Digital services help car rental companies to optimize processes, further improve the rental experience and offer customers more comfort, efficiency and security.
AT A GLANCE
- 2D/3D map material
- navigation to rented vehicle & further mobile services
- task overview for employees
- real-time localization of rental vehicles
- task assignment and management
PROBLEM DEFINITION
The vehicle fleet of large car rental companies often comprises hundreds of vehicles. In the complex and often confusing parking areas, many customers find it difficult to quickly and easily find the location of their rental car. This costs time and prevents smooth operations, which can lead to a negative customer experience.
SOLUTION
A tracking solution and mobile app accelerate processes and procedures with tailored tools to ensure customers a faster and more efficient rental process and enable car rental facilities to run more efficiently.
The app enables customers to receive directions to the rental station as well as useful notifications about the vehicle and the rental process on their smartphone. With the help of the app, the user can be directed to the location of his reserved vehicle. Photos or videos can be stored to ensure full transparency about possible damage. It is also possible to directly share one’s location and contact the rental station, for example in the event of an accident or to arrange a different return date.
Employees of the car rental company have access to an overview of all vehicles including location and condition (e.g. damage to the vehicle, cleaned, refueled) and can view the orders assigned to them in an app and update the processing status.
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION
infsoft Locator Nodes and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons are installed on the entire parking area. In addition, beacons are installed in the vehicles. The Locator Nodes receive their signals and forward them to the infsoft LocAware platform®. Here, the data is processed and sent to a web interface. Employees can access the data via an app or a browser application and view the vehicle locations including status information on a digital map.
The app installed on the smartphones of the customers or employees receives and interprets the signals of the beacons installed in the parking area and uses them to calculate the current position of the device. This can be used by customers for turn-by-turn navigation to the parking space of the reserved vehicle. In the event of an accident or breakdown, the app enables direct location sharing via GPS. If a customer reports a damage or accident, the information is sent to the rental car company together with the position data. Via a return channel, personalized messages can be sent manually or automatically to the customers’ smartphones.
In the app, employees see a list of the tasks to be completed, including a georeference. Once an order has been completed, this information can be stored in the app via a button. The position data of the employees are also transferred to the infsoft LocAware platform®. Managers have access to the data via browser application and can assign tasks based on the employee locations. The georeferenced order management is handled via infsoft Workflow Management.
