Choose your car rental software

It is always difficult to choose the car rental software on which you will rely to manage a major part of your activity, if not all of it. In order to help you make the right choice, we have broken down the choice of car rental software into 3 scopes of reflection.

The 7 essential features of car rental software

Choosing the right car rental software is above all choosing a tool that offers the features that my business requires. Here are 7 key features that any good car rental software must offer.

• Short-term Activity: Management of the complete sales cycle, from quotation to invoicing, booking and contract. The software must provide a clear and easy-to-use schedule that allows you to make the best use of your fleet.
• Long-term activity: A complete car rental software must be able to offer you management tools specific to the long-term rental activity (see 2 – Related products)
• Purchases / Sales : The purchasing functionalities should offer you the possibility to cost repair and maintenance for your vehicles. This will allow you to keep an up-to-date history of vehicle-related expenses and revenues, allowing you to know exactly how profitable your fleet is. You must also be able to invoice your customers for various sales such as cleaning or consumables. Software can also help you digitise the sales process for your used vehicles.
• Fleet management: The car rental software must be able to manage claims and insurance. You must also be able to enter unproductive transactions such as transfers to other branches or places of delivery and maintenance assets. Efficient software allows you to schedule alerts on time (mileage or date) to perform maintenance on your vehicles. Depending on its nature, an active alert must be able to be blocking or not for the use of the vehicle.
• Decision support: Any good car rental software provides detailed statistics and analysis of your business. The use of this data should allow you to make the most profitable decisions for your company.
• Accounting: The software must allow an export of accounting entries to your accounting tool. Some car rental software also offers integrated accounting, so you don’t have to use another accounting software.
• Configuration and customisation: Each user is different, in terms of habits or functions within the company. This is why car rental software must not only adapt to the company that uses it, its operating modes and identity, but also to each of its users. Some software such as myrentcar offer settings and customisations that allow each user to work with a tool that meets their expectations. Whether you are a General Manager of a company, a Counter Agent or an Accountant, you will certainly not have the same use of the software. It is therefore logical that the latter can be adapted to your profile.

Products related to car rental software

In addition to the functionalities offered by car rental software, it is interesting to have the possibility to use solutions related to the latter in order to have access to new services.

Here are the ancillary products that allow you to make ingenious upgrades to your computer system.

• Inventory of premises on the shelf: An application of inventory of premises on the shelf allows you to save time during the departure and return checks of your vehicles. The use of such an application greatly reduces the frequency of disputes that can arise from the inventory of fixtures. Inspecting vehicles with this type of application saves you time and allows you to better track information.
• Web Services: The car rental software must be able to synchronise with your online booking system. Today, more than 30% of car rental bookings are made via the Internet. An online booking module must allow your software to provide Internet users with key information such as the availability of your vehicles according to dates, vehicle category or the desired departure agency. The creation of a customer web space synchronised with your car rental software is also a major asset for your long-term rental customers. They can consult the list of their vehicles requiring maintenance, those subject to company car tax or the list of maintenance invoices for a given period.
• Automation of contraventions: The automated management of PV allows you to save time. When a vehicle in your fleet is subject to a ticket, you no longer receive a ticket at your branch: the software automatically retrieves the ticket and matches it to the contract corresponding to the date, time and registration of the vehicle that committed the offence. The fines management module then provides you with details of the driver and customer who issued the ticket, so you only have to report the third party. This information is then transmitted directly to the administration via an IT flow.
• SMS module: The car rental software can offer synchronisation with an automated SMS sending tool. For example, you can choose to remind each of your customers of the terms and conditions of their reservation, 24 hours before the vehicle pick-up date, by automatically sending an SMS to their mobile phone number. You can also set up loyalty or conquest SMS messages from rental histories. For example, you can choose to send an SMS to all your customers who rented a minibus last summer to offer them a discount on your new minibus models. The possibilities are endless!
• Dedicated CRM: The use of a CRM that synchronises with your car rental software allows you to have an accurate follow-up of the activity (alerts on inactivity or decrease in turnover) of your customers and prospects as well as your exchanges with them. You therefore have all the cards in hand to carry out prospecting, follow-up or marketing campaigns.
• For long-term leasing businesses, there are tools specific to this activity, such as quotation management, which takes into account financing, the duration/km ratio, maintenance costs and the residual value of the vehicle. Among these tools can be integrated the management of vehicle financing files as well as the vehicle ordering process upstream.

The Vehicle Rental Software Editor

When you choose a vehicle rental software, you also trust a publisher. This is certainly not a point to neglect because it is the latter that will support you throughout the implementation and use of your tool.
Be interested in how the publisher will provide you with technical support and maintenance. Will you have a privileged contact person within the company? When you have a question or problem with the car rental software, how can you contact them? Being able to talk directly on the phone with someone you know and who knows your business is a great advantage. Having to wait for hours on an automatic switchboard before falling down a person with whom you are exchanging for the first (and last?) time is, on the contrary, a handicap in your daily activity.

The services included in the maintenance contract must be clear.

At hitechsoftware, you can count on our 30 years of experience and the strong stability of our teams to provide you with access to optimal follow-up and service quality. One of our project managers will assist you from the installation and configuration of the vehicle rental software, myrentcar. When you have a question or concern about using our solution, you can call your project manager directly. Who better to advise you than someone who knows your business and profession?

Trusting us means choosing a partner who is an expert in your field of activity and who guarantees you reactivity and availability. To contact us, click here.