The car rental industry is seeing a massive surge these days due to various reasons. The rise in per capita income and corporate profit is contributing to an increase in the number of airline passengers that have a direct impact on the car rental industry. Several top rental companies hold a strategic alliance with many airlines and hotels to enhance their service to their customers. To efficiently handle the surging demand for rental cars, businesses from the car rental industry require powerful car rental software solutions that can seamlessly manage and scale car rental functions.
Key aspects of car rental software
The car rental software must possess the following features to provide benefits to the end-user, agency, driver, and the core admin system.
Key challenges faced by the car rental industry
How can car rental software resolve the challenges faced by car rental industries?
- Car rentals software offers new deals, manages prices, and monitors performance.
- The car rental software automates your daily car rental activities.
- It provides a user-friendly and simple booking experience.
- It offers quality services to have proper market recognition. You can explore regular online updates.
- It provides real-time access and a map integration facility that helps in tracking the ride.
- You can have a reliable support system that provides a cancellation and returns policy along with choices of picking up the desired vehicle at desired packages.
The car rental tool brings some new offers to grab the attention of the customers. To explore the latest car rental companies in the market, you should remain updated with the new technologies.
What can a car rental software offer?
The involvement of technology is influencing the car rental industry. Let’s discuss what car rental software can offer to us:
Who can use car rental software?
Vehicle Rental Businesses that include franchisees, individuals, corporate.
There are plenty of car rental software solutions available, but small businesses with a low budget prefer to use free car rental software. Along with that, the open-source car rental software allows more customization without having to purchase expensive licenses.
For that purpose, we have listed here the top-notch quality free and open-source car rental software. These car rental solutions can serve the needs of your car rental business. Let’s move ahead to explore the same along with the comparison chart of this software.
Free and Open-Source Car Rental Software
1 Easy Rent Pro (Free trial- 30 days)
Easy RentPro is the free car rental software that serves as a multi-language car rental solution. Companies of all sizes can use this tool. Daily the users can manage their car rental business with this cloud-based software.
This user-friendly car rental solution is considered one of the world’s leading providers of Vehicle Hire Software. You can streamline your daily operations with this software. For single or multiple locations, this app can manage any number of vehicles.
The users can have an idea regarding vehicles available, vehicles on rent, and the record of new cars that will join the fleet due to a quick lookup feature. With this tool, you can manage your multi-location car rental business. It provides high-quality customer service and allows running a car rental business faster and more efficiently with the help of more centralized control.
(Source: Easy Rent Pro)
Key Features:
- Rent planner
- Online payment & QuickBooks integration
- Season rate management
- Fleet utilization and fines management
- Billing & invoicing
- Reservations management
- Dynamic rate management
- Real-time data collection across all workstations
- SQL (Structured query language) and QuickBooks Integration
- Customizable and easily manage content
- Centralized control
- Quotes/Estimates
- 24 Hour Live Chat
- Rate tables
- Multi-language support
- Vehicle expense management with tax and surcharge calculations
- Automated overdue hour calculation
- Damage control to track and record vehicle damages
- Rental agreement
2 Schedulebull – (Free for one month)
In the car rental market, the users can exchange data among themselves and with other operators with Schedulebull. You can use this online multi-user tool on a desktop PC, iPad or smartphone.
Initially, this tool was built as car rental software, but now it provides various rental needs like car service stations, hotels, transfer services, and hostels.
This car rental software provides many facilities like car service, assurance scheduling, inspection, client database, booking, and billing with many types of reports. By using the API (Application Program Interface), all these options can be expanded.
Start-ups, Enterprises, and SMEs are the users of this fully featured app. You will get end-to-end solutions designed for web apps from Schedulebull.
(Source: Schedulebull)
Key Features:
- Vehicle tracking
- Create bills and Invoices
- Fines and fleet management
- Split billing
- Rate tables
- Reservations management
- Powerful application program interface (API) integration
- Recognizes bad car rental customers
- Automated invoice generation
- Multiple language support
- Time management
- Quick bills and contracts creation
- Advanced price management
- E-mail hosting with integrated e-mail browser
3 Rental Car Manager – (Free Demo)
In the competitive marketplace, if you are looking for easy-to-use online car rental software, then Rental Car Manager is an apt choice for you. This car rental software helps in improving the business’s bottom line margins and customer satisfaction.
For all sizes of rental vehicle businesses, this app is affordable. As per your requirements, it scales smoothly. Without compromising on the options and features, you can run the everyday tasks of running a hire car operation.
You can have a user-friendly managing system for booking and servicing. For large-scale rental services, it manages bookings in a modern way. This app is perfect for small start-ups but holds the capacity to manage 5000 vehicles.
(Source: Rental Car Manager)
Key Features:
- Fleet management and servicing
- GPS tracking
- Report and analysis
- Electronic signature
- Website integration
- Bookings and quotations management
- API integrations
- System controls and security
- Control and security
- Vehicle inspection report
- Fleet & fines management
- Vehicle tracking
- Create bills & invoices
- Rate tables
- Reservations management
- Streamlined booking management
- Website integration
- Online check-in, rental agreements signing, and vehicle inspections
- Robust automation with pre-defined events
4. RentRabbit (Open source but not free)
Rentrabbit is a leading open source car rental software popular for delivering contactless car rental experience to customers. Car rental firms of all sizes can use this powerful tool to monitor inventory, reservations, and payments from a single place. This software offers easy customizations and white labeling, allowing businesses to tailor it as per their needs. The software is also available as both Android and iOS mobile apps.
Schedule booking, unlimited listings, wallet, extended booking, promotions and referrals, etc., are a few notable features. It is a great tool to bridge the gap between car rental businesses and their customers. This all in one car rental software can accept online booking and payments, improve rental management, track and analyze bookings seamlessly.
(Source: RentRabbit)
Key Features:
- Real-time insights into car booking status
- Dynamic pricing
- Online payments with PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net
- Customer ratings and reviews
- Multi-language and multi-currency support
- Internal messaging system
- Social media login
- Special prices and discounts
- Advanced reports with historic metrics
- Commission tracking
- Calendar scheduling
5. CarCort (Free)
Carcort is another prominent car rental software to launch, manage, and scale car rental businesses with ease. By leveraging this tool, car rental firms can automate and streamline their day-to-day operations of their car rental business. Car rental companies of all sizes and types can quickly sign up customers, manage agreements with e-signature, track KPIs, prevent costly fines, and easily manage their entire fleets. The software also features an intuitive dashboard to check the expiration dates of DMV inspections, TLC inspections, and DMV vehicle registration.
Enhanced insights are also offered to personalize services to customers for improving their experiences and satisfaction. Integrated GPS tracking, preventive service monitoring, and vehicle monitoring features are also available to optimize the fleet’s performance.
(Source: CarCort)
Key Features:
- Rental agreement management
- Financial analysis
- Renewals monitoring
- NYC tickets management
- Vehicle monitoring
- Customer management
- Automated weekly reminders
- Streamlined payment management
- Invoice management
- Expense management
- Customer ID scanning
6 Book Rides Online (Free trial -30 days)
Book Rides Online serves as the web-based reservation management that is designed for small to midsize limousines and transportation companies (like corporate cars, sober-cab, shuttles). It also helps the managers of the transportation companies and limo owners.
It enables companies to reserve, schedule, dispatch, and manage services with the help of an integrated merchant account and online reservation module. You will find this platform reliable that can easily manage drivers, vehicles, reservations, and clients quickly and efficiently. Transportation businesses can operate from anywhere by making use of this intuitive and accessible portal-designed tool.
(Source: Book Rides Online)
Key Features:
- Online bookings
- Integrated payments
- Billing, invoicing & mappings
- Revenue payments
- Mappings
- GPS fleet tracking
- Flight status tracking
- Fleet management
- Instant quotes/estimates
- Rate tables
- Reservations management
- Vehicle tracking
- SMS and email
- Driver and passenger app
- Integrated merchant account processing
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Support Android, Apple, and desktop devices
- Single button for Time In, Arrival, Pickup, Dropoff, and Timeout
- Schedule and dispatch drivers and vehicles
7 MyCarRentalSoft (open-source but not free)
MyCarRentalSoft is an open-source car rental management software that provides a perfect car rental platform. This tool has adopted the business model of Airbnb, so it is considered “Airbnb for cars.”
You can effortlessly manage and monitor your car rental business by making use of this easy-to-use and powerful car rental software. For renting out cars, this app provides a readymade car renting platform. The features are fully customizable for different dimensions.
With this reliable car rental software solution, you can automate your car rental business. The users will get engaged easily and quickly due to the attractive mobile design and features.
(Source: MyCarRentalSoft)
Key Features:
- Rider/Passengers dashboard
- Advanced filters
- Passenger verification
- Location-based rentals
- Booking and calendar options
- Handles disputes
- Cancellation policy
- Car owner dashboard and verification
- Car booking and availability management
- Revenue management
- Manage users and listings
- Manage ratings & reviews
- White-label product
- Fully customizable
- iOS and Android mobile app support
- Multilingual and multi currency
- Unlimited car listings with hourly/daily booking
- Ability to add/manage multiple sub admin
- Extended bookings
- Internal messaging system
- Secured payment gateway
After exploring the above-mentioned valuable free and open-source car rental software, you can also try the premium options given below. These below listed car rental software can provide tremendous benefits to car rental services.
Top Car Rental Software
RentSyst
Since 2018, RentSyst has been helping car rental businesses effectively build relationships with customers and increase their sales and profits. It is a great tool for planning car rental tasks, gaining full vehicle control, and documenting everything from a centralized place. Advantages like accurate GPS tracker, car sharing manager, daily plan sections, financial transactions tracking, maintenance alerts, cloud-based, API integration, etc., make it perfect for car rental companies struggling with operational issues. It also has integrated CRM features for the car rental firms. The software is available for a 14-day free trial.
Rently
Rently is an all-in-one car rental software designed to help car rental businesses optimize their operations, unlock advanced levels of automation, and significantly enhance productivity. This software makes it easy to create customer schedules, load reservations, schedule maintenance services, keep track of long-term rentals, and smartly manage contracts. Infringement manager, fleet maintenance manager, role-based access, distributed and dynamic reports, rate management, etc., are a few popular features. Besides these functionalities, the tool also comes with online reservation, price optimization engine, In and Out, and a Kiosk.
HQ Rental Software
HQ Rental Software is another top-notch car rental software to enhance efficiency, customer experience, and sales of car rental businesses. Over 1000+ businesses from 90+ countries use HQ Rental Software to automate and streamline their rental processes. Car rental companies can accept online bookings and payments, improve their fleet management, and generate customized agreements with this tool. Apart from these, features like advanced reporting, integrated payments, integrated bookkeeping, cloud-based solution, mobile app support, etc., are a few standalone features to help car rental companies grow quickly. The software can be used for a 7-day free trial and premium plans start from $120 per month.
Coastr
Another car rental software that made it to this list is Coastr, an all-in-one tool to enhance profitability, flexibility, and control over the car rental functions. To ensure ease and accessibility for users, this cloud-based software supports white labeling, keyless entry, seamless automation, automated booking and fleet management, remote immobilization, and 24*7 tracking. Some of the unique features include driver and vehicle license check, automated fleet scheduling, automated fleet onboarding, fleet maintenance management, fleet management app, secure digital payments, advanced analytics, real-time updates, etc.
Rent Centric
Since 1998, Rent Centric has been helping car and mobility rental firms smoothly perform their operations. The software comes equipped with contactless technology to deliver clients with fully automated digital experiences. Real-time insurance and license verification, GPS tracking, smart key management system, integrated toll processing, and advanced fleet management are among the most used features. Over 3500 clients globally rely on this car rental tool to streamline their functions. A WordPress integration is also provided to make the rental business run more smoothly.
Summing Up
The global car rental market size and share are likely to touch USD 149.3 billion by 2025, showing immense potential for growth. The car rental services provide quality of life and comfort, freedom of movement, affordable and low-cost traveling. You can effortlessly move from one place to another with the help of car rental software.
If you are willing to discover the benefits before investing in one, then try free car rental management software which will be an excellent option for you. The list, as mentioned above of free and open-source car rental systems has made you well acquainted with the prominent features of the same.
In case, if you wish to explore some highly advanced features which are not available in the free car rental business software, then you can check the list of popular and well-researched car rental software.
Also, go through our Buyer's Guide To Car Rental Software to select the right option as per your business preferences.
Have you ever used any free and open-source car rental management software mentioned in this article? If yes, then you can freely share your reviews here.
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