The energy transition, car sharing, and the self-driving car. As a car rental company, we cannot ignore these developments. Plenty of reasons, with an eye to the future, to critically examine our business model.
Renaissance
The car rental industry is currently undergoing quite a transformation. We're not saying the industry is coming out of the Middle Ages, but you could say the automotive industry is in its renaissance.
Our mission is to provide answers to the mobility challenges faced by individuals and organisations. Until now, that answer has primarily consisted of car rental services, but we are also exploring other solutions.
The lines between buying, renting and leasing are blurring
Developments like car sharing show that the lines between ownership, renting, and leasing are blurring. We ourselves already offer short lease, which in effect amounts to long-term renting. Who knows, perhaps operational lease will be added in the future.
Us now also selling used cars, which we buy from private individuals. We may also start offering our own ‘used’ rental cars for sale – at the moment, they are usually sold back to the dealer. As a customer, you might not think about it, but a car rental company is naturally already involved in the car trade – where do you think all our rental cars come from?
Car-sharing: opportunity or threat?
The arrival of car-sharing caused quite a stir in the car rental industry. How do we deal with that?
You first need to distinguish between business car-sharing providers and peer-to-peer sharing, which is essentially private car rental. With our fleet, we can, in principle, easily position ourselves as a car-sharing provider. We are therefore currently focusing on the concept of so-called shared cars: cars that you can pick up and drop off at a specific location within a designated zone. These cars can be unlocked and locked via an app on your smartphone. This, in principle, makes our reception desk redundant.
Get rid of the counter?
No counter: isn't that a devaluation of our service? It's all a matter of perspective. A large part of our booking process is already digitised, after all. You only come into contact with a staff member when picking up and dropping off. It would be much easier if you could pick up and return a car wherever and whenever you want. That would iron out the last wrinkle in the booking process and ensure a better customer experience. We might offer this on a small scale as a premium service.
Other services
As a car rental company, we are also fleet managers by default. Consequently, we possess extensive expertise in fleet management. We could therefore advise other organisations on how to manage their fleets more efficiently.
We are also closely monitoring developments such as green driving and the autonomous car, of course. Due to the high purchase price and therefore rental price, there is currently no great demand for electric cars. As soon as demand increases, we will naturally be the first to respond.
What are you waiting for? Company cars, shared cars or more electric vehicles in our fleet? Let us know in a comment! Easy and fast one Car hire in the Susteren regionThis is possible at Adrem Car Rental!
