used car. You
would like to test drive it. The owner of the car
would like a minimal charge for each person test
driving it (as many would need to do it & the
owner has a peace of mind that his car is not been
mis-used).
How about you ordering the car you would like to
checkout via. a car rental software & purchase it
once you are happy with it?
Yes, its a WIN-WIN for both the owner & the
buyer. Check to see if your Car rental software
has provisions or APIs of some kind to easily
bring in such revenue making features. A lot many
people would like to use your service for such
17. Best Car Rental Software Companies
Smart Car Tech:
• The car rental software from “Smart car tech” is
amazing because its Free. The Open source
initiative is commendable & the product is feature
rich with all the required features integrated in a
fantastic manner.
• The solution also comes with a full fledged Android
app and IOS app.
• The beauty of this solution is that it also has the
modern look and feel of a UBER or LYFT like
solution. It also has powerful location based features
like the modern car pooling apps.
• The platform has features for both Taxi dispatch
and car rental. It also comes with a wide variety of
Add-ons that you can choose from.
18. • Provab: Provab is a Travel Software company that primarily focuses
on a couple of Travel, Hotel & Event management software’s. The
Travel central reservation system has all the essential features like
Group booking, custom reporting, PMS etc. They also provide
Travel portal software and related services with features such as
Ticket booking, Hotel booking and transport booking. The company
also promotes Holiday packages software, Accounting software etc.
The Car rental software they have is an extension of the other
software they provide and can be used for Vehicle hire management,
Taxi Dispatch etc. Their software’s are also connected to other
provider API’s & Amadeus GDS.
• Rent Centric: This Car rental software company has been in the
space for long. They have many products like P2P car sharing
software, Motorcycle rental software, RV rental’s, Long term rental
etc. The pricing model of Rent Centric is a mix of one time payment
and a month on month subscription. Some of the interesting features
in Rent Centric are VerX Direct ( It is a real-time Driver license
verification system in Canada ). They provide a remote start feature
via. their OBD 2 system. They also provide Digital signature pads,
19. • Thermeon: This is a Car rental software company that has been in
the industry for long. They have both web based and good old
system based ( MS DOS ) software's. This suite provided by them is
called Cars+. It is a hosted system with numerous features and
extras built in. The platform has Reservation, Accounting &
Reporting covered in it. Though the screenshots has a MSDOS like
look and feel, you also get a GUI interface to operate the system. It
also has steady fleet management features with features to record
damage caused during minor accidents & repair management. The
system also covers a suite of extensive accounting features like
Invoices, Franchise management, Statement generation etc.
• Car Cloud: Car Cloud can be called the e-Commerce wing of any
car rental software. They claim to increase the revenue of any car
reservation business by directly connecting their e-Commerce
platform to the system. The model is more of a SAAS based
business model and their solution can be attached to any existing
car rental system — big or small. The solution mobile friendly ( ie.
responsive ) & also comes with full analytics and reporting.