Move Mee, a digital car rental platform available to car rental operators, has launched. Move Mee digitizes the car rental experience using an app and connected car technologies. 

The platform was founded by Richard and Chay Lowden, who founded the Green Motion franchise system, along with Richard Laughton, former CEO of the easyCar broker platform and easyCar club peer-to-peer car rental service. Laughton serves as Move Mee’s CEO. 

"Move Mee is to car rental what Uber was for taxis,” Richard Lowden said.

“For pretty much the entirety of the history of car rental the processes have remained unchanged, resulting in unnecessary friction for the customer, with them repeatedly being asked to present their identification and driving license, even when renting with the same brand on multiple occasions, and of course the long laborious queues and the inevitable hard sell at the counter,” said Lowden. 

Through the Move Mee app, customers undertake a one-time registration and upload their ID and driving credentials along with their chosen payment method, with verification in seconds. 

The app directs the renter to the vehicle and allows access through phone as a key (PAAK) technology from Move Mee partner SixSense from Huf Secure Mobile. After recording the vehicle condition, the customer digitally signs the rental agreement in the app to start the rental.  

The Move Mee platform is open to all car rental operators, from local and regional independents to national and international brands, including affiliation and franchisees. 

Car rental operators acquire the car access modules (CAMs) to enable each vehicle to become a connected car. The CAM is plugged into the OBDII port with no hard wiring required. 

Rental operators decide on how many cars they want to place on the platform, and Move Mee manages the payment process. Move Mee pays operators for placing cars on the platform.

“Move Mee not only enables to rental operator to offer a totally new level of service, but also further maximize on the utilization of their fleet with new better value bookings coming from the Move Mee channel,” says Lowden. “In addition, Move Mee delivers a completely new level of flexibility to the rental operator, allowing them to create virtual locations and rental services locally and at airport facilities.”

"I am thrilled with the opportunity to spearhead the development of the Move Mee brand,” said Laughton. “From personal and professional experience in the car rental sector, I am confident that Move Mee delivers a substantial improvement to the customer experience. At the same time, we enable rental companies to offer a premium product and step back from the race to the bottom on pricing and customer service."

Move Mee will be exhibiting at this year’s International Car Rental Show held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas March 22-24.  

In terms of process,the best way of describing the platform is "Move Mee is to car rental what Uber was for taxis." Move Mee manages the entire payment process with the customer (each customer prejoins and validates through the app and Move Mee will pay the individual operators who place cars on the platform.