STARTUP STAGE: Finalrentals digitizes vehicle price comparison and booking in UAE

Finalrentals

Dubai-based Finalrentals is digitizing price comparison and booking for short- and long-term car rentals in the United Arab Emirates, where it estimates 70% of bookings currently take place offline. The company is also gradually adding short-term rental service in markets around the world. 

 

Founder and CEO Ammar Akhtar created the company based on his experience building websites and booking engines for other car rental companies in the Gulf region. 

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Finalrentals is a car rental comparison and booking platform based out of Dubai. It is the only platform in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that helps you compare monthly car rental deals for more than 1,000 cars at a time from 11 top suppliers.

We bring the best monthly deals to our users with 100% clear terms and conditions guaranteed with no surprises at the counter. All the prices that you see on the platform are real-time connected using Finalrentals connected API with the suppliers, and we make sure that the prices are the cheapest possible.

The platform is totally digital, and you can upload your driving license and personal details securely to the platform, which helps fast-track rentals at the time of collection. Finalrentals earns commission from the supplier on every booking.

What inspired you to create this company?

I have been working with companies like Budget, Thrifty and Dollar in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since 2007 and have seen the backend of the industry from booking to operations. While working with the traditional car rental companies, I realized that there is a huge digital gap in the industry.

There is a need of a platform that can help these companies become truly digital and that can also bring local players to an online marketplace. That’s how the idea of Finalrentals came into picture.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths
  • Being in Dubai helps in attracting lot of customers who are traveling into Dubai as well as planning to move to Dubai for short- and long-term goals.
  • We are the only platform in the GCC offering this service online in a very sophisticated and connected manner.
  • We have very close ties with car rental suppliers and have access to great inventory and great prices as well.
  • Our design techniques and engineering methodologies are on par with world-class service.
• Weaknesses
  • Being in Dubai can be a weakness too because it is a market that is very small - 9.8 million people - and to scale worldwide it will require lot of time.
  • Since Dubai is not really famous for startups (unlike London, Berlin, etc.), it is difficult to be known and seen as an upcoming startup.
  • Compared to the rest of the world, running and managing a startup in Dubai can be very expensive.
  • Low entry barriers.
• Opportunities
  • Dubai is trying hard to become the Arab startup hub, and it is good to be at the forefront of that as a startup.
  • Expo2020 in Dubai is promising and promises to open doors to lots of new opportunities and partnerships for us as a startup.
  • It is easy to make partnerships and connections with neighboring Gulf nations.
• Threats
  • Since car rental comparison platform development is not rocket science, there is always a threat of a competitor coming into the picture. That is why we always have to keep innovating as a company to stay ahead.
  • Low entry barriers are there - it is very easy to set up and operate a company in Dubai if you have access to the capital.
  • E-commerce laws and regulations are still not clearly defined in the UAE.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

The car rental industry worldwide is mostly driven by a few top brands, and there is no platform that helps local companies (unbranded ones) share the digital space. So Finalrentals is bringing them to a digital platform to make sure users have a large variety to choose plus also taking the pain away of expensive car rentals, etc.

Since the platform is digital, when you upload your documents and pay online you can avoid the queue at the rental counter, which can save you plenty of time for sure.

Another very important aspect that we work on is the pre‐booking/delivery to your location. Unlike other platforms, at Finalrentals you can actually preorder a car rental delivered to your preferred location.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

By extensive digital marketing and also word of mouth, and also by talking to amazing companies and platforms like yours to make sure we get the word out that we exist.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

According to market data, the UAE alone is a $700 million market for car rentals, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 6%. And 70% of the car rentals are still done offline in the UAE, so you can imagine there is a genuine need for a platform like Finalentals to help people book car rentals online.

How and when will you make money?

We have boot strapped since September 2016 (I have used my savings). I am pleased to inform you that we are now entering into a phase where are cashflow positive and self-sustained and ready to take off further and further.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team, and why do you have what it takes to succeed with this business?

I am the founder and a car rental industry insider. I was the person behind online booking platforms of Budget, Thrifty, Dollar and Quicklease in the UAE, and we have great tech team that is accustomed and trained to build car rental solutions. We have what it takes to become a successful car rental platform company.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

The most difficult part of founding the business so far is marketing. It is expensive to market at times, and we as a startup need to make sure we work on a perfect ROI-based model where we do not lose money (since we are boot strapping) and need to make sure the money that is spent is bringing back enough bookings. It has been a very difficult but fulfilling journey so far.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact ‐ so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

I totally agree with you that it is really tough out there for startups in the travel sector, considering the very fact that there are new OTAs coming into the scene everyday.

So far we have been lucky in the sense that we have been able to build a reputation and brand. Winning the Gulf Capital Award really helped, and we will keep on hustling as luck also favors the brave and hardworking.

What question might we have missed?

Why Finalrentals? My dream is to make car rentals as easy as ordering food or downloading and watching your favorite series online. Finalrentals is your final destination for all your car rental needs.