How to Build a Car Rental App: Simple Guide

Car Rental App

The world of mobile apps is well-equipped with amazing apps that meet distinct needs and purposes. With the help of your smartphones, you can shop at home.

Additionally, you can create to-do lists, and can even plan your vacation. Some apps have accomplished much popularity, while some are still struggling to attain success. Being economically unviable, some apps just fail.

Well, whether it’s a business trip or a holiday, the first thing that strikes our mind is transportation. The traditional public transport system is a good pick but is not a convenient mode. You would also be looking for an independent travel mode as per your plans and purposes. Here, the best choice to organize your trip effectively is to rent a car.

This time we have decided to understand the car rental app market. Let’s count an interesting fact: even though there exist various similar apps in the market, people usually prefer searching on Google for such sort of services. It states that the current apps don’t meet the specific needs of the users and still, there exists enough space for a feature-packed mobile app that may win the users’ hearts.

Today, we are here with a guide to help you with car rental app development, its needs, market size, types of car rentals, and the cost of development. Let’s start.

As per research and economic data, in the USA, the revenue of the rental car and leasing will be approximately $43.1 billion by 2022.

Knowing this, we concluded that the car rental industry not only holds the high-stability indicator but also a fast growth ratio.

What are Car Rental Mobile Apps?

Car rental apps have attained much recognition because of the growing demand, and even one can notice an upliftment in the usage of such mobile apps. Such apps assist the users to book their rides and get notifications of their booked cab details and the timings.

This mobile app eases rental car booking services from anywhere with the availability of an internet connection. Within your zone, you will be able to access your car rental service and will also inform you about the nearest rental car available. This leads to the emergence of loyalty among users.

Why Do You Need Car Rental Mobile Apps?

Apart from ease and flexibility, more reasons will push you to develop an online car rental booking app. Let’s know a few:

Connects with Customers in Real-Time

Just by a single click, the customers will be able to find many nearby cabs and can pick the type of car they want from the given options. The traditional way of booking a rental car has never been any easy.

Customers will not be required to wait for hours to book a ride. Now, they can book the best ride at their convenience. This way you can make the rental cars available to your customers and connect with them in real-time.

Easy Management of Whole Business from a Single Platform

Well, it’s a tough job to manage hundreds of cars and track each of them manually. The booking, pending payments, the customer queues, and more will lead to a mess at a single clock.

But, when it comes to a car rental app, it will automate the whole process from a single panel. Also, it will assist you in managing routine operations and smoothen the entire process.

Enhance Your Business Visibility

With the changing time, the way of marketing has also changed. Today, when everything is going digital, people just ‘Google’ to search even if they have heard about your business from family or friends.

If your online presence is missing, they are less likely to trust your existence. That’s why a car rental service is necessary for your business. It will capture huge traffic by offering an efficient rental booking service and allowing the customers to book a car directly.

This will lead to a strong and direct connection with your customers, making your business grow.

Market Size of Car Rental Industry

Well, the car rental industry is not only widely spread but is also growing with the growing needs of the users. As commuting is a part of almost everyone’s routine, such services have proved to be much essential. Right now, the on-demand car rental industry is counted among the biggest industries, and car rental belongs to such industry only.

Not only limited to the big companies, but the car rental apps are also made by the SMBs. As there are a lot of demands for such applications, the service providers are attempting hard to fulfill the demand by offering various services through their mobile apps. Let’s check out some stats for the car rental market worldwide.

  • In 2020, the car rental segment’s revenue reached US$53,333m.
  • Moreover, it is expected that the revenue will show an annual growth of 18.5% that will lead to an unlifted market volume of US$105,285m by the year 2024.
  • In 2020, user penetration was 3.6% that will hit 7.1% by 2024.
  • The average revenue per user (ARPU) is also expected to meet US$200.37.
  • When compared globally, most of the revenue will be generated in the US.

Types of Car Rentals

Such apps fulfill a wide range of user needs. Have a look at various sorts of car rental apps that are available in the market.

Corporate Car Rentals

This kind of service provides an ease to corporate clients by providing them the cars for office purposes.

Self-driven Car Rentals

In this category, a user books a rental car and drives it himself. The charges are charged based on the car he selects and the number of hours he needs a car.

Outstation Car Services

This service manages the bookings for travelers who want to travel to other states or cities. It also permits them to book a car for a longer period.

Local Car Rentals

This one provides the cars on an hourly, full-day, or half-day basis. Moreover, it includes airport pickups and drop-offs.

Features to Include in a Car Rental App

Admin Panel Features of Car Rental App

  • Dashboard: It showcases an overview of the entire details of the business on one screen.
  • Reports and Analytics: Mobile app assists in generating the reports on a daily/monthly/yearly basis and offering all analytics for your rental car booking business.
  • Manage: Admin holds the caliber to handle cars, location-based charges and fares, customers, categories, notifications, drivers, payments, reviews, and ratings.

User Panel Features of Car Rental App

  •  Registration/Login: Users can be registered into the app to allow the customers to book their rides simply by performing log-in.
  •  View: Users can view the list and the availability of the car along with the types and drivers.
  •  Offers and deals: Providing discounts and offers to regular customers assists in retaining them forever with the business.
  •  Booking: It enables the users to book their car at their preferred timing.
  •  Manage: Users can handle their booking just by scheduling their timings as per their ease.
  •  Assign drivers: This feature of a car rental app is important when people need to rent a car for their long trips. It facilitates them to allocate their trusted drivers.
  •  Rate and Review: This feature permits the users to review and rate their experience with the service of a driver and an assigned rental car.

Driver Panel Features of Car Renting Mobile App

  • Registration/Login: Drivers can register themselves into the app so that they can be appointed for offering a ride to the customers.
  • Manage: Drivers can handle and update their details like their availability or absence on that specific day/week/month.

Integrations for Extra Features & Functionalities

  • GPS Tracking: Geotagging assists in tracking the cars. Both the admin and user can track the live spot of the car so that it can ease them in estimating the arrival time of the cars or cabs.
  • Secured Payment Gateways: Integrating 3rd-party payment gateways assist in hassle-free transactions that make the users pick your services.
  • Cloud Storage: Entire data of the drivers, users, and cars will be stored in the cloud securely.
  • Live Chat: It permits the users to chat ‘live’ with the owners to confirm that everything is going right.
  • Social Media Integrations: It allows the users to share the details of their ride through social media for security.
  • Push Notifications: It makes the users notified of many actions, like updates, successful/unsuccessful payments, booking confirmation, and more.

Cost of Developing a Car Rental Mobile App

Before you start with the development of your app, a car rental service should find its target audience and the features they need to include in their mobile app. The complexity of the app decides its development cost.

If you start with a limited number of features, you will be charged reasonably. The car rental service providers may hire a proficient team of designers and developers to develop a successful car rental app.

The estimated cost for developing a car rental application lies approximately between $17,000 to $30,000. Well, if you are planning to consider technical parameters along with the additional ones to include in your app, the cost of development may go high.

Wrapping Up

Many big players in the car rental app market have strengthened their roots already. Still, the demand for such services is growing constantly. By developing an easy-to-use and user-friendly car rental business, you can stand uniquely apart from the crowd.