Tracking of rental car fleets and credit hire vehicles could help claw back up to 10% of revenue, according to vehicle technology experts In-Car Cleverness.

Vehicles owned by rental and credit hire companies are often targets of fraud and theft, driving up costs and reducing revenue through vehicle downtime. 

Total lost revenue is estimated to be in the tens of millions of pounds annually across the sector.

In response, In-Car Cleverness is increasingly engaging with the credit hire market, as well as the established rental and dealer sectors, to help protect their assets.  

The analysis comes after an In-Car Cleverness ‘OnboardPlus’ tracking service secured the recovery of yet another vehicle, this time from a credit hire company based in Manchester.

Once the theft was identified, the vehicle’s location was pinpointed and all details were provided to the Police, who recovered the car within 24 hours of the theft taking place.  

As well as outright theft, credit hire and car rental firms are often the target of staged ‘cash for crash’ accidents and other types of fraud, all of which drives up the cost of insurance for all drivers.  

In fact, one in seven personal injury claims – some 69,500 a year – are linked to suspected ‘crash for cash’ scams, costing the motor industry £392 million annually.

Paul O’Dowd of In-Car Cleverness says: “It is almost impossible to always stay one step ahead of the fraudsters, but what’s clear is that business needs to do everything it can to stamp it out. 

“Car rental firms and credit hire organisations are hit extremely hard by theft and various types of fraud so they must consider technology to protect their fleets.

“It’s a battle that must be fought, otherwise criminals will be emboldened.

“One way of doing so is by using modern tracking techniques and telematics; these are extremely effective tools now at the industry’s disposal.”

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