Self-Service Car Hire Near You

Gauteng, Johannesburg, 18 April 2019 - First Car Rental is hard at work installing South Africa’s first Self-Service Car Hire Checkout facilities throughout its downtown branches across South Africa.

Since the launch at their car hire airport branches in December last year, the Self-Service Checkout stations have been busy.

"Running like clockwork," said frequent flyer and First Car Rental customer, Andre Landsburg, "a smashing success. Us renters have been loving the independence and speed of these stations. I can now guarantee time to my customers, which we have never been able to do.

Some of my chaps are checking their rentals out in 2 to 3 minutes, with no assistance. They come in, check their vehicles out, and drive off. They don’t even need to speak to staff. And more than this, it is like having our own cars on tap, but without the hassle of maintaining them. It’s been life-changing for our company, me and my crew."

Melissa Nortje, Executive Head at First Car Rental, in charge of strategy, marketing and development, explains that although this was ground-breaking in terms of the car hire industry in SA, for her, it was just the next step in their technology innovation programme.

Melissa Nortje - First Car Rental Executive Head of Strategy, Development & Marketing

"It started many years ago, back in 2003, when First Car Rental opted to design and develop the technology for its online booking portal. In 2011, the company developed the world’s first mobile checkout technology. We used this platform to launch our corporate Show&Go product, which remains highly relevant today," she recalls.

Melissa explains that their Self-Service car hire product utilises touchscreen technology, which opens up a new world to renters.

Nortje explains, "Renters can upgrade vehicles, add additional extras such as windscreen and tyre waivers at a mere touch of a screen, sign on screen and voila checked out in 15 seconds if you are a corporate, and closer to 40 seconds for pre-authorised, pre-paid credit card bookings."

Self-Service checkout is fast

First is now at an overall average of 4:25 minutes, less than a third of the worldwide average, and when factoring international inbound rentals, they tend to experience more banking issues because they did not notify their banks that they were travelling into Africa.

If you would like to know more about Self-Service car hire, take a look at our quick guide to Self-Service Car Hire.

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