Car Rental Economics: Utilisation, Rate per Day, Fleet Sizing & Depreciation

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Turn fleet size and out-of-service days into available car-days, measure utilisation by class and for the whole fleet, and count the classes below target.
• Calculate the average daily rate and RevPAC for each class and for the fleet, and see why RevPAC combines price and utilisation in one number.
• Turn a monthly demand forecast into the number of cars needed at the target utilisation, compare it with the current fleet and chart the season.
• Estimate the resale value of each car at the end of its hold period, spread the loss over the months and work out what depreciation costs per rental day.
• Split a car’s monthly cost into fixed and variable parts, find the cost per rental day for three classes and the rental days each needs to break even.
• Price six quotes from a base rate with a lead-time factor and an occupancy factor, and work out how many bookings to accept when some customers never show up.
• Cost the drive back of a one-way car, estimate how many cars must be moved, compare the cost with the one-way fees by route and find the break-even fee.
• Compare five hold periods by fleet cost per month, pick the cheapest, chart the trade-off and build a simple annual P&L for the fleet.