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What is the state of the car rental market in Africa?

What is the state of the car rental market in Africa?

The car rental market in Africa is developing rapidly where growth can be observed in many areas. What are the key figures for this market?

 

The car rental market in Africa is becoming more and more organized to meet the demand of African multinationals and SMEs, combining high standards and flexibility. With the new vehicle market growing strongly (+8% in 2019 and +6.5% in 2020), there is now doubt the car rental market in Africa in terms of full service leasing is maturing. Following the example of Voltacars Rental Service (VRS) and Tractafric Cameroon, hitechsoftware is combining its know-how in fleet management solutions with that of its African customers in order to optimize their long-term rental offers. The myrentcar car rental software is here to support the development of the vehicle rental market in Africa.

How should you adapt to the African car rental market?

Vehicle rental and fleet manager, you want to develop by adapting to the African car rental market? First of all, Africa has all the assets of a market favorable to the emergence of car rental: with its 1.3 billion inhabitants spread over 54 countries and a surface area four times that of Europe, the very nature of the continent is attractive. Add to this an average GDP growth rate of 5% in recent years, rapid technological development, relatively high level of education, the West African car rental market is a particularly attractive business destination.

 

Strong indicators show that the African car rental market is expanding rapidly: a constant increase in the number of new vehicles, changes in consumption patterns, moving from vehicle purchases to rental as part of multi-service offers (including vehicle maintenance and various fleet management services, thus ensuring greater flexibility for companies), etc. These are all strong signs of change in the African car rental market, which is benefiting the long-term rental sector and encouraging players to set up operations and structure themselves throughout the value chain. This structuring of the vehicle rental market in Africa also involves IT tools and the deployment of solutions such as the myrentcar software.

How to develop long-term car rental in Africa?

In order to develop long-term car rental in Africa, the Toulouse-based company hitechsoftware has adapted its myrentcar management solution and its rentpad car inventory application to the market. Indeed, hitech has very quickly identified the fast pace of the African market in terms of long-term car rentals. Many rental companies have therefore opted for its car rental software in Africa. Whether it is VRS, the first independent multi-country provider of mobility solutions for companies in West Africa since 2004 with a fleet of 700 vehicles, or Tractafric, a subsidiary of the Optorg group in Cameroon since 2016 with 500 vehicles. Companies in the car rental market in Africa have thus quickly understood that they need to structure themselves to meet the challenges of a market dominated by LCD companies. This is the key to optimizing and developing long-term vehicle rental in Africa.

 

“The early stages of a project are very important”, says Jérôme de Villard, Managing Director of VRS. “You have to quickly assess the volume of new vehicle sales, which remains a key indicator for the development of full service leasing. We then need to look at business opportunities (presence of multinationals, large traditional SMEs), while adapting to the culture of each country by recruiting local people and using the company’s own distribution and after-sales supplier networks,” explains Jérôme de Villard. “In a context where companies are careful about investments, leasing provides reassurance through the support provided over the long term and mobility contracts that allow customers to focus on their challenges,” adds Sébastien Proux, Managing Director of Tractafric Cameroon, about the African car rental market.

How to manage car rental in Africa?

African markets tend to be structured in favor of short and long term rental companies to better manage car rental in Africa. The demands of customers are increasingly complex, as are those of African multinationals and SMEs, and it is essential to organize one’s company and business plan accordingly. “The rental company often acts as a buffer between the multinational customer, who may have a high level of demand, and the after-sales suppliers (bodybuilder, mechanic, etc.), who have a different view of time than in Europe, with their own particular problems,” explains Jérôme de Villard on the subject of managing car rental in Africa.

 

The main complexity is to coordinate all the stakeholders of the vehicle rental market in Africa, with very different levels of requirements: customers (large companies) may have European-style requirements but suppliers are local companies with limited stocks, which forces them to think outside the box in order to respond to customers’ demands with responsiveness. A situation that drives innovation. “Moreover, like all emerging countries, the evolution is very fast, the level of education is rather good and technologies are spreading rapidly in companies,” says Sebastien Proux on the car rental market in Africa. “Africans are generally connected and geared towards France.

How to choose your car rental software in Africa?

Myrentcar is a powerful car rental software in Africa that responds to the specificities of the continent. The digital sector is undergoing a strong evolution in Africa and carries all sectors of activity, with particularly efficient telecom networks.  “Equipping ourselves with the right technological tools is a priority, just like the choice of myrentcar, in order to offer new means of fleet management for our clients,” explains Sébastien Proux. “There are interesting synergies between the leasing business and a digital offering for end-user customers, allowing them to optimize the information collected in real time on their vehicles and thus benefit from a better return on their investment,” says Jérôme de Villard.

 

It is in this particular context that hitechsoftware provides its car rental software in Africa myrentcar, in response to the essential functionalities for the proper management of the activities of long term car rentals, the whole in an ergonomic and web environment:

  • – The long-term rental contracts management with budget monitoring per contract and the resulting profitability calculation is carried out by myrentcar.
  • – Particular attention is paid to monitoring claims for all fleets by country in order to better manage customer risk.
  • – Clients can save valuable time while invoicing thanks to myrentcar.
 

“The main concern was to find a high-performance tool that was easy to use and could evolve to keep up with industry trends,” says Sébastien Proux. “It is also crucial that the tool corresponds above all to the logic of the business. Users were reassured when all these conditions were met with myrentcar. The car rental market in Africa has a bright future ahead thanks to the structuring of its offer and the deployment of the myrentcar solution.

Myrentcar software manages car rental in Africa