An interesting proposition that has been circulating in the past few months is adding car-sharing into your textbook car rental business. The idea in the discussion has proven quite lucrative if implemented properly. Businesses are always looking to increase the streams of revenue. Whether it is a car rental business or a mobility startup, everyone’s goal is to increase their revenues.

Adding car sharing in a mid-sized car rental company

If you are running a mid-sized car rental company you know that most of the cars have the highest utilization in a season when tourism is at its peak. Your company is mostly serving their walk-in customers so adding car-sharing is basically driving a car with two engines at the same time.

Smaller to mid-size companies need to be extra careful when implementing a new business model. However, adding a car-sharing option to the existing car rental operation is relatively easier. Reliable hardware and software can handle most of the workload for you. The same administrators/manager can overlook the car-sharing process and locations. The change in operational management is almost unnoticeable.

Adding car sharing in a large-sized car rental company

If you are running a larger car rental company it is possible that you are operating with a hotel chain. As bigger hotel chains have partnerships with bigger car rental companies, they are sharing profits from sales. Adding a car-sharing option to your tourism and hotel services not only makes it easier to acquire customers off-season but also to acquire customers that might not be staying at your hotel or using your tourism agency. Strategically choosing a tourist attraction point might significantly boost your revenues.

Operations involved in the car-sharing

Since you are reading this article, you need to know the basic operations involved while sharing a car. While discussing Car Sharing, there are some key elements that need to be discussed.

Booking time

The major difference between a rental car company and a car-sharing company is booking time. With car-sharing, the customer has the option of booking a car at the last minute. This is the reason customers opt for car-sharing rather than waiting in lines.

Stations

In a car rental company, there is one station where all the cars are parked and the customers have to come to that specific location and get the car from there. Whereas in car-sharing, there can be multiple stations all over the country, if not the city, where a car can be parked and picked up from.

Fee structure

Managing cars is one thing but a fee structure is the most important matter of discussion. While deciding on a fee structure, make sure that you account for the time, fuel, and distance driver. It could be a little more expensive than a basic car rental agreement but you are providing a lot of things in return for that money. You can also manage the fee manually.

Putting the customer at ease

The crucial point is to communicate. This allows the customer to continue usage of your vehicle, without being anxious about being overcharged over an extended period of time. It also gives them the confidence not to rush and not think constantly about the pricing.

App-based car sharing

To make a journey pleasant you have to make sure that your customer is not hassled by small things. The most hassling part of any car rental agreement is key sharing. You can use MoboKey to manage the time, access, and a virtual key. It is to make sure that the customers’ mind is at ease.

Reference: http://research.mobiag.com/adding-car-sharing-to-your-car-rental-business

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