Do you trust the person you are renting your vehicle to?

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Dec. 11, 2013 - PRLog -- No matter what you rent: cars, trucks, trailers, RVs or passenger vans, every day you may wonder if the potential customer on the other side of the counter, or on the phone, is who she says she is, and if the credit card is legit.

Stories abound about driver’s license and credit card fraud. A common tactic is to show a fake ID and a credit card with the same name on it. The card works and the photo on the ID looks like the person on the other side of the counter. But, it’s only after the person is long gone (with money due) damage done, or goods missing, do operators find out the unfortunate truth.

Large rental businesses are the most susceptible, but the smaller rental operators need to be on the lookout for these same fraudulent tactics.

How does the neighborhood  rental car operator know for sure?

Gut feelings could work, and there are a number of credit and ID checking services available, with monthly pricing starting under $10.00 up to $30.00. The number of questionable rentals you deal with in any given year will tell you if the ID checking service fees are worth the investment.

If the fees are not, there is a small business answer that provides big results. Renter’s Electronic Qualification (REQ).

Provided by Jim Schalberg’s Auto Rental Solutions, REQ is a simple identification tool that quickly gets you the answers you need to make the right decision for that next rental. By inputting some basic information: name and address as seen on the ID,  driver’s license number,  last four digits of  the person’s social security number, and a current phone number, REQ  reaches out into the ether for verifying information.

“What comes back is a series of questions,” Schalberg said. “The operator randomly chooses a few questions to ask. If the responses match the supplied information, the operator can be pretty confident this person is who she says she is.”

Before Schalberg began his consulting business to the auto rental industry, he owned an auto rental franchise. He knows first-hand the difficulty of getting restitution once a renter has skipped.

Renter’s Electronic Qualification was developed because of his own experiences. It is available for use in the United States.

There are no set up or minimum monthly fees or startup costs, just a small per usage charge. Rental business owners install the free Coverage Connection software on each of their terminals. This is done over the telephone, and  can be completed within 30 minutes.

“REQ is designed to be easy and quick to learn and use,” Schalberg said.  “In just a couple of minutes, an operator will have the necessary information to make an informed decision to rent or not.”

Renter’s Electronic Qualification is a service provided by Jim Schalberg.com. To learn more, and to sign up, contact Auto Rental Solutions at 800-396-9128, or visit www.schalberg.com.