The ready/return area is the hub for rental car pickup, drop-off, and storage. It is also the only other section of the facility customers will directly interact with, so its design should be easy to navigate and include intuitive wayfinding.
This portion of car rental facility design should include distinct areas for each rental agency, with dedicated parking areas for:
- Customer pickups
- Customer returns
- Unwashed returns
- Clean returns
Depending on available space, small washing and refueling stations can also be part of the ready/return area.
3. ORGANIZE QUICK TURNAROUND AREAS
The quick turnaround area’s purpose is to process returned vehicles as efficiently as possible. The QTA should be the primary zone for cleaning and refueling and should include:
- Fuel stations
- Car wash tunnels
- Garbage and recycling disposal with adequate space to accommodate garbage trucks entering and exiting
The QTA will also need to include administrative and employee areas, such as manager offices, restrooms, and break rooms with personal storage spaces.
4. ESTABLISH STORAGE AREAS
Finally, a car rental facility design must include storage and administrative areas, with spaces designed for:
- Administrative offices
- Maintenance garages
- Storage for vehicles undergoing lengthy maintenance
- In-fleeting processes such as plate installation, interior and exterior preparations, and quality control checks
- De-fleeting processes such as inspections, plate removal, and reporting
Designing future car rental facilities means going beyond the basics. The design must anticipate tomorrow’s changes while still fulfilling today’s needs.
There may be any number of reasons behind creating a car rental facility, whether a ConRAC or otherwise. Limiting curbside congestion, repurposing formerly occupied spaces, or purely improving traveler experience could all be the motivating drive. However, administrative personnel must communicate that motivation to receive a positive reaction from customers and associated rental companies.
Customers often view efficiency-driven changes as warning signs of inferior customer service. Facility managers must communicate new methods or designs in terms of how they will improve the overall user experience.
If the new design is for a ConRAC, owners should also share the motivation for the change with the rental car companies meant to share the facility. While they may initially oppose sharing space with their direct competitors, communicating the underlying motivation and explaining how the move will benefit them can significantly ease the way.
Most importantly, it is vital to understand the problem the new design aims to solve and keep that solution in mind as the design process continues. If the goal is to improve the traveler experience, customer service areas should receive extra attention. If insufficient parking has been an issue, the new design should have a significant focus on that improvement.
ANTICIPATE CHANGE
While it is necessary to focus on creating a design that solves today’s issues, it is also critical to consider tomorrow’s challenges.
When Hertz announced it was adding 100,000 Teslas to its U.S. fleet, it instantly prompted changes to rental car facility designs nationwide. In addition to having to add charging stations at all Hertz facilities, ConRAC designs suddenly needed several updates as well. ConRACs will draw a more substantial power supply to accommodate the electric charging stations. Hertz must now separate their charging stations from the rest of their refueling to avoid clogging communal QTAs. Staff increases are also likely, to cover the split QTA process.
The designers who originally built these ConRACs likely presumed the same standard operations that had been in place for years. Now, those designs need an overhaul to adapt to this change.
The future remains impossible to predict, and new designs cannot accurately anticipate every potential change. However, today’s designers should expect the facility’s needs to evolve and strive to make that change as painless as possible.
EMBRACE EFFICIENCY
All stages of the car rental process — from customer pickup and arrival to counter transactions to quick-turns and maintenance — take time. The longer one step takes, the less patience renters will have for the others. However, it is easy to turn small gains into significant savings. There were 38.5 million car rentals in 2021 in the U.S. alone, about 105,500 per day. If each process’ efficiency improves by only a few seconds, the total gain will be immense.
Review any feedback and metrics from the previous design when modifying or creating a new car rental facility. Identify which areas are chokepoints and any spaces that have more room than they need, and use that information to improve flow in the next design. The balance can shift between areas — reducing the size of administrative offices to increase space for the QTA — or within an area — removing excess fuel pumps to make room for more car wash tunnels.
Updated airport designs incorporate technology that improves efficiency and customer experience. Designers can adapt some of these new solutions for use in car rental facilities as well. Studying related industries’ modifications will provide new ideas for higher efficiency.
CONSIDER THE CUSTOMER
As for any customer-focused business, the most critical aspect of improving car rental facility design is to create a customer-first layout. Distances between the areas renters need to visit should be short and easily traversable. The customer service building’s exterior should be easily identifiable, and routes drivers must take to return their rental cars should have unmistakable markings.
At a more granular level, the design of the customer service building’s interior and the ready/return area should have multiple foot and vehicular traffic flows in mind. Intuitive wayfinding is an essential component, making it easy for travelers to navigate from one area to another. In ConRACs or other rental facilities tied to airports, there should be graphic consistency with airport signage for greater ease of understanding.
While many travelers planning to rent a car make their reservations ahead of time, some have a last-minute change of plans or prefer to wait until their arrival to book a vehicle. In a ConRAC, the rental counters’ arrangement should make it easy for customers to shop the different rental companies.
