Car Rental Business Plan: Targeting University Students - Easy Go

This business plan outlines the strategy for Easy Go, a car rental service designed to cater specifically to the needs of university students in Australia, particularly international students. Recognizing the gap in the market for affordable transportation options for students who need to commute to jobs and classes, Easy Go proposes a unique model where students can rent cars at competitive rates with the option to own the vehicle after a two-year lease period. The plan includes a situational analysis using Porter's Five Forces, a SWOT analysis, and detailed marketing strategies focusing on product, price, place, and promotion. Easy Go aims to launch in Sydney, Australia, and expand based on initial success. The business model provides free car repair and maintenance during the lease and projects profitability based on weekly rental rates. This comprehensive plan details how Easy Go intends to establish a sustainable and successful car rental business tailored to the student market.

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BUSINESS PLAN
FOR EASY GO
NAME OF THE STUDENT
NAME OF THE UNIVERSITY
AUTHOR NOTE

 The car rental industry is one that is booming in the country of Australia
largely because of tourist inflows and the need and desire for comfortable
travel among the average Australian.
 However, there are few car rental companies in the country that cater to the
needs and requirements of Australian university students, especially
overseas students, who need to rent cars that they can use to get to their
job locations on time and do the part time work they have to do, in order to
earn money to pay college tuition fees.
 Easy Go is a new up and coming car rental business that will cater
specifically to such students by making cars for rent available to these
students at affordable rates and giving them the scope of being full owners
of the cars after two years of lease have passed.
 This report prepares a business plan that can be used by Easy Go for setting
up its enterprise and concludes with important recommendations that the
enterprise can take into consideration, to ensure that its business operations
are successful in both initial and later stages.
Introduction

 Easy-Go is an enterprise that is going to provide customers with the option of
renting a vehicle, that is, a car, at an affordable price with the lease lasting
for a period of two years. Customers will be in a position to own the second
hand car if they continue with the lease for the entire length of two years.
 This is hugely advantageous for the customer as the customer will not only be
able to hire the car for a nominal price whenever they do hire it, but they will
also be in a position to become owners of the second hand vehicle if they pay
a rental fee for the car for a period of two years. The situation is certainly a
win-win situation from the customer’s point of view, especially for young
Australian university students who are in need of vehicles in order to be able
to move around from one destination to another to do odd jobs and finance
their studies.
 Such students will be able to go ahead and use a car to get to university on
time, attend classes, go to the various places where they are performing part
time jobs and return home once again after they are done, in a smooth and
hassle free manner.
Brief about the
Company

 Car rental services are readily available in the country of Australia and people
living in major Australian cities and towns such as Sydney, Melbourne and
Brisbane can hire vehicles for short or long hours in the day as per their
convenience.
 The car rental companies in Australia offer efficient and quality services but are
known to charge a very high price for the services that they offer.
 This in turn implies that car rental facilities in Australia are accessible only to
customers of a high income budget or a middle income budget. Many people
who are in need of car rental services in the country are unable to access these
services because of the high price that is associated with such services.
 This is especially true for foreign students who are pursuing higher degree
education courses in Australia.
 Foreign students are in need of vehicles in order to make their way to places of
work, where they hold part time positions, and also vehicles that they can use
to get to university in a timely manner in order to be able to attend classes
Problem Statement

 While they can always make use of public means of transportation for
the same, having a car at hand is far more convenient as they will be
able to get to their desired destinations in a much quicker time frame
and that too with a far greater degree of comfort than they would if
they were using buses for the subway for the same. Hence it is the
university students, both foreign and even the domestic students who
could benefit a lot from renting a vehicle (Terrill 2018).
 The present car rental companies in the country do not cater to their
needs and requirements because of the fact that their charges are far
too high for these students to meet.
 However, once Easy Go enterprise is set up and starts carrying out its
operations, foreign students and university students in general in the
country of Australia will be able to afford and rent cars or vehicles at a
far lower price than usual (Rawling and Schofield-Georgeson 2015).
Problem Statement
contd..

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 The car rental market in the country of Australia is one
that has been growing at a very rapid pace over the last
couple of years largely because of the fact that tourists
have been visiting the country in large numbers in the
last few years.
 In order to cater to the travel needs and requirements
of tourists in and around the major travel destinations
in the country, there has been a huge spurt in the
growth of car rental companies, many of which offer
lavish and large sized cars for customers to make use
of, which are fully air conditioned and many of which
are also known to come with unlimited mileage
Industry Profile

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 There are many different types of rental car services that are seen to
be offered by various companies in the country of Australia.
 There are chauffeur driven cars, there are cars that are used for
special events, there are self-driven rental cars and there are also
rental cars that can be used for the purpose of business.
 These business rental cars can be hired for longer hours than usual
and for rates that are also higher than the usual market price. The
type of car rental service that is offered includes interstate services,
intra-state services and airport transfer services.
 Out of all of the services that have been mentioned, it is for airport
transfers that car rental facilities in Australia are made the most use
of.
 Car rental companies are also seen not to compromise on the quality
of the vehicles that they make available to customers.
Industry Profile

 Macro Environmental Analysis – Porter’s 5 Forces
 Competitive Rivalry – There are numerous car rental companies that
are running operations in major Australian cities and towns. However,
none of these car rental companies are likely to offer rental services for
Australian university students specifically, at nominal rates and offer to
give them the vehicles for free if they have been leasing for a period of
two years. Hence the competitive rivalry for a business like Easy Go is
likely to be at an all-time low (Baxter 2019).
 Supplier Power – Since there are numerous car rental companies that
are in existence in Australia, there are also numerous suppliers who
provide all the raw materials and components needed to provide quality
vehicles for hire at affordable rates. Hence the power of suppliers for a
start-up business like Easy Go is also certain to be low (Denmark and
Stevens 2016).
Situational Analysis

 Buyer Power – Since there are no other car rental companies in the country of
Australia that will offer Australian University students specifically with the
scope of renting a car for an affordable price and will give them the chance to
own the car if they have been leasing it for two years, the buyer power for a
start-up business like Easy Go is also certain to be quite low (Mahat 2019).
 Threat of Substitution – The enterprise that is being set up as Easy Go is an
enterprise that is truly one of a kind as it is going to give those who rent
vehicles the opportunity to become owners of the vehicle if they lease the
vehicle for as long as two years. The threat of substitution is therefore low
(Monnox 2019).
 Threat of New Entry – Owing to the uniqueness that is associated with a
business like Easy Go, with Australian university students being given the
scope of renting vehicles at a low rate and getting the scope to own the vehicle
after renting the vehicle for two years, it is unlikely that even a new car rental
enterprise that emerges in Australia will pose a threat to this business (Abalkail
2019). The threat of new entry for Easy Go is therefore low (Monnox 2019).
Porter’s 5 Forces
Analysis

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 Strengths – Easy Go is an enterprise that will be serviced by an
efficient team of staff members who will work tirelessly to run the
operations of the business to make it a successful one. The
services that are being offered by Easy Go are quite unique in
nature, with customers actually being given the benefit of owning
the vehicles that they are renting after two years of leasing have
passed. As a start-up business is therefore likely to attract a lot of
attention and interest from prospective customers (Smith and
McCormick 2019).
 Weaknesses – Given the fact that the Easy Go enterprise is a
start-up enterprise and it is being put together with limited
resources, it will not be able to offer customers with too many
repair and maintenance facilities that a customer would otherwise
expect from a car rental company (Smith and McCormick 2019).
SWOT Analysis

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 Opportunities – The demand for rental cars is high among
Australian university students, given that using such cars will
make it really easy for such students to move from place to play
to do the many different jobs that they do in order to fund their
education in the country. The business will therefore get the
opportunity to grow and expand quite a bit (Lyons et al. 2019).
 Threats – The services being offered by Easy Go are unique and
one of kind, that is offering car rental for Australian university
students at low prices and allowing them to become the full
owners of the vehicle after two years of lease. Hence there is
little likelihood of any new business coming up that will offer
similar services and thereby pose a threat to Easy Go (Lyons et
al. 2019).
SWOT Analysis

 Product – The product that is being marketed is the renting of cars or
vehicles. The cars are of a second hand nature and are going to be made
available for a hire for a range between $ 170 and $190 in a week. This is
going to lead to a total accumulation of $ 18000 if the car is leased by the
customer for a period of two years, with the business profiting by as much
as eight thousand dollars from every customer. The product, which is the
rented car, will be accompanied by provision of free car repair and car
maintenance facilities for the duration for which the vehicle is leased
(Abdel-basset et al. 2018).
 Place – The Easy Go enterprise is one that will launch its operations for the
first time in the Australian city of Sydney, given that this is the largest city
in Australia and it is where the business can expect to locate the largest
number of customers in the shortest span of time. On the basis of the
success that the enterprise is seen to incur in the city of Sydney, the
management of Easy Go will take a decision as to whether it should expand
its operations to other Australian cities or not (Ibid)
Marketing Strategies