Many car rental owners and fleet managers who want to improve their rental process are asking: What is the best car rental system for my business? Below we have listed the functionalities and features that you must search while searching the right tool.
Your fleet and rental management could be a complicated part of your rental business. Car Rental software makes your life as a business owner easier by monitoring the availability of your fleet and making your manual work totally digital. A software that can create rentals, track fleet utilization, and generate various reports will help you analyze your car rental operations – will help you run your business more efficiently.
Finding the right car rental software for your business can be challenging with each program including different features, multiple pricing plans,and a different number of users who can access the program.
Our first tip is: writing down all the problems you want to find the solution. Consider contact from 3 to 5 car rental system providers. Compare the solutions, book a meeting with them (almost all providers are having free meeting availability). Ask for a reference, case studies, and advice with your colleagues.
We prepared a few things to consider when you’re choosing the best software for your business:
What Features Determine The best Car Rental System?
Most of the importance of features depends on your business model, however, there are some that you should not overlook:
- Rates– Rates and its management requires flexibility. That’s why you have to choose the software that will allow you to manage dynamic price lists per season and per dates. Moreover, the system should allow you to manage Pay on Arrival and prepaid reservations from TOs. Make sure you are able to create tariffs for different locations, price lists for extras, as well as the possibility to compare your rates with your competitors.
- Quotations/Reservations/Rentals– the right software should allow you to create all of them. Apart from the good system will allow exporting data and include damage reporting in the rental agreement. Also, a digital signature for R.A is a must. Especially, when you can use it during the check-out and check-in directly from anywhere.
- The real-time exchange of Info-fleet availability or exchange of price list data should be very fast. Therefore, confirm that system is experienced enough to handle the big flow of information exchange.
- Booking Logic- Does the system allow you to consider your timetable per location? If you offer online booking, the ca rental software should you to see fleet availability as well as
- Self-Service -is a new trend you have to pay attention to, in this way that customer does not need to do lines. Self-service allows customers to book a car Make sure the system you choose is providing
- Integrations– this is the most important part you have to consider. Ask with how many tour operators they are integrated, and if they can make integration with third parties, such as marketing tools, accounting software, dms etc.
- GPS tracking solution- when you do check-out and check-in it will automatically update km and fuel level. You will need it if you are thinking about self-service.
- Performance– Track vehicle utilization in the past and future, monitor how many reservations and requests are you receiving from your tour operators, verify agent performances.
Is your data secure?
When considering a car rental software program, data security should be at the top of your mind. Find out how the company stores its application data. Many trusted cloud hosting services host their application on their own servers. Before deciding on a software application ask the company about the security measures they are using to safeguard your data.
Other than the above-mentioned functionalities, consider if a software company provides customer support, training in your language and customization. We know it could confuse a lot of car rental managers where to invest in the growth. No matter, if you are choosing the software now or you want to switch.
Is the car rental software easy to use?
Even if you are running multiple locations, as a business owner, you want to have access and understanding of your rental process. You also want to ensure that your car rental system is easy for employees to learn to use. Find software that has features that are easy for everyone on your team to use. Go for software with a simple user interface and not overloaded with unnecessary features. Working with a clean interface makes it easier to focus on important tasks and can reduce the learning curve.
Customer Support
Something that is overlooked when choosing a vehicle rental software program is customer support, therefore you might require after your purchase. No matter what the quality of the program you pick, you will likely need support at some point.
You have gone through the work of choosing the right program, but that work might be in vain if there is no support for you to use it right. Often programs that are cheaper don’t have support included in their prices. Paying extra for post-purchase service is worth the money
Download this “software decision template“, to evaluate better.
And last but not least, Don’t forget about the cost, are they flexible? Verify there is no hidden fees, the values can change according to what software can offer you. But don’t choose the cheapest one, you are investing in the future of our company.
You have gone through the work of choosing the right program, but that work might be in vain if there is no support for you to use it right. Often programs that are cheaper don’t have support included in their prices. Paying extra for the post-purchase service is worth the money!
A simple way to check the quality of the support for an accounting software program is to post a message or call the support line and see how long it takes you to get a response. Based on the response time and quality of the feedback, you will have a better understanding of the company’s support operations.
Last but not least, Ask for a demo, you will understand the value of software and also the culture of the company, how supportive they are.
