The car subscription market is still a relatively new vehicle rental industry. It offers a flexible alternative to traditional car leasing or buying, allowing long-term vehicle use with covered insurance, maintenance, and other associated costs. This market is becoming increasingly popular.
Given the recent success of the vehicle subscription market, we decided to team up with the mycardirect team to see how Prohire Software has helped them offer the best vehicle rental and subscription services.
Dual Business Model
We interviewed Rental Director Luke Thomas to determine the current state of the vehicle subscription market for mycardirect.
“Subscription is designed as a lifestyle product, giving subscribers the flexibility to swap their vehicle, roll their subscription, or cancel it from month to month. A subscription is a medium to long-term product, and we cover several ancillary costs in the monthly subscription fee, including maintenance, roadside assistance, replacements for worn tyres, road tax, and MOTs for older vehicles.”
mycardirect doesn’t solely focus on subscriptions but also offers vehicle and rental services. While vehicle rentals are more established, the two have many parallels.
Luke delved into these similarities, “Both subscription and rental utilise a unified fleet of vehicles, with subscribers selecting their precise make and model, rather than a class of car.”
Of course, there are also several differences between the two markets. Subscriptions offer a more flexible and convenient solution that eliminates the long-term commitments of traditional vehicle buying. Subscription customers typically spend far longer with their vehicles than rental customers; thus, the former provides more extended vehicle usage. Luke states, “The customer will be in the vehicle for months or years; as such, the customer will naturally be more discerning about the vehicle they drive than a typical rental.”
Luke adds, “There can also be regulatory divergences between rental and subscription. At mycardirect, we are regulated by the FCA and have a duty to know our customers and not put them under undue financial pressure. On top of the usual ID and address checks before a rental, we also carry out an affordability-based credit check to protect the customer and our assets. Rental companies looking to enter the subscription space should consider the additional administrative burden this will place on them.”
Overcoming Challenges with Prohire Software
With their longer lease times, vehicle subscriptions have the added possibility that, as Luke points out, “the vehicle will be returned with damage exceeding fair wear and tear. Swiftly resolving any disputes over damage is key to customer satisfaction, particularly if the customer is swapping into a different subscription vehicle.”
The Prohire Companion app provides a solution to these challenges. It enables a pre-rental check process that includes inspecting tyre tread depths, testing the functionality of the horn and lights, and capturing additional vehicle images. This makes assessing vehicle damage upon return quick and straightforward, eliminating the possibility of disputes, as Luke remembers mycardirect experience.“Using a unified system allows both teams to act swiftly and minimise disputes.”
Prohire Companion maximises your business’s efficiency and focuses on serving your company’s and customers’ interests.
To effectively serve the rental and subscription markets, it is essential to have access to an efficient online booking system that can streamline the booking process. Prohire Software offers Proweb, a simple online widget that can be embedded into your existing website. This dynamic web booking tool instantly provides live availability and pricing updates, an optimised pricing strategy, and the ability to receive bookings anytime.
Although mycardirect’s subscription booking software does not feed directly into Prohire, Luke recalls how implementing Proweb enabled mycardirect “to easily take bookings in person or over the phone, allowing us to load on subscription bookings when they come in quickly.”
With two different fleets, Luke acknowledges the challenge of managing both whilst ensuring that the customer’s every need is met. “We have multiple rental sites and an independent subscription office, each with customer service and operations teams.”
Managing a fleet of subscription vehicles requires efficient logistics and customer service; as the popularity of this market grows, superior customer experience and innovative offerings become crucial in dealing with competitors.
Prohire Software’s unified system is crucial when managing rental and subscription teams. Prohire Companion offers various methods to optimise your operations and increase efficiency. The app helps organise everyday tasks and digitises your systems, making everything easily accessible from one place.
Luke states, “Prohire allows our disparate teams to easily access the information we need on availability and servicing.”
Rental agreements and check sheets are similarly digitised on the Prohire Companion app to help maximise your company’s operations efficiency. Luke highlights that this has been of particular use to mycardirect because “it means we can keep records in one place, so we don’t have to worry about information being stored on multiple platforms as vehicles move between subscription and rental.”
With both teams operating using Prohire Software, Luke adds that “they have easy access to invoices, check sheets, damage reports, etc on a single system. This avoids the need for potential double entry, minimises inter-departmental conflict, and avoids hold-ups that could otherwise emerge as the subscription and rental teams seek information from one another.”
Increasing operational efficiency is crucial in such a fast-paced market, especially given the recent increasing popularity of vehicle subscriptions. Prohire Software has enabled mycardirect to combat this challenge with a simple system focusing on an enhanced customer journey.
Luke states, “Prohire offers a whole suite of features that our subscription platform lacks, giving us every tool we need to monitor and care for our cars while we can care for our two distinct sets of customers independently.”
Conclusion
The vehicle subscription market is becoming increasingly popular as a flexible and convenient alternative. With demand continuously rising, it is crucial to have a software system that prioritises efficiency, dynamism, and the customer journey. Prohire Software offers the solution and continues to play an essential role in the evolution of this innovative area of the vehicle rental industry.
Luke reflects, “Prohire is easy to use; assigning bookings and returns from a different platform and department is quick and straightforward.”
As an integrated system, Prohire Software will continue to support companies like mycardirect and drive innovation and excellence to ensure the future of the vehicle subscription industry is as bright as possible.
