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Self-Service Car Hire Available at First Car Rental

First Car Rental advances the future of South African car hire

December 2018 - If you are renting a car over the holidays, don't forget to pack your patience, unless you are hiring from First Car Rental, who has launched South Africa's first Self-Service Car Hire at all their major branches across the country.

Says Melissa Nortje, Executive Head of Strategy, Development & Marketing at First Car Rental, "Our self-service car hire is fast, efficient, convenient and paperless. Complete your renter profile at the branch, thereafter, it's your new way of life! Book online, go straight to a self-service touchscreen, choose the car you want, sign on the screen and you are checked out, all in under 30 seconds"

Self-Service has been piloted at OR Tambo for the past 4 months with select methods of payment and is now ready for all market segments and available to account or non-account holders.

First Car Rental Self-service Car Hire

Over the past 18 years, tech-savvy First Car Rental has led from the front in developing an impressive set of 'first mobility' facilities and software programmes in the car rental industry.

Being first-to-market typically enables a company to establish strong brand recognition and customer loyalty (before competitors enter the arena), as was experienced when First Car Rental launched their first-in-world, first-in-market, corporate Show&Go Mobile Checkout Facilities at their airport branches in 2011.

Melissa Nortje

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

This technology is popular with corporate travellers, and for good reason. It ticks all the boxes that frequent flyers would want and benefit from. It entails companies opening an account with First Car Rental and 'mobile-readying' their key staff who travel. Issued with a Show&Go card, they step off the plane, walk a predetermined route to the First Car Rental Show&Go area at the airport, where a First Car Rental agent will be waiting to check them out in under a minute. No more unpredictable queuing or paperwork.

Nortje is resolute that every tech-product they design must uphold the pillars of innovation excellence with the customer at the centre.

Self-Service Car Hire gives the renter the independence to take control of their rental journey. The experience starts when booking a rental online. At pick-up, the renter heads straight to the self-service touchscreen, selects a car of their choice, signs on the screen, and the checkout is complete, all in under 30 seconds. The launch phase entails dual-view screens to allow agents to assist renters with their first self-service checkout.

Nortje explains, "We define exactly what improvements we want to bring about in the customers' rental experience and design for this desired outcome. Approaching innovation this way means the business is customer-led, rather than being constrained by current capabilities.

"I believe that being customer-centric is a way of doing business with a customer in a way that provides a positive customer experience, before, during and after the rental, in order to drive repeat business and customer loyalty. We are data-driven and propelled forward by what our customers ultimately tell us they need and want, which is independence, choice, convenience and efficiency, with first-world technology – like the world they live in. We conceptualised and innovated. Our Self-Service Car Hire is First-World. We know our customers, we trust them and are proud of our journey together."



*Checkout times may be affected by your method of payment but this can now be done prior to arrival.

For more news about First Car Rental, visit our News Page.