How to Optimize Your Fleet Management with a Car Rental Software

How many cars do you have in your fleet? 5? 15? 50? If you have just 5 cars, then you may be able to manually keep track of all the bookings, the locations of the cars, and the maintenance schedule. When you have 15 cars, it can get very difficult to monitor all the vehicles in your fleet and keep track of all the drivers’ schedules. Whether you have 5 or 50 cars in your fleet, a car rental software can help you effectively optimize your fleet management.

Not just that, this software application can enhance your fleet performance and reduce downtime. Let’s look more into detail about how a car rental software can help optimize your fleet management.

Reservation management

The software has an availability calendar that gives you a detailed view of the availability status of the drivers and all the cars in your fleet. You can get details of the exact location of the car and check when it will be free for use. The software also gives you details on whether a particular car is on road, idling, parked, or down for maintenance.

Read Also: How to Manage Fleet Downtime with Fleet Management

All the information regarding vehicle utilization will make it easy for you to manage car reservations based on customer’s needs and preferences. The automated reservation management system saves lots of work hours and reduces errors such as parallel booking and overbooking. You can also use the software to generate an agreement summary to share with the customer.

Track all the cars in your fleet in real-time

The car rental software allows GPS tracking of all the cars in your fleet. So, you will have accurate details of the exact location of the car at any point in time. The tracking feature enables location profitability. When you get a reservation request from a customer, you can check the location tracking details to find out which is the closest vehicle.

It will save miles as well as fuel usage. Also, the customer can get the vehicle quickly, which will add stars to your car rental service. This location tracking feature also enhances convenience for the customers. After they’ve booked a car, they will know approximately when they can expect it for pickup.

Check the condition of the car before and after renting

A mobile camera app can be used to check the condition of the car before pick up and after drop. The visual data will let you virtually inspect the vehicle for any damages. In case, there are any problems with the car, then these photos can help you identify how and when the problem started.
Set up a preventive maintenance program

One of the biggest benefits of using a car rental software to optimize your fleet management is the preventive maintenance feature. When you start using the application, you need to update details of the vehicle make and service history. The app will then automatically send maintenance notifications after 5k or 10k kilometers or fuel usage.

You can also update the calendar with the manufacturer-recommended service schedule. So, you don’t miss out on the services and keep your vehicle in good running condition. The software also helps you set up a form that drivers can use to update vehicle condition details. For example, if they feel that the engine is getting hot very soon or see the stitches coming out of the upholstery, they can update the form.

The fleet manager can cross verify the details given by the drivers and arrange for a service at the earliest. Preventive maintenance helps reduce vehicle downtime, which will be profitable for your business.

Build a geofence

Create a virtual geofence using the software application. The geofence can be based on the areas where you provide a car rental service. It can be the city, district, or state. If the vehicle goes out of the virtual fence, then you will receive an alert. The geofence helps prevent unauthorized vehicle use and also ensures the safety of the customer.

Manage Finances

Managing finances is one of the most vital tasks of any business. The car rental software helps you manage your accounts payable and receivable. You can calculate commission whether you offer standard or flexible rates and also check for additional payments.

Read Also: Top 10 Benefits of Mobile Apps in Fleet Management

The software keeps track of expenses due to repair, service, purchase of spare parts, driver salary, fines, toll payments, etc. It also helps you raise invoices and trace pending payments from customers. If you have standard payments such as EMIs and insurance, then the software can be programmed to give you notifications.

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As all the invoices and bills are dated and tracked, there will be no room for error in the finance management. You will also be able to identify areas of unnecessary expenses and cut down on them.

Manage Your Car Rental Website

In this digital era, a website is mandatory for any business. You can link the software with your website to manage web-based booking. The software also helps you share details regarding subscriptions, offers and promos on your website. Conduct marketing campaigns and offer quotes to customers using the software on your website.

Manage subscription plans

If you offer subscription-based car rental services, then this software will be very useful for you. It helps you keep track of the subscription availed by the customers. When the subscription time is coming to a close, it will send automatic notifications and reminders.

You can even setup an option to automatically renew the subscription. The software also makes it easy for customers to upgrade or downgrade the plan based on their requirements. The payment cycle will also be maintained based on subscription plans.

Monitor driver behaviour

Driver behaviour is one of the key parameters that customers use to evaluate your car rental services. Secondly, good driving keeps your vehicle in top condition. Rash driving and over-speeding can lead to accidents, which is detrimental to your business, both in terms of customer relationship and profit margin.

The software tracks distance travelled and speed of the vehicle, which will let you know if the driver was over speeding. Also, the number of repairs due to accidents or unnecessary replacements will let you know if the driving was careless. Using all this data, you can evaluate driver behaviour.

You can also integrate a feedback form on your website or app where customers can share their feedback regarding the driver and driving performance. The software also helps track driver attendance and punctuality.

Get Reports

The dashboard of the software application gives you a snapshot of the vital details of all the cars in your fleet. You can check details of the overall vehicle health, number of trips, distance travelled, locations, fuel usage as well as pickup and drop points.

Analyzing this data will help you identify the top-performing and low performing vehicles in your fleet. Also, it will let you know where the unnecessary expenses are coming in. By collating all this data, you will be able to evaluate the performance of your fleet.

Read Also: Advanced Fleet Management: What Is It?

The reports also come handy when you need to present data about the car rental service to the stakeholders or potential investors.

Conclusion

A car rental software solution helps automate repetitive tasks related to day-to-day operations and fleet management. The reports generated by the software will give you a clear and unbiased view of the performance of every car in your fleet.

Manually handling all these tasks is not only time consuming, but also prone to errors. Reduce the time required to manually oversee fleet management with automated software, so you can focus on building your business.