Mapon has a large network of clients and partners – that’s why we invited our partner Jorge A. Pardo, CEO of Rentaltech, to talk about his experience with Mapon.

Jorge is an expert in security and specialises in offering different field-related services, as well as providing rental companies with technological products, such as license plate duplication, RFID solutions and others.

Rentaltech focuses on the security of rental vehicles. In this area, the geolocation of vehicles is very important not only to find a vehicle in case of theft, but also to be able to predict possible problems. In fact, we take care of the recovery of these vehicles, handle the reports to the police and take care of the formalities with them.

We began to integrate the first tracking devices in 2008, initially only in luxury vehicles, but our success pushed us to extend this protection system to other types of models as well. Our agreement with Mapon was the key to making this work, as there aren’t many platforms with the ability to monitor thousands of vehicles in real-time, and Mapon has fulfilled all of our expectations in this area. In addition to geolocation

Rentaltech offers other security services, such as ID verification or the implementation of online check-in systems.

COVID and all the restrictions caused by it turned the industry upside down. During the first wave, it stopped any activity in this industry, while changing the way consumers expect to be served. This change in trend was also a great opportunity for companies who were willing and able to adapt to the new normal.

With the help of Mapon, we implemented a system that allows clients to start the rental by unlocking the car directly from their mobile phones. Thanks to this solution, the rental process has become fully contactless – the client doesn’t have to go to the rental office anymore. Instead, they can go directly to the designated parking space and pick up the car.

The main advantage this solution provides to the customer is the possibility to avoid sharing closed spaces with other customers, which they value very positively. Moreover, it allows saving a significant amount of time. Meanwhile, rental companies are able to provide services with greater value, which translates into a better price for customers and significantly reduces operating costs by allowing companies to manage deliveries without personal costs.

We launched this project in 2019 before the COVID crisis and it has grown significantly in 2021 to the point that the projections for 2022 imply a tripling of the fleet of vehicles that use this type of technology.

Mapon offers a lot of advantages for car rental businesses. It’s a very intuitive and user-friendly platform with a very complete and robust alerts module, which greatly facilitates the work of monitoring possible risks, such as departures from the country, access to boarding areas, etc.

The possibility of connecting devices with vehicles in bulk, for example, by uploading an Excel file, is another important thing for an industry where agility is everything. But above all, I would emphasize the ability to monitor thousands of vehicles in real-time in a very fluid way – that’s something very uncommon for this industry. I’ve had the opportunity to test dozens of fleet monitoring systems, and the majority of them aren’t capable of working with such big data loads without crashing.

“With Mapon, we’ve been able to have simultaneous real-time monitoring on over 4000 devices, and this is something that’s not available to most of its competitors.”

Our partnership with Mapon started at the beginning of 2018. I explained what I needed and we saw the solutions Mapon could bring to improve our services in the car rental industry. It didn’t take me long to realise that I had found the ideal business partner, so the decision to start cooperation was an easy one.

The main factor in my decision was undoubtedly the team, both in Spain and in Latvia. The entire team is committed to helping as much as possible, and providing a quick solution to any problem or need. The most important thing in a company is the people. Everything else can be bought, learned or copied, so that is precisely what I value most about Mapon – they make you feel part of their team, and you can feel them as part of yours.

The origin of the activity in the car rental industry was mainly for security reasons – it was necessary to locate the vehicles in order to find them in case of, for example, theft. Now, we’re seeing a trend that more of our clients want to use vehicle tracking systems more actively and analyse the various data that our system offers, in order to generate new services and value propositions, such as rates based on mileage or on respectful and ecological driving metrics. Furthermore, as I mentioned before, the number of devices that allow unattended vehicle delivery is growing, even allowing holiday rentals in places where companies don’t have offices. We’re in the process of change in the industry, where digitalisation is the key and geolocation is essential to this.

As I said before, the car rental industry is moving towards digitalisation and efficiency through the use of technology in the service delivery processes. More and more car rental companies are integrating 100% digital experiences into their contract options. With this feature available, the end customer signs the contract and checks in himself using a mobile device. Afterwards, the vehicle delivery can be done either by unlocking the car with the mobile phone or by picking up the keys from a vending machine. In my opinion,

the car rental industry as we know it is evolving to look more and more like carsharing.

It might be that the pandemic is accelerating this process even faster.

I love series, so I’m always watching something with my wife. We have just finished a British comedy series, which we both love – very Monty Python-esque. Of course, I dedicate a large part of my free time after work to my children. They always have something to surprise me with and are able to make me forget the hardest working days in just a few moments. Some sport is always a good thing to do, especially with a beer afterwards – sometimes even during it. And, if all else fails, I can always send me SETDIGIOUT 1111 0000. 

If you’re also looking for state-of-the-art fleet management, asset tracking and IoT solutions such as those used by Rentaltech in an industry that demands speed and agility, get in touch with our client project managers to arrange a free consultation and a demonstration of the platform.