Case Study: Maintaining A Competitive Edge In The Highly Competitive Car Rental Business
Thrifty Car Rentals in Panama was one of the very original users of Bluebird’s car rental management software. When the Thrifty office opened in 1995, the team needed software to automate their rental process and customer management service. The software was installed, staff were trained and the system was up and running serving customers from the first day of operation.
Since then, Thrifty Panama has grown their business with the back-end support of Bluebird’s software – RentWorks. Their long standing loyalty to Bluebird through several evolutions of our software has always been highly valued by our company and has enabled Thrifty to increase their profitability, efficiency and provide excellent customer service.
We continue to innovate bringing our clients technology that keeps them aligned with what the market is demanding. Bluebird is known for continuous improvement in car rental software and has established itself as one of the leaders globally.
Where they needed help
The car rental management platform chosen by Thrifty had to solve these basic business needs:
- Tracking and managing the fleet of vehicles
- Efficient rental contract processing
- Integrated billing and invoicing
- Live rate management
- Ensuring they had security & data compliance
- Integrating with other partner solutions to provide a seamless service to customers
Renting a car has to be a smooth, precise and fast service for the market, to keep up with the fierce competition this industry is known for. Car rental prices are kept in check by new entrants to the market and aggregators. The back-end operation had to be robust and reliable to allow staff to provide efficiency and professionalism while maintaining profitability for the business.
The benefits to Thrifty’s business
Thrifty’s service grows and evolves with the support of Bluebird’s sophisticated tools, making it possible for staff to provide effortless customer service.
Bluebird’s car rental management software has many add-on modules and third party integrations, creating a customized solution tailored to their business. Thrifty chose the following suite of products for their specific needs:
Fleet tracker
Staff know where their assets are at any point in time. The system defines cars into classes, making it easy for staff to upsell. All details are maintained by car – maintenance history, depreciation & amortization information. When information such as this is readily available, staff can make profitable decisions about fleet management based on accurate data.
Billing and accounts
RentWorks exports data from Thrifty’s rental contracts to their accounts receivable, accounts payable and the general ledger. This means less manual entering and the potential for human error is significantly reduced.
Along with the rental information, their fleet data is exported to the general ledger with information about vehicles acquired, vehicles sold, depreciation, license depreciation and payments. This process is seamless and automated.
Audit trails
Thrifty knows that all aspects of their fleet are captured and logged providing accurate and effective audit trails for their fleet of vehicles. RentWorks compiles and manages the data for complete financial accountability.
Yield Management
Vehicle rates are managed by the system based on how many cars are available for rent. Real time rate yield management means the staff capitalizes on reservation and counter sales without missing out on revenue opportunities, while customers are still getting competitive rates.
Rental Management
RentWorks manages all reservations on one screen. Service agents can easily assign vehicles to reservations with a simple drag and drop process. Thrifty’s staff provides fast and efficient customer service and their customers are happier.
“Bluebird is a friendly system, it gives me a lot of information to run and manage the operation. We have analysed a lot of different software but we stayed with Bluebird because we know it, we like it, we have a close relationship with the staff and they are always only a phone call away.” Javier Ducreux, Manager, Thrifty Panama
RentWorks enables Thrifty’s staff to process clients quickly as well as manage fleet, utilization and rates all with a click of a button. RentWorks can be further customized and enhanced to help their business gain a competitive edge. We continue to work with Thrifty to discover ways they can leverage a competitive edge using the tools within RentWorks.
What’s next for Thrifty Panama?
The team at Thrifty in Panama is looking forward to getting out from behind the counter and servicing their customers from the vehicle or wherever they may be. Using RentWorks Mobile, customers can be serviced at the vehicle, bypassing the counter altogether. This includes conducting credit card processing and capturing drivers’ license details securely. Employees can manage the fleet while on the lot in real-time.
Interested in developing a competitive edge for your car rental business? Book a demo today.
To learn how we can help your car rental business become a more competitive and profitable operation, call the team at Bluebird at 1-800-304-5805 to book a demo.
“It’s easy to use, customers are taken care of within a reasonable amount of time and are happy.” Javier Ducreux, Manager, Thrifty Panama
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