Hertz Rideshare

Tools Used: Sketch, Sketchbook, Design Thinking, Moscows Chart, Teamwork, Surveys, Prototyping, Calendaring Mapping

Duration: Two weeks

Overview:

The project was to design an app to enable Hertz to compete with their short term rental competitors and have ride-share capabilities.

The Problem:

There is a decline in the 1–2 day rentals due to short term rental competitors, for example ZipCar.

The Solution:

Solution was to design an app that connects drivers and riders together who want to share travel and/or transportation experiences and activities.

Road to Getting There:

Research:

The research consisted of studying Hertz existing business model to see what the company does well versus what could be improved.

Hertz does well:

  • Rentals 2+ days

  • Drop off and pick up cars at desired locations (scheduled in advance)

  • No membership fees

  • Payment options

  • Car variety (Sports, Luxury, Economy, Etc.)

Hertz doesn’t do well:

  • 1–2 day rentals

  • Hourly rentals

  • Limited 24 hour locations

  • Have to go to brick and mortar locations

  • Limited pick-up locations

ZipCar Locations within a 10 minute walk from my house

ZipCar Locations within a 10 minute walk from my house

Closest location to my house

Research methods:

Through the use of surveys we were able to find out a few key insights.

One of the most important insights is that there were a number of people that were afraid to get in the car with a stranger. About 50% of the people who said “No” was because it was scary, creepy and weird to be in a car with a stranger.

Another insight was the most of the people use ride share services because it is more cost effective. We discovered cost plays a huge role when people are making a decision about what car to rent and from where.

We surveyed 80 people which gave us clear idea of the direction we should go in. We also found out through the research that most people did not want to share their car with other people for a few reasons.

  • No travel flexibility

  • Liability for damage to car

  • Don’t get along

Comparative Analysis:

Hertz does not have an hourly rental option like ZipCar or Getaround for example. One of the nice things about Hertz is that there is no membership fee, unlike ZipCar that has a monthly fee to be a member. Hertz also gets a lot of return customers because they have brand loyalty. Hertz rentals have to be done at one of their brick and mortar locations unlike ZipCar that spread out throughout the city.

Competitive Analysis:

Hertz major competitors in the short term rental market.

  • ZipCar

  • City Car Share

  • Getaround

  • Relay Rides

  • Hitch a Ride

Hertz major competitors in the long term rental market.

  • Avis

  • Enterprise

  • Budget

  • Alamo

  • National

Personas:

We were able to distill the key findings from the research to create 3 personas that help us design the new Hertz RideShare app.

Design:

The images below show the first wireframe and the final one:

We changed confirmation message to tell the user what exactly was being confirmed. We discovered from user testing that people want to know exactly what was confirmed. We also added the “I’m done” button in case someone does not want to ride share.

After user testing we made changes to the set preferences screen. First we added “set preferences” to the top because it was confusing for people when they got to this page what they were selecting. Then we took out the “set” button because it was redundant. We added the toggle button so people can say “yes” or “no” to certain preferences.

From the user testing we made a few changes to the “results” page. First we took out the destination and date section because it ended up being redundant and people normally remember where they are going. Another feature that was added is the ability to scroll between the different categories of people whether that be your friends, friends of friends and Hertz members.

We cleaned up the top section because it looked too cluttered based on user testing. Then we made the “invite” button more prominent on the screen as well as the “message” button. Finally we took the “gave” out in the review section because it was redundant.

 

Prototype:

 

Possible Next Steps:

The next steps would be to add an option for someone to pick up and drop off the rental. Offer 24-hour access to vehicles at more locations. Integrate a map into a the app help the user would be able to locate there rentals easier and plan meet ups. To ensure the safety of the riders and drivers through the use of background checks and using ones social network to connect people.