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Guide

Articles, trends and practical tips for rental businesses. Stay up to date with market developments and best practices.

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Your day rate is your shop window. Your margin is earned somewhere else.

Setting your car rental daily rate means keeping two numbers apart: the advertised rate a customer compares and the revenue a rented day actually earns. This second part of the series More revenue from the same fleet shows where the floor is, where the margin sits on top of it, and how €3 more per rented day can add €36,000 a year without raising your advertised rate.

Read article9 min read

Where the money in your rental business really is (and where it leaks away)

A rental business's revenue comes down to five levers: the price per day, the number of rented days, the channels bookings come through, what you sell on top and what leaks away unbilled. This first part of the series More revenue from the same fleet works out each lever for a 50-vehicle fleet and shows how to measure which lever is weakest in your own business.

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The double-entry tax: why rental businesses type the same numbers twice every week

In many rental businesses, someone re-types the same numbers every week from the rental system into the accounting software, the payment provider and the calendar. This article shows how to work out what that double data entry costs per year, where it goes wrong at every handover and what a connected system does differently in practice.

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The van that sat in your yard all weekend: what an idle fleet really costs

Almost every car rental owner estimates how busy their fleet is, but few know exactly what share of it earned revenue last week. This article shows how to calculate fleet utilisation on a napkin, where idle time hides and what one extra percentage point of utilisation is worth per year in a hypothetical worked example.

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The hidden cost of "good enough": what a spreadsheet really costs your rental business

A spreadsheet feels safe, but it only shows what someone typed in. Double bookings, late payments and blind spots in availability cost a growing rental business money every week without ever showing up anywhere. This article puts a number on all three leaks and gives you one question to ask your team this week.

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Six ways local car rental companies maximise their earnings

How do you maximise car rental earnings in a market with thin margins? Most rental companies leave easy money on the table. These six tips cover service fees, website integration, online payments, fines, self-service and brokers. Each one adds revenue or removes cost without hiring extra staff.

Read article12 min read

Organising chaos in car rental part 2: Rental management improves the rental experience

A good Rental management module is an indispensable tool for every car rental location that strives for professionalism, efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Organising the chaos in car rental, part 1: the first step towards a streamlined organisation

In this blog we look back at how car rental used to work and measure it against the present day. How did the pioneers of car rental run their shop without computers and mobile apps? Are they even necessary?

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Choosing rental software in 2025: what to look for

A practical guide for rental companies switching to modern rental software. Checklist and common mistakes.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (9): API and Technical Implementation

In part 8 we looked at the role of car rental software in analysing (financial) data and the importance of good reporting. We noted that it is then up to you to do something with the data and information. Analyse, formulate a hypothesis, experiment and repeat.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (8): Reporting

This article covers the reporting that supports the financial matters discussed in the previous article. Based on the results found in the reports, you can steer your business.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (7): Finances

In part 6 we looked at ways to generate extra revenue through sales agents. This edition covers what it ultimately comes down to: the finances. We zoom in on the different phases of car rental in which the money is made. In part 8 (reporting) we build on this further.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (6): Sales Agents

In part 5 we talked about vehicle management. In this part we discuss the feature of Sales Agents (intermediaries or representatives), or commission partners – a feature that is absent from much rental software and also underestimated.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (5): Vehicle management

In part 4 we looked at how the operational rental processes should be handled in rental software. This week we turn to vehicle management. More specifically, we look at the vehicle-related matters you need to be able to record to get a complete picture of the operational and financial status of your fleet. We close with our view on the relevance of utilisation rate.

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Car Rental Software - Ultimate Guide (4): Operational Processes

In this part we get operational. We look at how operational processes translate into rental software, covering how a booking is created, the step from booking to rental agreement and the period that follows. This part matters to everyone in a car rental organisation, so do read it!

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Car Rental Software – The Ultimate Guide to Good Car Rental Software Today (part 3)

After part 1 (must-have criteria for good car rental software) and part 2 (vehicle classes and vehicles), this part looks at dynamic pricing and car rental software. Put bluntly, there are two camps: Category 1: “Dynamic pricing? My customers absolutely don't want that!” Category 2: “Dynamic pricing? Yesterday rather than today!” Which category do you belong to?!

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Car rental software – The ultimate guide to good car rental software today (part 2)

In part 1 of the series "Car rental software – The ultimate guide to good car rental software today" we highlighted all the must-have criteria of good car rental software. In this part we look at the configuration of vehicles and vehicle classes. Although this guide was written for rental companies looking for new car rental software, it is equally useful for rental companies that want a better understanding of the optimal configuration options.

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Car rental software – The Ultimate Guide to good car rental software today (part 1)

Looking for good car rental software? In this part we set out all the must-have criteria of good car rental software. We go beyond the content alone. The technical aspects are covered too. This Ultimate Guide to good car rental software is written for car rental companies that want to improve their software processes.

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