Rental Car Manager implements omnichannel payments for vehicle rental companies in less than three weeks

Rental Car Manager is a platform that makes the everyday tasks of running a vehicle rental operation more efficient for its 400 customers in 30 countries worldwide. A Stripe embedded payments partner and customer, the Australian company integrated Stripe products so its customers could easily accept online payments and process over-the-counter card transactions using Stripe’s integrated solution.

Founder and CEO Graeme Andrew started Rental Car Manager in 2004 when he realized that car rental companies needed software to manage vehicle fleets in multiple locations. The platform managed key aspects of the business and was easy to adopt, simple to use, and inexpensive to operate. Rental companies embraced the platform, which quickly grew to accommodate additional vehicle types, such as trucks, campervans, motor bikes, and scooters. It has scaled to serve customers worldwide, with fleets ranging from 10 vehicles to 3,000.

Products used

    Payments
    Connect
    Terminal
Asia Pacific
Startup

Challenge

As technology has improved, and as customers have grown in size and sophistication, they have placed added demands on the platform. Larger rental operations have more complex requirements, while smaller businesses tend to focus on quick, easy, and inexpensive solutions. Rental Car Manager is constantly evolving to meet those changing needs.

Customers recently asked Rental Car Manager to enable hands-free operation so they could serve drivers without seeing them face to face. They also wanted a fast, easy-to-use payments system that would let them:

  • Accept payments online and offline
  • Charge drivers when they reserve a vehicle
  • Charge drivers when they pick up or return the vehicle
  • Store credit card information securely in case they incur expenses for traffic violations after a driver returns the vehicle (such as receiving a speeding ticket weeks after a driver returns a sports car)

The payments system also needed to integrate well with the current platform.

Rental Car Manager had long used a third party vault for storing encrypted credit card information. While that solution worked well, the company sought an alternative that provided even tighter security and integrated more closely with the payments system.

Solution

After considering a number of payments providers, Rental Car Manager chose to integrate Stripe Payments, Standard Connect, and Terminal. These solutions met all of their customers’ needs. Furthermore, the integration process was straightforward and took less than three weeks.

To begin using the new payments capabilities, customers simply sign in to the platform, click on an onboarding link, and complete a quick onboarding process. They can then begin accepting payments right away.

Results

Rapid customer adoption of new omnichannel payments solution

Customers large and small have embraced the platform’s integrated payments, with 30 connected accounts going live in the first two months.

Rental Car Manager now provides customers with the most cost-effective online payments and integrated in-person solution available. With regard to online payments, rental businesses can specify what portion of the rental fee they charge when reservations are made. Credit card information is securely stored for easy rebilling as needed.

As for offline payments, Terminal enables a quick tap-and-go experience, so users can complete their transactions instantly—much faster than with a previous solution, which did not integrate as closely with the platform.

Increased confidence to expand into new markets and niches

Rental Car Manager has expanded to serve customers in 30 countries, mainly through organic growth and word of mouth. Following the Stripe integration, the company plans to accelerate its expansion into new markets. “With an international, multilingual, multicurrency tool like Stripe, we have the confidence, credibility, and capabilities to push into new markets and capture emerging niches,” said Grant Lester, director at Rental Car Manager. Key niches include the resurging tourism industry, as well as rental agents and third party integrators who accept rental bookings, then relay them to rental companies.

About Rental Car Manager

Rental Car Manager is a comprehensive, online rental vehicle management solution designed to improve end-user satisfaction, reduce operating costs, and improve margins. Based in Australia, Rental Car Manager serves hundreds of customers around the world.

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