The United States is currently facing an unmatched labor shortage. Becoming widely known as “The Great Resignation”, millions of Americans are choosing to leave their jobs every month. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 5.9 million Americans left their current workforce in December 2021.This voluntary mass exodus combined with layoffs and terminations has caused businesses of every kind scrambling to replace employees, creatively maintain productivity, and save money wherever possible.
Car rental companies are no stranger to challenges brought on by the U.S. economy. Currently, rental counter employees, operation managers, and vehicle maintenance employees are stretched thin across the industry, forcing businesses to rethink how they do business.
Zubie Rental Connect
Zubie recognizes the challenges brought on by the labor crisis and is committed to providing solutions that ease the burdens rental companies are currently facing. Zubie Rental Connect is a comprehensive telematics solution that assists companies in optimizing their business operations, and protecting their vehicles.
Minimizing Operational Expenses
In order to attract skilled workers, rental companies need to appeal to prospects with higher wages. They need to reevaluate their budget in order to compensate for increased labor rates, and create a plan to reduce costs elsewhere. Rental Connect makes this a simple shift with features to help you tighten the bolts on your overall rental operation.
- Vehicle Reported Fuel – Fuel is a major expense for rental companies. Reducing fuel cost is critical in order to minimize overall expenses. Fuel insights provide you with precise metrics to track fuel usage. Never second guess whether a customer refilled their rental vehicle before returning it, and eliminate any possible human error. Through integrated data connections with a Rental Management System, fuel levels are captured and recorded at time of vehicle check-in. Fuel levels will also be automatically recorded when closing out a rental agreement, speeding up time and eliminating false input errors.
- Vehicle Reported Odometer – Tracking mileage helps rental companies determine routine maintenance, and additional costs to customers. Upon return, Zubie provides exact mileage for each trip, on each vehicle. This all takes place without any human interaction.The check in process is streamlined in order to improve operational efficiency, reduce overall labor costs, and eliminate the potential for human error.
- Inventory and Utilization Reports – Utilization comes down to how often a vehicle is being used, earning revenue, or sitting idle. Knowing this information in real-time is possible with telematics. When a rental operation has insight to this data, they are able to closely analyze whether a vehicle is an asset or a liability. Moreover, understanding the activity of each vehicle gives your rental operation knowledge about customer wants and needs, providing better service all around. What about all of those lot inventory counts for audit purposes? This can all be done with a touch of a button and no longer requires employees to walk the property and manually count each vehicle. Think about all of the time this one action will save employees and payroll costs.
- Health and Maintenance – When your rental operation has real-time data on rental inventory, they are also able to manage vehicle health and maintenance. Rental operations keep track of scheduled maintenance that is necessary to keep vehicles active. Additionally, your rental operation can detect vehicle health issues, such as a check engine or low battery charge, before they become a major, expensive problem.
- Vehicle Valuation – Each vehicle in your fleet has the potential to be either an asset or a liability. Vehicle Valuation provides an accurate value of your vehicle by automatically analyzing the Manheim Market Reports, a premier wholesale price indicator. This information allows rental car owners to make educated buying and selling decisions, and get the most out of your rental fleet.
Zubie’s Chief Revenue Officer, Mark Novak, understands the challenges rental companies are facing, and how critical it is to provide relief.
“While there is no direct solution to the labor shortage, Zubie telematic solutions can help rental companies prioritize and utilize current employees and vehicles in the best way possible. Zubie Rental Connect can improve your rental company’s bottom line by extending the life of your vehicles, and relieving the heavy strain put onto your employees and business.”
Zubie’s intuitive technology can provide your business with tools to move from surviving into thriving, even amidst a labor shortage crisis. Our experts at Zubie are eager to help you define your rental company as resilient and successful.