Short answer:
If you are operating multiple cars, there are a few things you can do to simplify management and make sure your cars stay in great condition. Here are our top tips for managing your admin, checking your cars' condition, keeping track of support requests, and communicating with Borrowers.
Avoid inbox overload
With more cars listed, you'll get more messages. To keep the noise down, it's important to set your notification preferences and use the Help Centre.
Learn more: Keeping your inbox under control
Use the Help Centre to keep track of support tickets
Instead of using your email to keep track of correspondence with Car Next Door about your various cars, log in to the Help Centre - it's a much easier way to see the status of your support tickets.
Pro Tip: Issues lodged via the help centre will include your car's rego and the issue type in the subject. you can search for open repair claims on a particular car with a search like "acb123 damage".
Get tips to look after your cars remotely
If your car isn't near your home, we've got some tips on how to find parking and organise mobile cleaning and servicing:
Check your cars (or borrowers' trip photos) at least once a week
The more cars you have in action, the more important it becomes to stay on top of regular inspections and report any issues. You can do a lot of this from your phone or desktop, by checking the photos that Borrowers upload before and after trips.
TIP: Damage must be reported within 42 days, so routine checks are critical.
It’s best to check your car in person as often as you can to identify any damage. This becomes less practical if you have a large fleet or are remotely managing your cars, but can be well managed by regularly checking photos uploaded by borrowers.
Aim to check all of your cars at least once a month by reviewing these photos and submit a damage report if you spot anything that you believe should be investigated.
These articles explain how to check your car and report any damage or issues:
Check and respond to reviews at least once a week
It's important to regularly check the reviews for each of your cars, and reply to any that require a response. The reviews can alert you to issues with your car that you need to address in order to get repeat bookings and increase your overall revenue.
Set aside some time each week to monitor and respond to reviews. This is a great place to check for feedback and will often yield valuable insight about the condition of your car.
If a review raises a genuine issue (e.g. if a Borrower says that the car’s description was inaccurate and you can see that you've omitted relevant information), fix the issue or create a reminder for yourself to do it later. You can take care of many common issues using mobile service providers.
If you are operating a large fleet, Car Next Door may be able to assist you with customised reports allowing you to see your reviews in a more “at a glance” fashion or go one step further and monitor this for you for an additional fee. Contact cars@carnextdoor.com.au for more information.
TIP: If you give the Borrower a thumbs down, it will block them from borrowing your cars again. Use this power wisely!
TIP: For more ideas on how to manage the administration side of things, check out Setting up a Great Admin System for a Car Next Door Fleet
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Set a servicing schedule
Your car must be roadworthy at all times it is available to borrowers. To minimise downtime on your fleet and make your life easier, we highly recommend using one of our trusted mobile mechanics.
These service providers will book your car out using the Car Next Door app between bookings, saving you time and effort and keeping your car on the road with little fuss.
TIP: Ask your mechanic to change the battery in your key fob when they service your car. Since your car will be used frequently, these batteries may need to be changed more often than your personal car keys.
TIP: Have your mechanic fill out this Service Certificate. You can upload it to your car’s profile to attain the Car Next Door “Serviced Badge”.
Consider a mobile cleaning service
Keeping your cars clean helps to get good reviews and repeat Borrowers.
We recommend cleaning your cars once per month to strike the right balance between cost and cleanliness. Your car doesn't need to be showroom clean all the time, but you do need to keep it reasonably clean and tidy, in line with our car cleanliness standards. Borrowers are also responsible for returning your car in line with these standards.
Consider using one of our Mobile Car Cleaning providers if you’d like a hands-off solution. These service providers will handle cleaning your car for around $40 per month per car, including taking detailed photos of the car to keep track of its condition. If you plan to operate several cars on the platform these services are highly recommended and are an excellent “Set and forget” option.
Check out this article on mobile cleaning options for Car Next Door members.
TIP: Check borrower feedback and photos for cleanliness issues
Keep your batteries in good condition
A well- maintained car battery should last upwards of 3 years - but if your car sits idle for a long time or has a lot of short trips around town, it may have a shorter lifespan.
If a borrower finds your car with a flat battery, they will be directed to call Roadside Assistance who will jump start the car and replace the battery if necessary. If a previous Borrower had flattened the battery by leaving the lights on (which will be evident from the data recorded by our car-share kit), they may be charged for the new battery.
However, it’s common for batteries to simply stop working, and this will be part of the running costs for your car. Keep receipts for batteries and note how many kilometres your car travels between replacing them, so that you can work out the per-km cost and set your distance price to cover it.
If a borrower is unable or unwilling to call Roadside Assistance, it’s important to arrange for a replacement battery as soon as possible. We recommend using a mobile battery replacement service to carry out this work, saving you the time and hassle of attending to the car yourself.
TIP: Keep records and receipts whenever a new battery is installed.
TIP: If any of your cars go for extended periods without a reservation, it may be worthwhile taking them for a 30 minute drive to recharge and prolong battery life. As a rough guide we recommend cars see at least 30 minutes of sustained driving every 2 weeks.
Check tyres regularly
Regularly checking the air pressure in your car's tyres will ensure they stay safe and save on fuel consumption. This can be challenging when remotely managing a fleet of cars but there are several ways to monitor and mitigate this risk:
- Regularly check reviews left by borrowers. If you notice feedback about low tyre pressure then it may be time to call a mobile tyre service to check on your car. Mention you are a Car Next Door member for a discount from Road Runner.
- Add information to your “Car Manual” suggesting that borrowers inflate the tyres on your car to recommended PSI. It is the owner’s’ responsibility to ensure tyres are properly cared for, but most borrowers won’t mind a quick trip to a service station.
- Our Mobile Car Cleaning providers can routinely check your tyre pressure for a small additional charge. This may be worthwhile as a quarterly check and you can then arrange for a mobile tyre service to repair or replace tyres.
TIP: Contact borrowers and ask them to inflate your tyres. This can be done at most service stations.
Mechanical Issues
Keeping your car well maintained and roadworthy at all times is essential, and a requirement of Car Next Door’s community rules. It’s important to take action on any mechanical issues that arise outside of regular scheduled servicing.
If a Borrower reports a mechanical issue with your car, we'll take your car offline and let you know so that you can get it checked out and fixed. Likewise, if you notice an issue please block out your car while you get it fixed and let us know.
In most instances, mobile mechanics should be able to carry out this work.
TIP: If you believe a borrower has caused a mechanical issue, ask your mechanic to provide a “mechanic’s assessment” which we can use in our investigation.
Communicate effectively with Borrowers
If you find you are getting contacted repeatedly by Borrowers with general questions about how Car Next Door works:
- The Borrower will have received a booking confirmation email with all the information they need to understand how to use Car Next Door. Tell them to check their email inbox for an email from Car Next Door about their trip
- Suggest that they search the Help Centre for answers - we've got articles answering all of the questions that Borrowers typically ask
- Remind the Borrower that all the information they need for the trip (including the car’s location and any instructions that you have provided about the vehicle) will be available through the app 15 minutes before their trip starts
If Borrowers are asking questions about your car (for example, the dimensions of the boot), make sure that the information in your cars' profiles is up to date and answers Borrowers' common questions.
Borrowers won't be able to see the info in the 'important instructions' section until 15 minutes before their trip starts, so if there's anything they need to know before they book, make sure it's in the 'description' section.
Optional: set up your Car Next Door admin system
When you have a lot of cars out there working for you, it can be helpful to separate your Car Next Door correspondence and tasks from your other personal and business activities. You could:
- Dedicated email: Open a Google account for your Car Next Door activities - e.g. your.name.carnextdoor@gmail.com
- Dedicated phone number: Have a separate phone (or contact number, if your phone can handle multiple SIM cards or has esim) for calls related to Car Next Door bookings. You’ll need to ensure that you are answering calls and messages related to bookings on your cars
- Car Management Calendars: Create a calendar for each car, and add service and registration reminders for each one in their specific calendar. Set reminders one month out to block out the time needed for servicing or inspections, so that you don’t have to cancel any bookings at the last minute
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