What Do You Need to Rent a Car?

With Etta, renting a car is easier than ever so travelers can make it from their home, onto a flight, and into a car without missing a beat. Car rentals should be simple. That’s why we updated how travelers can rent a car in Etta, giving people more options to find the right rental when they arrive at their destination. 

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If there’s a way to tailor a trip to bring joy back to the journey, we’re all for it. Every traveler is different, but with all the improvements to Etta car rental platform, your travelers are one step closer to the perfect expedition. Let’s take a look at what’s new.

Easy, intuitive navigation

When the Etta mobile app launched on iOS, we offered a swipe left/swipe right functionality to navigate car rental options. But we quickly received feedback that it presented usability challenges. Some mobile devices were physically larger than others, which made swipe navigation difficult for single-thumb navigation.

We fixed that.

The team went back and updated the design to a simple scrolling interface. Now, travelers can scroll through car options with a single hand and thumb. They can easily find exactly what they’re looking for with a coffee in one hand and their phone in the other, to keep their journey running smooth. 

Streamlined booking with more options

While the team was working on improvements to the user interface, they were also busy building out more robust functionality to deliver a slew of new tricks that help travelers find the right car. And of course, all of this includes links to your travel policy to help inform travelers of any restrictions when booking a car.

Car rental searches in Etta now offer the option to view only airport results or see other local off-airport car rental locations. Etta also offers one-way car rentals to make things easier for travelers who arrive at one airport and need to depart from another. And air or hotel bookings will carry over to a car rental search, so bookings will be aligned to the same location, date, and time.

When travelers are presented with their car rental search results, they can filter those options by vehicle  type, including sedans, SUVs, vans, or even pickup trucks. Etta can also filter results down to vehicle class, transmission type, or supplier, and each option comes with the recommended number of passengers that the vehicle can carry.

Etta also allows travel managers to configure which car rental suppliers are presented first, and can automatically offer alternate suppliers should the preferred vendor be sold out. Travelers can also get a clear picture of the amenities on the car details page, which has information like mileage details or how many bags it can accommodate.

Another element that Etta offers is car rental supplier information like the address, front desk hours, phone number, and importantly, map integration. In Etta, tapping the map button opens the map on a traveler’s mobile device and provides an exact location with directions to pick up the car.

Etta extras for renting cars

The desktop version of Etta offers a car rental matrix to show prices for different vehicle classes by supplier. Travelers can toggle between vehicle types, making it that much easier to quickly compare prices. Etta for desktop also comes with Car SafetyCheck to help inform travelers of health and safety information like car cleaning protocols and sanitizing procedures.

For travelers enrolled in car rental loyalty programs, Etta recognizes your loyalty status and offers added perks. That includes things like extra inventory that non-members won’t see. For example, it is possible that a rental supplier won’t have a car available when the traveler arrives, despite a reservation, because of things like repairs or renters not returning vehicles on time.

But, if a traveler has National’s Emerald Club Executive Elite status, for example, they’ll see more car options as well as a “guaranteed vehicle.” That means for a traveler making a reservation using the midsize rate, they’ll have up to a full size car guaranteed as long as they booked at least 24 hours in advance of arrival.

As you can see, we’ve been hard at work making renting a car on Etta the best experience it can be. With Etta, your travelers get a powerful travel partner that simplifies car booking on desktop or mobile for any trip.

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Main photo courtesy Fortune Vieyra, Unsplash

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