# Fleet management software for car rental companies > Car rental software from a free plan up: chauffeured trips and self-drive hires on one calendar, with a driver app, maintenance and invoicing. URL: https://odobase.com/industries/car-rental Last updated: 2026-11-02 ## What is car rental management software? Car rental management software keeps a rental company's bookings, vehicles, drivers and billing in one place. Odobase handles both sides of the business: vehicles rented with a driver, run as trips from the driver app, and vehicles rented without one, run as self-drive hires, all on one availability check so no car is booked twice. ## What Odobase does for car rental - **With-driver and self-drive on one calendar:** Trips and hires share availability, so a car promised for a self-drive rental is never sent out on a chauffeured job. - **Overtime and extra distance billed the same way:** Grace periods, rounding and distance allowances are applied the same way on every return. - **Proof at handover and return:** Odometer readings and condition photos at both ends of every hire. - **Maintenance you can see:** Service history and costs per vehicle, and a vehicle report that sets what each car earned against what it cost. - **Every branch in one account:** Run several locations with a branch switcher and per-branch reports on the Growth and Professional plans. ## What makes car rental businesses hard to run? A rental company sells the same car in two different ways. In the morning it may go out **with a driver** for a corporate client; in the afternoon a walk-in customer may want it **self-drive** for three days. Keeping both straight on a whiteboard or in a spreadsheet is exactly how double-bookings, disputed distances and missed overtime happen. Our guides cover [how to stop double-booking vehicles](https://odobase.com/blog/prevent-double-booking-car-rental) and [how to price self-drive overtime and extra distance](https://odobase.com/blog/self-drive-hire-overtime-excess-km). ## How does Odobase handle rentals with a driver? Rentals with a driver run as [dispatched trips](https://odobase.com/features/trip-management). You schedule the pickup, assign a driver and a car, and the driver runs the job from the [Odobase Driver app](https://odobase.com/features/driver-app) with odometer readings at the start and end. A client who needs the car twice in one day, with a wait in between, gets one trip that is paused and resumed, and the car is free for other work in the gap. ## How does Odobase handle self-drive rentals? Self-drive rentals run as [hires](https://odobase.com/features/self-drive-hire). Reserve a car for a number of hours or days, record the odometer and condition photos at handover, and do the same at return. Odobase calculates overtime beyond your grace period and distance over the allowance, and the hire goes onto an invoice with the customer's other rentals. If you still invoice by hand, our free [car rental invoice template](https://odobase.com/blog/car-rental-invoice-template) lists the lines a rental invoice needs. ## How do you know what each car earns and costs? Every trip, hire, expense and maintenance visit is linked to the vehicle. Completed [vehicle maintenance](https://odobase.com/features/vehicle-maintenance) and driver expenses count as costs, issued invoices count as revenue, and the [accounting module](https://odobase.com/features/invoicing-accounting) shows profit and loss by month and by branch. ## Is there free car rental software for small businesses? Yes. A small rental company can run on Odobase's Starter plan for free, up to 2 vehicles, with no card needed to sign up. See what it includes, and how it compares with a spreadsheet, on our [free car rental software](https://odobase.com/free-car-rental-software) page. ## The features you will use most - [Trip management](https://odobase.com/features/trip-management): Schedule trips, assign drivers and vehicles without double-booking, pause and resume round trips, and invoice completed work from one dashboard. - [Self-drive hire](https://odobase.com/features/self-drive-hire): Rent vehicles without a driver by the hour or day. Odobase blocks availability, records handover and return, and bills overtime and extra distance. - [Vehicles and maintenance](https://odobase.com/features/vehicle-maintenance): Schedule services by date, send them to drivers and keep each vehicle's maintenance history, odometer and costs in one place, for cars, vans and buses. - [Invoicing and accounting](https://odobase.com/features/invoicing-accounting): Turn completed trips and hires into branded invoices, track what customers owe, and read profit and loss by month and by branch in Odobase. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can Odobase handle both chauffeured rentals and self-drive rentals? Yes. Chauffeured work runs as trips, assigned to your drivers and tracked in the driver app. Self-drive rentals run as hires, with handover, return and overtime. Both use one availability check, so a car is never booked twice. ### How do I stop a late return clashing with the next booking? A car on hire stays blocked until it is actually returned, not just until its due-back time. Odobase flags it as overdue and your team is notified, so you can re-plan the next booking before the customer arrives. ### Does Odobase work for a car rental business with several branches? Yes. Branches let each location work with its own vehicles and bookings while the owner sees the whole company. The [Growth and Professional plans](https://odobase.com/pricing) include 2 and 5 branches. ### Can walk-in customers be booked quickly? Yes. Add an individual customer by phone number while you create the hire. If the number is already on file, Odobase finds the existing customer instead of creating a duplicate. ### How much does the car rental software cost? Plans are priced by fleet size. Essentials costs $29 a month with 5 vehicles included, and each extra vehicle is $7 a month. Every plan has every module, self-drive hire included; the larger plans add vehicles, branches and allowances. See [pricing](https://odobase.com/pricing). ### Does the car rental software need installing? No. The office works in a web browser on Windows, Mac, Linux or a tablet, and your records are kept online rather than on one computer. The only install is the free Odobase Driver app on your drivers' phones, from Google Play or the App Store.