If you are a car rental business, look no further. Being in the car rental business is not an easy trade and it heavily relies on factors such as rental system and clarity in operations to get it operating properly.
Apart from these factors, other metrics that have to be taken into account include vehicle maintenance, asset damages, fuel usage and vehicle safety.
Also, when the vehicle is off-rental, fleet managers need to make accommodations to put it into work at the earliest. Car rental companies always tend to be on the lookout to make their fleets proficient, optimised, and cost-effective to keep them running for longer without much of the accompanying hassle.
However, if fleet management software is incorporated by a car rental business, such tasks can be easily automated to generate a positive impact on the bottom line of the business. Based on that, let’s highlight a few ways in which a car rental business can benefit by using a fleet management solution:
1. Checklist Digitisation
Vehicle inspections are vital prior to commencement and after the completion of the assigned job. Traditionally, every time a car leaves the depot, the assigned driver manually inspects the car for any damages which may include scratches on the surface, any damages to the body of the car among other things. The problem here being, that if any of these are missed by the naked eye and eventually reported by the fleet manager or the owner of the business, the driver and the owner enter into a dispute that leads to extended downtimes.
Such discrepancies are bound to arise when eyewitness description and manual paperwork are taken into account. However, using digital forms eliminates this problem completely. Using digital forms, both the operator and owner can record and accumulate data pertaining to the rental vehicle every time it comes in or leaves the depot. Digital forms also allow you to capture pictures for better identification of assets, damages incurred among and so on.
Equipping the car rental staff including the fleet managers with digital forms helps speed up the processes involved in running the car rental business daily.
2. Faster De-escalations
Irrespective of having an experienced driver at the wheel, there are situations that happen on the road that might be not in the driver’s control. Such scenarios do lead to road accidents but if the vehicle and the driver are better equipped, the situation can be defused quickly and insurance claims can be made and paid for, at a rapid pace.
“Having a fleet GPS tracking device and an active dashcam onboard a vehicle helps centralise the exact location of the asset, helps record vital footage of the assets involved in the accident, helps capture pictures of nameplates, individuals and everything else needed for a quick resolution.”
A fleet management solution also informs the fleet manager of the alert generated so that driver and the vehicle involved can be attended to, in the shortest period of time, in a controlled environment.
3. Automated Vehicle Maintenance
Running a healthy fleet is vital to boost business and improve efficiency, however, keeping a tab on all such metrics needed can be hard and equally taxing for a fleet manager without fleet management software. A fleet management software helps schedule maintenance checks, sends out custom notifications on vehicle health and can also help track fuel usage per vehicle to generate better performance.
Some of the metrics that fleet management software helps manage include engine data, vehicle temperatures, fuel consumption, odometer readings, engine stress levels, prolonged working and idling hours including wear and tear through regular use. Through fleet management software, a fleet manager can generate reports, setup upcoming vehicle maintenance schedules and rotate vehicles coming in for a check and the ones on the road to keep the fleet operations flowing freely without a setback.
4. Faster Stolen Asset Recovery
If an asset, say, a car is stolen, a fleet management system can help speed up its recovery. If the stolen car comes equipped with a GPS tracker that can be tracked in real-time, most of the heavy lifting in term of asset recovery is taken care of. Geofencing also allows in preventing theft in the first place. With this technology, fleet managers can be immediately alerted when a vehicle gets removed from a pinned zone. When such a scenario arises, both the owner of the vehicles including the authorities can be notified of the theft and stolen assets can be immediately tracked to their last known location in real-time.
5. Efficient Vehicle Usage
By using fleet management software, car rental companies can optimise fleet vehicle operations, automate daily functioning and streamline processes to enhance fleet productivity. With fleet management solutions, a fleet manager can make informed decisions about effectively running fleet vehicles for a longer duration. The software also keeps fleet owners on top of vehicle operational lifecycles which in turn promotes running a healthier fleet. The operational costs in running healthy fleets are much lower and help generate a better return on investment.
A car rental business should always implore the possibilities of investing in newer solutions, expand reach beyond the generic norms, explore opportunities beyond the current portfolio and always be versatile to revamp. adapt and reinvent itself based on the current market and technological trends.
With Linxio, maintaining your fleet vehicles is easier through our future-ready telematics solutions that offer real-time GPS tracking, geofencing alerts and notifications, digitised logbooks and better driver communication.
