In the vehicle rental industry, managing fleet operations and customer interactions is important to stay competitive. The Prohire Companion feature helps with these tasks by offering tools to simplify essential processes. The app allows real-time vehicle tracking, automated check-ins and check-outs, and digital inspection capabilities. These features reduce administrative tasks and minimise errors, improving overall efficiency.
Centralising these functions into a single mobile platform enhances transparency, efficiency, and customer service. For rental business owners looking to optimise their operations and elevate service standards, Prohire Companion provides a valuable resource.
We spoke with James Cole from our Sales Team to better understand how Prohire Companion can be effectively utilised. With extensive experience supporting clients, James offers practical advice on leveraging the app’s features to enhance operational efficiency and service quality.
Is your organisation fully leveraging the capabilities of Prohire Companion?
James describes Prohire Companion as a “game-changer for vehicle hire companies”, noting its role in simplifying complex processes and increasing efficiency. He emphasises that the app’s user-friendly design is accessible to tech-savvy managers and part-time yard staff. ” It’s designed to make life easier for rental companies, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks and helping to boost efficiency across the board. The app is very user-friendly—we’ve put much effort into making it intuitive for everyone, from tech-savvy managers to part-time yard staff.”
Prohire Companion offers numerous benefits, namely, the entire process of managing rental agreements and check forms is digitised. This eliminates the need for manual entry and filing, significantly reducing the time spent on these tasks. Retrieving documents takes a few clicks, allowing staff to focus on more critical customer-facing activities.
James adds, “Prohire Companion turns time-consuming, paper-based processes into efficient digital tasks. It automates much work, like scheduling inspections or generating rental agreements.”
Eliminating the need for paperwork is one way Companion increases your company’s efficiency. He first highlights, “The ability to easily retrieve old rental agreements and inspections in a few seconds helps speed up day-to-day activities.”
James also believes that Companion’s real-time updates ” Reduce miscommunications.” The companion app “Standardises processes across the company, ensuring consistent service quality regardless of who’s handling the inspection job.”
This is possible because Companion is seamlessly integrated into Prohire Software, so James believes it stands out from its competitors. “Prohire Companion allows staff in the office and staff in the yard to experience seamless communication. As soon as a check-out job is completed in the yard, staff in the office can see and access the digital documents immediately.”
In James’ view, Companion’s most crucial benefit is the digital vehicle inspection process. Vehicle damage is recorded on the Prohire Companion app before and after a customer hires a vehicle, resolving potential disputes.
As James points out, this process is crucial because “Prohire Companion removes doubt and provides clarity to our customers (i.e., there is no need to look at grainy CCTV footage of your van leaving the yard to check whether it had a scratch or not!), which gives confidence to timely re-charge the hirers for any damage caused.”
It’s just as simple to get started with Prohire Companion. You receive the full support of the Prohire team throughout your journey, which begins with an online demonstration and then a free, no-obligation 30-day trial. James states, “The trial gives time for the app to be tailored to their operations and then create test jobs. The beauty of Prohire Companion is its flexibility—it can be customised to fit almost any rental operation.”
In his experience demonstrating Prohire Companion to customers, James has discovered that many don’t realise the benefits Companion offers. Not only can Companion “seamlessly handle remote hire extensions and payment jobs”, but it is also possible to make mid-hire changes. Many customers have told James that this aspect has been instrumental.
James also states, “Many are unaware that Prohire Companion assists with Deliveries & Collections as it pulls through the address and connects with Google Maps for the directions. The digital documents are GPS and date/time-stamped, so you can prove exactly where and when the responsibility of the vehicle was transferred from the rental company to the hirer.”
To ensure success with Prohire Companion, James offers these top tips:
1) Embrace full customisation: “Take the time to customise all job templates to match your specific processes. The power of Prohire Companion lies in its adaptability, so tailor it to fit your unique operational needs. Our job-builder screen has ‘drag and drop’ functionality, making building the job templates you need effortless. Our comprehensive video tutorials guide you through it all, but please speak with our Support team if you need further help.”
2) Provide access to all staff: “Prohire Companion is licenced so that you can access the app from as many devices as required at no extra cost. Likewise, there are no limitations on how many users can access Prohire Companion simultaneously, so ensure that all staff needing access have access.”
3) Source the correct device: “It’s worth sourcing a device(s) that comes with a flash, especially for the winter months with earlier evenings. You don’t need a device with lots of storage, as all images/data are backed up in the cloud. Although Prohire Companion works on smartphones and tablets, many customers opt for seven or 8-inch tablets, which means they are not carrying large tablets. Still, the screen is small, so the hirer may struggle to see what they are signing.”
4) Consider using linked jobs: “It’s now possible to split the rental agreement and vehicle inspection into two separate but linked jobs. An example use case may be a rental company having a tablet affixed to the rental counter, which their hirers will sign for the rental agreement. The vehicle inspections then occur on a separate device out in the yard. Despite the two devices being involved, both jobs remain ‘linked’, and everything marries up inside Prohire.”
Prohire Companion is a modern solution that addresses many industry pain points to ensure your business can thrive. A fully digitised system allows you the time to ensure that your business won’t be left behind in such a fast-paced, competitive market.
But as James points out, “it’s not just about digitising processes – it’s about improving efficiency, reducing disputes, enhancing customer service, and ultimately boosting profitability. In today’s competitive market, having an app like Prohire Companion can give rental companies a significant edge. Plus, its flexibility means it can grow and adapt to your business. If you’re looking to modernise your rental operations and stay ahead of the curve, Prohire Companion is the way to go.”
