Corporate carsharing management made easy with various digital vehicle unlocking alternatives

In fleet management, you are confronted by a wide variety of challenges every day. Until a satisfactory solution is found, a fundamental and recurring problem is the provision of pool vehicles for staff. If your carsharing fleet is of a certain size, a digital solution from Carano will provide not only meaningful support. It immediately solves two of the most pressing issues in corporate carsharing: providing vehicles around the clock and checking the user’s access authorization. Digital solutions can only be used as a package with web-based booking software. Such software is designed to relieve you of the burden of vehicle management while making modern fleet management possible in the first place. With well thought-out solutions, it gives you a powerful tool in vehicle provision.

Handing over keys by an employee

During the setup phase of a car pool or small fleet, vehicles if need be can be handed over by staff to authorized drivers. This saves costs and is often the most expedient method. With growing size or increasing demands for efficiency, however, this way is soon stretched to the limit: even semi-digital access modalities with the help of Excel sheets or the Outlook calendar are error-prone, time-consuming, confusing and, above all, easy to tamper with. The latter is particularly serious when it comes to damages sustained by vehicles.

Moreover, users are limited by when keys can be accessed, i.e. 24/7 key handover is usually out of the question – one of the biggest shortcomings in corporate car sharing is that the model provides the least flexibility.

The digital key lock box

The disadvantages of having staff members hand over keys may in some cases be negligible, but there will be some employees prevented from access to the company’s fleet due to booking procedure screw-ups or prolong waiting times. This has an effect on maximum vehicle utilization and in turn impact the cost curve. Carano’s innovative key lock box is a first and relatively simple step towards digital solutions. Electronically secured keys can be accessed around the clock by authorized employees using a PIN or RFID chip, thereby doing away with the need for dedicated personnel – simply, safely and conveniently. Booked vehicles are blocked in the system and overlapping bookings are avoided; in the event of delays, a replacement vehicle is automatically booked. In addition, telematics solutions can be used to read the mileage and fuel level of electric vehicles. A good and, above all, cost-efficient alternative to manual fleet management requires certain on-site conditions and software support. Sufficient space is required, depending on the size of the key lock box, and it must also allow for anchoring to the floor or wall in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle pool.

Digital vehicle access – key lock box and smartphone

If you do not have the necessary infrastructure for a key lock box at your location, or if you wish to take greater advantage of the digital possibilities, Carano offers a key lock box for installation inside the vehicle. Hooked up to the cigarette lighter, the box is permanently but reversibly installed in all commercially available vehicle models; the key can be removed for vehicle ignition. An integrated battery ensures operation for up to four weeks without need of electricity. The user independently accesses the vehicle via an app to unlock and lock the vehicle after it has been authenticated in the booking system. This is a particular advantage if your fleet is spread across several locations or if it is independent of location.

With a key lock box and the accompanying app, administrative and personnel costs for fleet management are reduced to a fraction. At the same time, the plug-and-play solution is easy to install and compatible with most web-based fleet solutions. You achieve maximum control and security with less effort and better vehicle utilization while drivers enjoy transparency and complete flexibility. A further advantage of this alternative of digital unlocking is that theft insurance is included in the price package.

Digital vehicle access – built-in hardware and smartphones

A fully digital solution with real-added value for your fleet is Carano’s powerful hardware. The key data is comparable to that of a mobile lock box: With a user-friendly app, access to the vehicle is gained after booking via the smartphone or RFID chip; the inconspicuously installed hardware is location-independent and compatible with most web-based corporate car sharing management systems. However, this digital solution offers far more advantages.

• It heightens security because the box blocks the vehicle immobilizer.
• It takes over all functions and processes during booking and unlocking of vehicle, and transmits relevant data to the server.

All this can be quickly and easily integrated into your existing digital solution. This variant though a little higher on the price scale also offers the greatest possible convenience. Once installed, removal from vehicles is possible only with tremendous effort.

Digital has the edge

Whichever digital vehicle unlocking solution you choose depends entirely on your web-based fleet management needs. The advantages though are clearly on the digital side. In addition to the many other tasks you have as a fleet manager, the time-consuming and error-prone field of vehicle provision should be handled efficiently and cost sensitively. Safety, financial control and capacity utilization and such are important key issues that you can be easily resolved with a digital solution.