Our client was dependent on their sector’s leading software vendor and found themselves struggling against all too familiar constraints.
New features were promised but never arrived. Inflexibility and manual processes were complicating workflows and wasting time. And insights on key growth decisions were tied up in a system they couldn’t interrogate and didn’t control.
Worse, every year they found themselves paying more to use a platform that was actively holding them back.
Challenge
Choice Vehicle Rentals (CVR) operate hundreds of vehicles across six UK sites. Their busy team handles dozens of hires per day, but they were increasingly hampered by software.
Process duplication: Customers were waiting for up to an hour to collect vehicles, fielding questions they had already answered online or signing documents they hadn’t previously seen.
Inconsistency across sites: Manual process meant delays and confusion. Customers would sometimes find their vehicle either not ready or even at the wrong site.
No standardisation: Routine tasks could become drawn-out manual processes. Transferring liability for a customer’s penalty charge notice (PCN), for example, took repeated submissions and back-and-forth with the issuing authority.
Data locked in: Key metrics like fleet profitability, branch performance or vehicle utilisation could not be exported from the system.
Facing mounting customer frustrations and locked into an inflexible legacy platform that didn’t represent their interests, CVR asked us to help them build a way out.
Solution
CVR knew how the rental business needed to work. What they needed was a software partner who could turn that operational knowledge into the right technical solution.
Our team challenged assumptions, helped prioritise where technology would make the biggest difference and designed the platform around the way CVR operates.
We soon found complexity - pricing rules, shared vehicles across multiple sites, live operational data and countless edge cases that come with day-to-day rental.
A CCQ Tech perspective
The new platform had to give CVR room to build, so we structured it around their vehicle lifecycle data from the outset, making it easy to extend or add new features and integrations.
The focus was practical rather than feature-heavy. We automated repetitive admin to make everyday processes faster and easier across all six sites.
That approach carried through to launch. More than 60,000 customer records were migrated, followed by 3,000 bookings in the first six weeks, with 100% uptime since go-live.
Technologies
.NET
React + TypeScript
Entity Framework
Ports-and-adapters architecture
WebSockets
The Work
Legacy platform replacement and data migration
End-to-end rental workflow automation, from booking to return
Configurable job and pricing engines
Real-time vehicle synchronisation across multiple sites
Extensible platform architecture, ready to sell to other rental firms
Results
CCQ’s solution gave the client back control, saved staff time and improved customer experience.
CVR Managing Director John Field estimates the platform saves his business around £50,000 a year in software licensing and operational efficiency.
Customer satisfaction: Phone calls that took two minutes now take 30 seconds, while customer check-in times have reduced to 60 seconds on average.
Faster admin: Preparing customer paperwork has fallen from around 10 minutes to two, while handling penalty notices now take a fraction of the time.
Greater visibility: CVR can now see operational performance in a way the old system never allowed, giving management the data to spot problems, compare performance and make better decisions.
Control of the roadmap: Instead of waiting for an incumbent supplier to prioritise its needs, CVR can now build around the data and operational insight it actually needs, while deciding which features and improvements should come next.
