The travel industry worldwide has developed at a pace where it has been so easy for users to get the mode of commute anytime by simply searching them online. In the broad list of different mobile apps used to get the transportation, there has been added one more name that is “car rental platforms”.
Businesses are showing great interest in this sector and opting out of car rental app development services to launch their own app for iOS or Android or both platforms to get the maximum profit.
Not one, there are various popular car rental mobile applications that are getting a lot of love from the large base of users. If you are looking to develop car rental apps like Hertz, Turo, Avis, Skyscanner, Zipcar, etc., then must have a look at this blog.
This blog is purely dedicated to those who are willing to develop a successful and efficient car rental application. Here we have figured out each detail essential to know right from market stats to must-have features to development process & involved costs.
Table of Contents
What is Car Rental Mobile App?
Car rental mobile app facilitates people to get a car on rent to go anywhere simply by using their mobile phones. Basically, this app connects the people who need to rent a car to those who own a car and are willing to give it on rent. Here users get various options to choose from among the wide variety of cars and pay accordingly whereas car owners earn some extra revenue. Car owners must have insurance for the vehicle before renting it out to someone else.
Currently, people don’t like to stand in the queue and wait for hours to get a cab or bus. These technologically advanced solutions have provided a new and convenient way for users to handle things. Users also have the option to drive the car themselves or they can have a driver as per their choice. Apps help customers to book the car easily and get notified about the car details and timings.
How Car Rental App Works?
- Car owners can list their cars in the app with just a few clicks. They can also mark dates in the in-built app calendar to let users know when their cars are available.
- Users can go through the car listing and can send the request to the car owner as per their requirements.
- The car owner can accept or decline the request within eight hours. If they accept the request, the owner and the customer can coordinate with each other to decide when and where they want to meet to pick up the car.
- Before renting out the car, everything must be checked properly such as vehicle paper, driving license, keys, fuel & mileage, etc.
- Payment can be done as per the convenience of both parties i.e., before or after the trip.
Know About Car Rental Market Size and Growth
Several sectors have got huge profit and revenue by adding mobile applications in their business to make it used widely. The car rental business is also one of them and it is why businesses are in the queue to grab this opportunity by having car rental software development services to build amazing car rental apps like Hertz, Avis, Skurt, Turo, etc. Predictably, the car rental market is going to expand in the coming years vastly, therefore, it would be good If you are heading towards investing in this sector with an efficient mobile app.
The below statistics are representing the worldwide revenue of the car market from 2017 to 2025. The overall revenue is predicted to reach $110, 894.2 million by 2025. You can see the revenue year by year. As per the sources, the global car rental market size was priced at $98.14 billion in 2014 and it is predicted to grow at 4.6% CAGR from 2021 to 2028.
Diverse Types of Car Rental Mobile Applications
Entrepreneurs look for a leading mobile app development company when they want to have an efficient app to maximize their earnings, the same goes with the car rental app. There are a lot of car rental apps in the market divided into different categories, hence it is not easy for businesses to choose among them to invest in.
To make this a little simple for them, here we are providing knowledge about different categories of car rental apps.
1. Self-driven Car Rentals
In this, users can get the vehicle on rent and drive it themselves. They would rent out a car that would be delivered by the service provider at their location. After the trip, the user must have to drop it off at the decided location. It is a next-level budget-friendly option for individuals who have great driving skills but don’t own a four-wheeler.
2. Outstation Car Rentals
If you go to book a taxi for traveling out of the station, it takes up a large expense. It would be better and more convenient to hire a taxi for rent and take it anywhere you want. Your car rental app service provider must provide the option of outstation services to have a broader reach of audiences.
3. Corporate Car Rentals
Corporate industries are also coping with technological advancements and reaping the benefits of car rental apps. The app can help its users to get around a new city and work conveniently with corporate vehicle rentals. Previously, these services had a limited reach but currently, these are in high demand among users.
4. Local Car Rentals
Choose expert car rental app developers and get yourself a car rental app that provides services for locals and city visitors. These services allow users to get a car and go wherever they want to and pay for it. They can get the car on rent based on full-day, half-day, or an hour. It also comprises pick-up and drop-off from airports.
Popular Car Rental Apps Ruling Over the Market
Behind the amazing growth of the car rental market, some apps are providing wonderful services to customers as well as high profits to businesses. Before having car rental mobile app development services, businesses must look out for these apps that are doing very well in the global market:
Benefits of Having an App for Your Car Rental Business
Several sectors as well as individuals are getting more and more benefits by using the flexible car rental app. You can also leverage this golden opportunity and can introduce a car rental app like Turo into the market worldwide to reap all the benefits.
- Businesses can be connected and get engaged with their audiences in real-time.
- It is easy to handle the entire car renting business via a single platform.
- You can keep an eye on your market rivals & competitors.
- Car rental app increases business perceptibility.
- Integrated payment procedure makes the payment process convenient & easy.
- Customer data collection is easy.
- Customers will get an extensive range of vehicles on rent from cars to buses.
- The app provides budget-friendly and convenient services.
Trending Features to Include in a Car Rental Mobile app
An appropriate feature set will make your car rental app more flexible and easier to use for everyone, be it customers, service providers, or the admin. There must be different features for every panel to counter the market competition and stand apart from them.
It is significant to add amazing features while opting out for on-demand car rental app development. Have a look at the most required features below-
User Panel
Be it any app, it is developed according to the needs, demand, liking, and disliking of the target audiences, therefore, it is necessary to have such features that can make the car rental process easier for them.
Signup or Login
Users can register by entering email, name, contact no., etc. The login portal is also accessible easily with the given credential that can be email ID or user’s phone number that making the process convenient and fast.
Car Selection
Users like to have the freedom to choose their desired car on a car rental mobile app. It can be promoted as a major selling point for a business model of a car rental app.
Booking Management
While having car rental service app development, you must include this feature for users so that they can manage all their bookings easily in one place. It enhances productivity and saves a lot of time by keeping the management organized thoroughly at the customer level.
Schedule the Ride
Sometimes, users can’t even get the time to book the ride due to their hectic and super busy schedules. Wouldn’t it be good enough to schedule the ride earlier so that there would be no hustle at the time of leaving? Although, this feature can increase the cost of your on-demand app development, but it will attract a customer base.
Price Estimation
The car rental service provider app must have this feature to provide updated prices regularly to customers. It will help them to book a ride accordingly by checking the price before booking a ride.
Doorstep Car Delivery
If users go for the self-driving car rental services, they would be provided with the car’s delivery at their home. It is a common feature but makes the customer feel more valuable as it saves their time and effort.
Tracking & Navigation
Through this feature, users can have a convenient, pleasant, and time-saving commute as it traverses the customers to the destination by following the direction. Users can also track the vehicle’s location via using the tracking feature.
Multiple Payment Options
When you hire app developers, they must know that it is a must-have feature to provide into the app at present. Due to digitalization, everyone now prefers online payment and users are choosing apps that facilitate them with multiple payment gateways
Notifications
This feature provides important updates and notifies users about everything, be it their bookings, vehicle, delay in services or discounts, or coupon codes.
Referral Programs & Rewards
Loyalty programs, discounts, referral coupons, etc. keep the app users motivated and loyal. If they will get something in return for consuming the services, they would love the app for sure. This feature is also helpful in customer retention and boosting the approach among future customers.
Service Provider Panel
A car rental app must be convenient for drivers or car owners also, hence here are some of the features that must be considered for this panel-
Signup & Login
There is included a feature to signup via providing an email or phone number or can use another social media account, and after getting registered once, users can log in only by using an email ID or phone number.
Check & Respond to the Request
Service providers must be facilitated with the feature where they can check all the booking requests and can accept or deny them as per their availability.
Trip Details
Driver or host can check the details of the trip such as pick-up & drop-off point, journey time, and short path with less traffic.
Driver Dashboard
The driver will be provided with a dashboard displaying all the required data to the driver including overall completed rides, total income, scheduled rides, received feedback, etc.
Receive Payment
This feature permits the drivers to get the payment via the car rental app itself from the customer after renting the car to them. It will be easy for customers as well to do the payment this way.
Receive Feedback
If a driver has bad reviews and poor ratings, no customer wants to have services from them. Every car rental app development company must provide this feature so that customers can easily choose the service provider as per the ratings and feedback.
Navigation
It is an essential feature for drivers who are not familiar with all the routes. It helps them to reach customers’ locations or other destinations without taking much time and getting confused with the directions.
Expense Log
This feature is useful for drivers or hosts to keep the log of complete expenses such as toll tax and all on-duty expenses that are helpful to get compensation.
Admin Panel
Admin must have control over the overall operations related to the app, hence it is the responsibility of your chosen Android or iOS app developers to develop this panel in a way that provides maximum benefits.
Interactive Dashboard
The dashboard is essential for the admin to monitor the vehicles and cars to manage them properly. It’s the responsibility of the admin to update the dashboard with the latest information according to the number of cars that are booked by users.
Car Management
All the cars and vehicles will be managed under the direction of the admin. Following this feature, it is necessary to update the car’s data along with the user’s information to whom the car is allocated.
Customer Management
Admin will monitor all the users registered with the car rental mobile app through this feature. It will comprise all the user’s details, rating, service, etc. and hence, it will be easy to optimize the complete vehicle management.
Payment Management
This feature permits the admin to handle all the payment services to make the transactions transparent and accessible to all. It includes the management of all payment gateways, their details, commission amount counted under this category.
Category Management
Admin is accountable to handle different categories relevant to cars and then updating the rental bookings accordingly about the vehicle availability.
Fare Management
This feature involves all kinds of fare structures, on-demand, and location-based charges are handled by the admin only. Fare can also differ according to the brands and size of the cars.
Report & Analytics
However, adding this feature can have an impact on the car rental app development cost but it is a must-have feature as it includes all the real-time reports about the car renting information like mostly chosen cars by the users, time schedules, and total orders to simplify the business operations.
Some Advanced Features to Add
Apart from the basic features for different panels, there is a need to add some of the advanced features to make your app unique from others. Choose the features carefully as it will directly fluctuate the overall cost to develop a car rental app.
Assigning Drivers
Some people can rent out a car but don’t know how to drive, for them this feature is really helpful as it facilitates them to get a driver along with the car. Be it long-distance rides or any other holiday plans, just hire them as per the preferences such as gender, age, experience, ratings, etc. and have fun.
Set Up the Zone
To make your car rental businesses more successful, you must operate in the areas with maximum users. Analyze from where you are getting more orders via operational zone set-up. It would be a great way to attract the users and it motivates them to take the car services frequently.
App Statistics
This feature allows one to get insights into the overall business procedure. The car rental application will let the users know about the real base fare along with the time rates, fixed packages, distances, and surge pricing.
In-app Calls
It is to make the customers feel secure as this feature will let them call via the app. It will help them not reveal their personal contact numbers so that they face no inconvenience in the future.
Quick Booking
Users who frequently take the car rental services can save the pick-up & drop-off location permanently to book the car fast. They can also change the addresses if needed.
Panic Button
It is a must-have feature that works as a safety measure for customers. The panic button can be used by the riders in case they feel anything wrong during their journey, be it from the driver’s end or anything else.
Monetization Model Integrated into Car Rental App
The car rental apps are basically created for offering cars on rent for different purposes such as adding luxury to users’ lifestyles, work meetings, family holidays, etc. But it doesn’t always belong to the users only as businesses also want to earn profits out of it. Now, the question lies here, how do they do it?
It is obvious that there is a huge cost involved to get mobile app development services, hence businesses must go with a strong monetization model to reimburse that all along with maximizing the revenue.
i) Car Fleet on Rent
As a direct approach to get profit, businesses can rent out their own car to the app users. Businesses can purchase their own cars to provide them on lease and can hire various drivers for them. It will help them to earn the base fare got by the customers for their services. They can pay the car drivers based on the month or their services.
ii) Commission Base
Car owners can list their cars on car rental apps so that users can connect to them. In this, a specific amount of the earnings of car owners goes to the app owners as a form of service fees. Famous car rental app like Turo applies this monetization strategy.
Basic Tech Stack & Team Structure for Car Rental App
If you want to have scalable and robust car rental mobile app development, ensure you are having skilled team members and they have knowledge about all the latest technologies and tools required for developing an efficient car rental application.
1) Tech Stack
Following the modern and up-to-date technology stack at the time of app development is necessary to have a quality app that can shine out among competitors.
- Back-end Development: Ruby, JavaScript, AngularJS, Python
- Front-end Development: CSS, Java, Swift, Bootstrap
- Database: HBase, MongoDB, Postgres, Cassandra, MySQL
- Real-time Analytics: Google Analytics, Flurry
- Cloud: Google cloud serves, Amazon data servers
- GPS: Apple Maps, Google Maps
- Push Notifications: Twilio, Push.io
- Voice, SMS, & Phone Verification: Nexmo, Twilio
2) Team Structure
Along with the leading car rental app development company, make sure they have skilled iOS & Android app developers to have a capable mobile app. Try to keep your development team limited to maintain the overall budget.
- Project Manager
- UI/UX Designers
- Front-end Developers
- Android & iOS Developers
- QA Professionals
Step-by-Step Development Process to Build a Car Rental App
so, we have reached the most awaited section of our blog is to know how to develop a car rental app? The steps involved in app development are the most considerable while deciding the cost.
Let’s dive quickly into the step-by-step process of building a car rental mobile app-
Step 1. Research about the Market & Audiences
Before starting the app development, it is necessary to know the essentials to include in it. You can know about them by researching the market and analyzing the target audiences including the current trends, likes, dislikes, expectations, etc. You must get a clear idea about the problems audiences are facing and how your app can solve them. Get everything involved in your app to make it convenient and easily accessible for them, it will help to make your app successful in less time.
Step 2. Interactive App Design
The next big step is to make the audiences agree to use your app and it can happen if you use the right set of technology to design your car rental app. People prefer apps with responsive and striking design; however, it will affect the mobile app development cost, but it is worth it. Currently, we have a multitude of technologies and tools such as ReactJS, ASP.NET, AngularJS, etc. to make the app design more appealing to drive sales. Consider hiring mobile app designers with rich experience and knowledge in this field.
Step 3. App Development
It is significant to hire mobile app developers with sufficient skills and knowledge to have a proficient car rental app. After getting done with the app design, it is the responsibility of the development team to move the project further. Developers will integrate the essential features and functionalities with the help of modern-edge technologies & tools such as Java, Python, Ruby, etc. They will also have to solve all the issues that occur while developing.
Step 4. Testing Process
Even after encountering all the occurred issues, there is always something hidden that slows down the app’s performance. To find out those errors or bugs, it is required to conduct the testing process. If there is any error, it needs to be resolved, and then, the app will again go for testing. This process will go on until the app gets error-free.
Step 5. App Deployment
The final step is to deploy the app on the global platform after completing the testing process. Deploy the app on the right platform from where it can have a better reach to a wider base of audiences. Market your product enough by applying effective marketing strategies to create hype among the audiences.
How Much Does Car Rental Mobile App Costs?
It would be a great idea to develop a car rental app like Turo for established businesses and start-ups, but you must have a look at the estimated cost first. While evaluating the overall mobile app development cost, are you aware of the considerable aspects of it? These are-
- Different App Platform
- Location & Experience of the Chosen Development Team
- Team Structure & Technology Stack
- List of Features
- App Complexity
Based on these above aspects, the general cost to develop car rental apps like Hertz, Turo, or Avis would be around $20,000 to $40,000 comprising the core features. Although, if you are looking to involve more advanced features or the latest technologies, then it can go higher than expected.
Key Takeaways
With the increase in the market of the car rental sector, there is a boost in the demand for a viable mobile solution among the businesses that have invested in the industry. An efficient car rental mobile app will be helpful to go close to your target audiences and reap the profits out of it. There are already a lot of big players in the market that have adopted various effective ways to enlarge their customer base. Therefore, you must also for a feature-rich & robust app to stand out from the crowd.
Among all the top-notch car rental app development companies, you can go for SemiDot Infotech as we have years of experience and a solid track record in developing next-gen mobile applications to help businesses.
