preview

Easy Car

Better Essays

Easycar.com: Strategic service system design.
|Author: |Lawrence, John J.; Solis, Luis |
|Article Type: |Case study |
|Geographic Code: |4EUUK |
|Date: |May 1, 2005 |
|Words: |5794 |
|Publication: |Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies |
|ISSN: |1078-4950 | …show more content…

EasyCar's approach, built on the easyJet model, was quite different than the approaches used by the traditional rental car companies. EasyCar rented only a single vehicle type at each location it operated, while most of its competitors rented a wide variety of vehicle types. EasyCar did not work with agents--over 95% of its bookings were made through the company's website, with the remainder of bookings being made directly through the company's phone reservation system (at a cost to the customer of 0.95 [euro]/minute for the call). Most rental car companies worked with a variety of intermediaries, with their own websites accounting for less than 10% of their total booking (Click to fly, 2004). And like easyJet, easyCar managed prices in an attempt to have its fleet rented out 100% of the time and to generate the maximum revenue from its rentals. EasyCar's information system constantly evaluated projected demand and expected utilization at each site, and adjusted price accordingly. Because of its aggressive pricing, easyCar was able to achieve a fleet utilization rate in excess of 90% (Simpkins, 2002)--much higher than other major rental car companies. Industry leader Avis Europe, for example, had a fleet utilization rate of 68% (Avis Europe plc, 2002).

It was January, 2003. EasyCar had broken even in the fiscal year ending September 2002 (Simpkins, 2002) on revenues of 27 million [pounds sterling] (Marketing, 2003). This represented a significant improvement

Get Access