Europcar Launches Mobile Car Rental in UK

Aiming to become more nimble, car rental company Europcar is introducing mobile car rental facilities in the United Kingdom.

Small rental booths are hooked up to Europcar's rental booking system and are manned by a representative during peak hours. During off hours, customers can drop off keys and make their own reservations over a built-in reservation hotline. A selection of hire cars is available at a location near the booth.

Europcar currently has 130 outlets in the UK and its Europcar City concept will let it expand to wherever potential customers are. In some cases booths will be installed temporarily, for example to cope with increased demand during tourist seasons, major events and exhibitions. Long-term rental points will be installed wherever it isn't feasible to build full-size outlets, like city centers.

The first Europcar City is operating at London's Euston train station, where 90 percent of rentals during the first month of operation were new London customers. The program will be rolled out to other locations over the next few months.