5 Hands-On Tips to Create a Car Rental App – Core Features & Cost

Why you Need an App for your Car Rental Business

Have you ever thought about optimizing car rental processes? Why not create a car rental app? It’ll make it easier for you to manage your car rental business properly and painlessly. Some entrepreneurs are still arranging rental orders either on paper or in an MS Office Word or Excel document. Wait, they must be using Google Drive by now. But the mobile-first generation is reshaping old-school vehicle booking businesses.

The car rental market is rapidly developing with nearly a 9% growth rate of year-to-year revenues. It is predicted to hit around 186 billion by 2030. The number of clients is going to reach 605 million by 2026. These tendencies require you to upgrade your deal management systems. Are you sure you’re doing enough for car rental optimization to stay competitive?

Read on to see what your primary rivals are in this business. Outsmart your direct competitors with these hands-on tips on how to create a car rental app with top features at a low price.

How to Make your App Competitive: Examples, Tips and Features

Does your car rental agency stand out from the competition? To know it exactly, you should do competitor analysis in the first place. After that, you’ll be able to take actions and bring your competitiveness to the next level like the owners of the below apps did.

Top 3 Apps for Renting Cars

Let’s review the top applications for renting a car one by one:

1. Turo

We couldn’t help but mention this behemoth of the car booking industry. Its uniqueness lies in its renting system – host-to-guest ride sharing. In 2015 it appeared on FORBES Hottest Startups list. And today it remains the most profitable car rental services provider on the automotive market with the mind-blowing financials: a 207% increase in revenue – $330.5M in 2021 compared to $107.8M in 2020.

2. Zipcar

This car rental app offers more than 12,000 cars, mostly to North Americans. Its estimated revenue is $278.9M. It’s quite an old vehicle booking service (founded in 2000) that has made its presence in the digital space memorable.

3. Hertz

It’s the best vehicle booking app with exceptional mobile-only offers and 10,200 franchisee spots. Now, it’s speeding up its car rental experience.

What can these car rental apps boast of? Check their core features in the table below:

Car rental app	Rated by Android users	Rated by iOS users	Features
Turo	4.9	4.8	Available in 56 countries and more than 5,000 cities Over 800 models Pricing starts at $25 per day Filtering features and delivery options Contacting hosts via a chatbot Liability insurance ($750,000) People get up to $1,000 in cash per month
Zipcar	4.0	4.5	Trip extensions while driving Unlocking doors via mobile A vast range of vehicles: hybrids, Mini Coopers, sedans, trucks, etc. No hidden costs
Hertz	4.0	4.8	Parking slot search via SpotHero Detailed reservations info 100,000 Tesla’s cars Discounts, reward and bonus membership Logging in via face/touch ID

 

How did these guys manage to create successful apps? Let’s see what you can do to make an on-demand app for your car rental startup. Consider our suggestions below or book a consultation with us instantly. We can help your vehicle rental services become mobile-first at once.

5 Tips to Build an On-Demand Application for your Car Rental Service

Want to become a highly competitive car rental agency? Here’re our 5 recommendations on building your vehicle booking app (mobile, web or both):

Tip #1. Use fundraising strategies

You may go with a winning strategy that helped Kyte raise $9 million for delivering rental cars. As an alternative, follow Virtuo’s example and you may also pick up $96 million in funding.

Tip #2. Choose the revenue model

Based on commissions – charge a percentage from a car owner for listings and implement fines for cancellations and/or “no-shows”.

Your own car fleet – you have an option to employ car owners and buy cars.

Tip #3. Be social and think of promotional strategies.

Interact with your clients via social channels like Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, etc. Before creating your app for vehicle booking, think wisely how you will promote it. Consider these:

• Creating YouTube tutorials;
• Partnership with automotive influencers;
• TV ads;
• Events and automotive clubs;
• Data analytics, etc.

Watch some of Turo’s commercials to grasp the idea or use Custora for predicting the returns and client base segmentation. Google will provide you with even more actionable ideas for car rental business marketing.

Tip #4. Outsource car rental app development.

Find an expert agency to create a car rental app for you. Interview developers and inquire about the stages of custom software creation and how much it may cost you to build an app. Collaborate with a trusted software development partner like FutureOne Tech.

Tip #5. Make use of the topmost features.

How to win the market with your mobile app for car rentals? Find out what your target audience wants to see in your application – scroll down to discover the core features listed in the next paragraphs.

Core Features for your Car Rental Business App

You should think about the convenience and functionality of your mobile application from 3 aspects: renters, vehicle owners and administration. You can’t possibly please everyone, but you may try to do so and win the competition with the following must-have features in your car booking app.

For clients and car owners:

• Social media integrations for creating accounts and signing in
• Filtering and price comparison options
• Documents uploading and scanning
• Loyalty points and bonus programs
• Messaging, voice and video calls
• Options to review and rate
• One-click buttons for bookings, cancellations, reservations, emergencies
• Live-chat with support 24/7, etc.

For admins:

• CRM system
• Real-time stats
• Users’ performance tracking
• Auto-offers and invoicing software
• Management of financial operations
• Analytical instruments for metrics
• Other managerial tools.

The more comprehensive and convenient mobile app for car renting you build, the more likely it is going to become viral and top the trends on the vehicle booking market.

How much can all these features cost you? Every feature takes a certain amount of time to develop, so the price for each will be different. You may look at the real cost of car booking app development below.

Ultimate Cost to Develop a Car Rental App

Avoid the companies that offer you the lowest price for car rental app development. Let the cost be low, but not the lowest. Don’t believe those guys who say “we can make your vehicle rental app for only $500!” Normally, the cost of creating a mobile application for car rentals ranges between these numbers: $20,000–$80,000.

It hugely depends on the technological solutions used by IT specialists. Outsourcing app development in 2022 will be the most cost-efficient variant for your car rental business.

Final Word on Car Rental App Development

More vehicle rentals contribute to companies’ revenues jumping high every month. And it’s the best time for your car sharing business to benefit from it with a customized application for vehicle bookings.

We hope our tips and pieces of advice to create a car rental app will be helpful for your digital transformation strategy. Now you know your direct competitors (top 3 successful car rental service providers) and critical features that can help you overcome them at lower costs.

Entrust mobile app development to professionals with 15+ years of experience. You will find them at FutureOne Tech – get in touch and hire a remote developers’ team today.