The truck rental industry is projected to grow from $107 billion in 2022 to $214 billion by 2030, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 10.32% during the forecast period 2022-2030. The main contributor behind the growth of the industry is the good transportation sector where trucks are the most preferred means of shipping & logistics. However, the growth is also being driven by many other factors, such as the rise of the e-commerce industry, improved road infrastructure, globalization, and the affordable cost of shipping. 

Seeing the lucrative business opportunity in the truck rental industry, many new players are entering the market. To give them proper competition or simply have a strong start, truck rental business owners require a proper launch strategy. This blog will help them understand the business model, revenue model, and top features of a truck rental website so that they can launch their online truck rental business with ease.

Table of Contents

• Types of Online Truck Rental Businesses
• Business Model
• Revenue Model
• Features to Look for in a Truck Rental Software
• Conclusion

Types of Online Truck Rental Businesses

1. Truck Rental Marketplace: On a multi-vendor marketplace, the admin/marketplace owner lists trucks from multiple vendors on the website. The prime source of revenue for the marketplace owner is the rental commission.

2. Standalone Truck Rental Website: On a standalone truck rental website, the website owner is responsible for managing all the inventory and operations.

Business Model of Online Truck Rental Businesses

In this blog, we are going to explain the business model for both the truck rental marketplace and standalone truck rental website.

1. Truck Rental Marketplace

A truck rental marketplace has the following user types:

Admin: The admin is responsible for handling the entire marketplace, including webpages, blogs, payment gateways, and user profiles. 

Vendor/vehicle owner:  Vehicle owners list &  lend the trucks on the website.

Work-flow of a Truck Rental Marketplace

1. Truck owners register on the marketplace & list their trucks on the website.
2. The customer browses the listings and checks the availability of the selected truck on a booking calendar.
3. The customer places the order and pays the rental fee & security.
4. Admin delivers the truck through the selected delivery method.
5. The customer inspects the rented truck before using it.
6. When the rental period ends, the customer returns the truck.

Successful Online Truck Rental Marketplaces

• Fetch: A truck rental website launched in Greater Atlanta by Chris Glace and Adam Steinberg generated peak revenue of $9.0M in 2022.
• COOP: Launched by Ryder in the USA, a multi-vendor truck rental marketplace generated revenue of $5 million in 2019
• Penske Truck Leasing: A multi-vendor truck rental company founded by Roger Penske is headquartered in Pennsylvania. The company generated a revenue of $7.8 Billion in the year 2022.

Here is best truck rental software to create an online truck rental marketplace

2. Standalone Truck Rental Website

There is no intermediary in the standalone truck rental model. The platform owner handles all the operations related to renting, listing, transactions fixing bugs & errors.

Workflow for the standalone online truck rental website

1. The admin lists trucks on the website.
2. The customer browses through the website & selects a truck
3.  The customer checks the availability of the truck and enters rental date inputs through a booking calendar.
4. The customer pays the security deposit & rental fee.
5. Admin delivers the rented vehicle.
6. The customer inspects the vehicle before starting the rental period.

Successful Online Truck Rental Marketplaces

• Budget Trucks: A wholly owned subsidiary of Avis Budget Group, generated revenue of $599.43 Million in 2019.
• Hertz Truck: Based in America, Hertz Trucks was founded by Walter L. Jacobs and generated revenue of $8.7 billion in 2022.
• Ryder: Inaugurated by James Ryder in Miami, Florida. Ryder is known for its fleet of rental trucks & has generated revenue of $9.92 B in 2022.

Revenue Model of an Online Truck Rental Business

Online truck rental businesses can have different revenue generation channels to diversify the revenue streams & minimize financial risks. Some revenue generation channels you can follow are::

Features to Look for On a Truck Rental Website 

Features worth focusing on when selecting a Truck rental website that will meet the technological needs of the business:

1. Booking calendar: A booking calendar helps customers in checking truck availability and preventing double booking.

2. RFQ (Request for Quote): Allows customers to state requirements and request a price quote. And Keeps a record of all negotiations on the platform.

3. Document Verification: For a business owner to conduct rental business seamlessly & securely, & verify the customer is legally eligible to rent the truck.

4. Late Returns: In the rental business, entire fleet management depends on the availability of the trucks. Late returns & not getting notified can cause a loss. A feature to define & levy late return charges should be there.

5. Fleet Management: Fleet management keeps the check on real-time stock availability & allows manual updates in inventory in case of unavailability.

6. Order Management: With order management, it is easy to check the status of the orders, get alerts of new orders & track each tab under a single platform.

7. Rental Add-Ons: To purchase complementary services along with the primary purchase 

Conclusion

The key players in the truck rental industry as Fetch, COOP, Penske Truck Leasing, Hertz Truck, and Ryder, investing in digital approaches to increase their demand in the market. To follow their approach, interested entrepreneurs will need to invest in software technology. Yo!Rent is a fully scalable rental software launched in 2015. It is a multi-niche rental solution for entrepreneurs and startups looking for business software to automate their business operations. Yo!Rent also provides one year of free technical demos for assistance in launching your rental truck business.

Explore this link to get more detailed info.