Remote Apps Provider Market Gets More Competitive
Phone-as-a-key (PaaK) feature demands increasing in car rental industry
While industry professionals pursue the latest waves of technology having to do with connectivity from fleet monitoring to more customizable consumer options, one segment of the high-tech trend continues to be digitized car rental booking. One firm that’s thrown its hat into the proverbial ring has been Nebraska-based Move Mee, which earlier in February announced an app that would allow a customer to get in their cars without having to visit the counter.
Calling it “revolutionary,” the company revealed an app that would handle one-time registration that would take a driver’s identification and license remotely and handle the rest on the spot, including the luxury of enabling the user to choose a preferred method of payment. An additional feature allows a client to use the app to visually inspect the vehicle and report on its condition.
“Today marks a fundamental change in the vehicle rental sector and franchised dealership space, catapulting vehicle rental into the digital age,” said Move Mee founder and chair Richard Lowden.
Kudos to Move Mee for introducing the innovation, but similar technology has been around for several months, with all the major players like Avis and Hertz using variations of remote booking technology in their apps. Hertz has even introduced biometrics like voice and face recognition at select airports to speed up the process.
Bring The Power of PaaK To Your Customers With Bluebird
And then there’s Bluebird, which currently features a PaaK Mobile App that’s available on Apple and Android phones and allows customers to book, pick up and drop off vehicle rentals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The app allows users to reserve a vehicle directly, while business clients can customize their profiles with a company logo and pertinent information about the firm.
Bluebird technology has made the phone-as-a-key feature comprehensive to enable smartphones to perform a wide array of functions pertaining to the rented vehicle. It can perform a damage inspection, display fuel levels and odometer readings and even locate the vehicle for the user via a digital map readout.
Using a Bluetooth connection from the smartphone to the cam, the PaaK innovation even functions in areas where you can’t receive smartphone signals. It’s remarkably easy to install and operates with your choice of a push-button start and a key start.
The addition of more players offering their take on remote booking and rental car operation apps not only adds to an already competitive market, but it reinforces the maxim that customers have the most to gain with what’s available.
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