Today, tourism and daily commutes have become unimaginably easy, thanks to software available for your car rental system. Right from deciding which car to ride in to which package you want to opt for, convenience and flexibility are built into these software applications.
The cut-throat competition for big and small players in the market has given rise to the need for a systematic evaluation of the top functional features that need to be incorporated in your car rental system.
The top five features that could be game-changers for your fleet management system are mentioned below.
Fleet Management
Managing an ever-growing inventory without having a systematic software to do it for you would result in chaos, mismanagement, customer complaints, and before you know it, a business breakdown!
It is important to ensure that you own the right fleet of cars that can meet unplanned customer demands, primarily if your business is located in a tourist-centric location. A fleet management feature lets you schedule and track trips, manage payments, view maintenance schedules, maintain insurance information, view the car availability during high-demand times or meet ad hoc customer requirements, and more.
You will even be able to invest in the right types of cars (Sedan, SUV, mini cars, luxury cars) and deploy the most efficient ones based on demand. Routine maintenance data is another crucial aspect covered by fleet management since it can render visibility on everything from the number of miles on the engine, the recent oil change to tire health, etc.
Booking Management
This is the most critical feature that any tech-savvy customer looks for before choosing a car rental service for their needs. No matter how great your fleet of cars is or how amazing your services are, a comprehensive and easy-to-use booking management feature is very vital to the survival of your car rental business.
Over-the-counter bookings are passé and are diminishing quickly. Booking rentals at any time of the day for a same-day trip or an upcoming one is significant when it comes to building trust, quelling customer churn, and generating bookings.
These days, you can even integrate your booking management software with other trusted third-party service providers or booking engines like Kayak.
Billing & Invoicing
Many car rental businesses incur losses because of faulty or inaccurate billing and invoicing. Though you may have dedicated personnel to manage invoice processes, integrating this feature into your car rental management software can have myriad benefits that include,
- Online payment
- Accurate invoicing
- Saves time
- Reduced errors
- Transaction records for future reference
- Automatic reflection of rate changes in invoices
- Automatic rate adjustments during peak hours or high demand
- Discount management (for new customers and members)
- Integration of deals and offers
This feature also lets you engage your workforce in other important tasks such as customer management or fleet maintenance instead of manual billing and invoicing.
Damage Control
This is an essential feature which many car rental service providers do not include in their software because of reasons best known to them. Including damage control in your car rental system saves a lot of unsolicited expenses for maintenance, engine replacement, automobile parts replacement, etc.
Being able to predict any significant degree of possible damage is a powerful thing in this business. Bottom-line profits can be affected adversely if damage control is not paid heed to. Many factors like the vehicle’s condition, customer usage, on-the-road wear and tear, speed limit monitoring can be programmed into the damage control dashboard of your car rental software. Documenting damages or changes to your car is important during the rental process. This feature can ultimately save you many customer arguments and ravaging customer relationships that may negatively impact the health of your business.
GPS Locator
The safety of your cars is paramount in any car rental business. Including a car tracker, has become necessary these days. On a single day, you may rent out your cars to hundreds of customers. It is manually impossible to keep checking where your customer is by calling them inadvertently.
GPS tracking plays a pivotal role in ensuring that the customer is using the vehicle ethically and to trace where the customer has been in your car. Even if there is an accident or a hit-and-run from your customer, your tracking feature can help you keep them accountable for it.
You can even check if your customer has overused the car than the number of hours it has been booked for.
The Road to Success
Some of the features mentioned above have become a boon to the car rental company management by ensuring a seamless customer experience, which is necessary to survive the race in a competitive world.
Read other insightful blogs from us to get some interesting ideas for your car rental business.