A couple of cars parked in front of a building.

What is car subscription software and how does it work?

More and more manufacturers and dealerships are offering their fleets on a subscription!
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Summary
  • Car subscription software is an online vehicle management solution that allows you to create your own car subscription service for drivers.
  • This SaaS software is designed for car manufacturers, dealerships, and car hire services, as well as other new car subscription providers.
  • A vehicle subscription solution would enable you to manage vehicle inventory and take bookings online, making the subscription process easy for you and your drivers.
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Car subscription is a service that allows drivers to hire a car for as long as they need to. It works in a similar way to other subscription services like Netflix or Spotify. The driver pays an all-inclusive monthly subscription fee, which covers the use of the car, plus driving expenses like road tax, servicing, and maintenance.

Unlike car leasing, car subscription is highly flexible: drivers can often cancel or change their subscription with just a few weeks’ notice. 

In this article, we cover the best vehicle subscription software:

What is car subscription software?

Car subscription software makes it easy for car subscription companies to create and manage their subscription service. If you own a fleet of vehicles, the right car subscription program can help you customise and create your subscription offer.

With vehicle subscription software, you can:

  • Manage vehicle inventory and availability
  • Check car subscriber eligibility before they subscribe
  • View subscription reports and analytics
  • Allow drivers to book vehicles and sign contracts online
  • Enable drivers to customise their car subscription
  • Bill and take payment from clients.

Who benefits from car subscription software?

Subscription platforms are designed for vehicle fleet owners looking to make their cars available on subscription. This includes car manufacturers, dealerships, and vehicle rental businesses.

Car subscription software platforms can also be used to create an automotive subscription service for rideshare companies, as well as firms that lease heavy goods vehicles, farming vehicles, or construction equipment.

So how exactly do online car subscription tools benefit these businesses?

The benefits of car subscription platforms

Benefits for car manufacturers

Vehicle subscription is fast becoming a popular alternative to car ownership. As drivers seek more flexible driving options, fewer people are buying brand new cars. In 2020, new UK car registrations slumped to just 1.6 million — down from 2.7 million in 2016.

A car manufacturer subscription program helps you give drivers an extended test drive in a new car. Instead of letting unused cars sit on the showroom floor, use a car subscription tool to make them available for hire. This helps you generate revenue between sales, and gives drivers a chance to drive before they buy.

Benefits for dealerships

Like car manufacturers, dealerships often have a fleet of unsold vehicles waiting to be selected. Making your cars available on subscription gives drivers the opportunity to test drive your cars for longer periods, ensuring it’s a good fit before they buy. 

Using an online car subscription solution enables you to make your cars available for hire with ease. You can grow your revenue while taking advantage of the trend towards flexible car driving.

With this added revenue, you can invest in more cars to scale up your subscription service. Your car subscription management software will scale up as your business grows.

Benefits for vehicle rental businesses

If you already rent or lease your cars, car subscription adds another string to your bow. With a car subscription program, it’s easy to offer a wider range of subscription options to customers. This gives you access to more revenue streams, without tying customers into long-term lease plans.

Car subscription software is also modern and easy to use. So potential drivers will find it easier to sign up with you than competitors who use clunky, outdated systems (or even require drivers to go in to sign the paperwork).

The best car subscription software tools

Tomorrow's Journey (JRNY)

Tomorrow's Journey car subscription software

Tomorrow's Journeys (JRNY) offers a cutting-edge car subscription SaaS platform that stands out due to its unparalleled flexibility. 

Unlike white-label software, JRNY was purpose-built as a B2B platform to allow businesses to integrate their existing software and fully customise the customer experience and management dashboard. 

This is important because every car manufacturer or dealership does things differently in this industry. As a result, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to launching a car subscription service. Therefore, they have created a platform that empowers subscription providers to tailor the platform to their specific needs and preferences.

Companies like Hyundai, Leaseplan, BP, RAC, EZOO, and GRIDSERVE already benefit from their car subscription software platform.

JRNY highlights: 

  • Flexibility - JRNY is a customisable SaaS platform allowing businesses to launch a tailored subscription experience and management dashboard that aligns with their needs. 
  • Purpose-built - Developed by a founding team with over 60 years of collective mobility experience.
  • Scalable - The JRNY platform is highly scalable, allowing businesses to drive sales without increasing the operational load. 

Learn more about Tomorrow's Journey.

Loopit

Loopit car subscription software

Loopit currently offers the most comprehensive car subscription software in the UK. Used by companies like Subaru, SIXT, and Simplr, it’s already trusted to provide many car subscription services.

Loopit automates billing and payments, so you won’t need to spend time chasing invoices and tracking usage. It also enables drivers to customise their subscription within the limits you set, giving you total control over your car subscription service.

Loopit highlights:

  • Scalable — Loopit focuses on business growth as well as day-to-day management
  • Onboarding — Loopit guides drivers through the subscription process with ease
  • Modern dashboards — Loopit has an easy-to-use interface that gives you all the information you need to manage your car subscription service.

If you’re just starting out, you can try Loopit for free (plus a 4.5% transaction fee). When you’re ready to grow your business, you can get all the benefits of Loopit from £300 per month.

Learn more about Loopit.

Wagonex

Wagonex car subscription software

Wagonex is a car subscription company in its own right — but they’ve recently launched their own car subscription solution to help more providers join the car subscription market. The streamlined interface guides you through the process of planning, launching, and growing your car subscription business.

Wagonex highlights:

  • 24 hour turnaround — Wagonex offers to build your car subscription solution in just 1 day
  • Insurance quotes — Wagonex helps subscribers find and choose car insurance to cover their subscription
  • All-in-one management — manage contracts, inventory, and mileage limits from your dashboard.

Learn more about Wagonex.

Vulog

Vulog car subscription software

Vulog specialises in providing multiple vehicle software solutions — not just subscription software. They offer two online car subscription tools: you can purchase their white-label app, or use their API to integrate their car subscription technology with your own website or app.

This gives you greater flexibility than other out-of-the-box solutions, but it also means you might need more technical knowledge than with other software providers.

Vulog highlights:

  • Flexible implementation options — rebrand Vulog’s car subscription app as your own, or integrate Vulog into your existing software
  • Customer loyalty scheme — reward customer loyalty with perks like free trials and VIP services
  • Geolocation — monitor vehicle location to reduce the risk of damage and loss.

Learn more about Vulog.

Inverse

Invers car subscription software

Invers software allows you to create a fleet of connected cars. That means you can track your vehicles and make sure you’re getting the most out of your fleet.

Their main software is just for providers, so it won’t make a difference to how your subscribers access your services (although a separate user app is available). But it can help you better manage your fleet with cutting-edge management and monitoring technology.

Invers highlights:

  • Gather driving data — learn more about your customers’ driving habits and behaviour so you can offer better service and deals
  • Contactless vehicle pickup — make the car collection process easy and convenient for customers
  • Transfer vehicles for other uses — unused vehicles can be made available for hire across schemes, helping you maximise your income.

Learn more about Invers.

Faaren

Faaren car subscription software

Faaren Group offers a white-label software solution to transform your dealership or rental service into a car subscription provider. They put you in control of customisation options, contracts, and design, so your subscribers have full transparency from the start.

Faaren’s all-inclusive solution makes it easy for you to customise your offer, and for subscribers to sign up. However, the information on their website is more limited than with other providers, so make sure you ask as many questions as you need to before you sign up.

Faaren highlights:

  • Identity and credit checks — check who your subscribers are before they access your cars
  • Consultation services — Faaren staff are available to help with pricing and strategy if needed
  • All-in-one solution — manage inventory, payments, subscription options and customer support in one place.

Learn more about Faaren.

How much does car subscription software cost?

Most car subscription tools are offered as software-as-a-service (SaaS). That means you’ll pay a monthly or yearly fee for ongoing access to the tool. 

There are lots of variables that affect the cost of using vehicle subscription solutions. With the exception of Loopit, pricing is vague or unavailable on most car subscription software sites. So you’ll need to book a demo and start the sales process before you get accurate pricing information. If we are to compare this type of software to other similar SaaS companies, you can probably expect anything from £300 to £3000 per month depending on your case.

Thinking of starting your own car subscription company? Compare the best providers to find out what’s already on offer or browse latest subscription cars.

Browse all cars available on subscription

There are hundreds of cars available via UK subscription companies.

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