THE Internet is starting to play a key role in the car-rental industry as more companies offer the ability to book on-line.
Hertz, which launched its site in 1996, claims to have been the first to offer clients the option to make an on-line booking.
It was followed last month by Budget Rent a Car, which launched a fully interactive Web site at World Travel Market.
Vice-president sales and marketing Roeland Moens said it is extremely user friendly.
“Customer click through only five pages to make a reservation. On the sixth page, they receive a reservation confirmation number to quote at the rental counter when the vehicle is picked up.”
Suncars will offer on-line bookings through the new Unijet site due to launch this month while Holiday Autos’ new site, also unveiled at WTM, is fully interactive for agents and the facility is due to be rolled out to consumers by the end of the year.
The Holiday Autos site has a major agent bias. They can use it to check rental information such as minimum age and driving licence requirements, to view all bookings made by the agency, change or add flight details and cancel bookings.
Avis says it will have the ability to take bookings over the Web by the end of February 2000.
Its present site allows agents to e-mail with a request for a reservation that has to be confirmed on the telephone.
Meanwhile Europcar has launched a UK Web site. This ties into the company’s Europe-wide pages but has information specific to the UK market.
Managing director Uwe Baunack said:”The new Web site allows us to go into much more detail about the products and services available in the UK.”
The site offers a quick quote system and bookings can be made on-line for anywhere in the world. Special Internet-only discounts are available.
Car-rental companies are also making use of new technology to expand their service to customers.
National Car Rental has an on-line mapping facility which provides maps of countries throughout Europe. In the UK, users can find a street by typing in a postcode. The map will also show the nearest National location.
Budget claims to be the only company to be offering car-rental auctions over the Internet. As yet only available for US rentals, BidBudget allows users to name their price. Budget will respond in 24hrs to say if the bid has been accepted.