Car rental: Driving a hard bargain

Agents who shun selling car hire in favour of higher-value bookings, could be in for a shock when they read the following figures.

Did you know you can earn about £50 on an average £200 car rental? That means selling just one car a week will net you an extra £2,600 a year.

If you sell one car a day, that rises to £15,000 easily achieved, according to Holiday Autos commercial director Ian Coyle, who came up with the figures.

Many agents have already cottoned on and come up with ways to boost their income through selling car hire. For instance, Leeds Co-op general manager Paul Daly, has seen car-rental sales rise by 52% year on year.

Daly made one person – branch manager Julie Groom – responsible for increasing car-hire sales across the group. Her job is to communicate deals throughout the company’s 19-branch network and encourage staff to sell more.

“The difficult bit is getting consultants to ask the question: ‘Do you want to hire a car?’ They fear rejection, so they don’t do it,” said Daly.

“I know, because we mystery shopped ourselves and our competitors, and we found car rental was not mentioned during booking discussions at all.”

Staff get incentives when they make a car-hire booking. “Prizes include £10 a booking, entry into a raffle to win small, fun prizes such as a bar of chocolate, or the chance to go home early one day,” said Daly.

“I want to reward staff rather than use a big stick to motivate people. It costs me money, but if we sell a car, we make much more, so I can’t really lose.

“It’s also important to remember that after you have sold car hire to a client once, they may hire one with you as part of future holidays.”