Creating a Rental Request
The Shop Owner or authorized sub-user can create rental requests on behalf of your customers directly from the portal. Here’s the full flow, step by step.
How to start a new rental request
From the shop portal, start a new rental request at any time. This kicks off the flow where you’ll look up or add the customer, pick a vehicle, set the pickup details, and submit the request for the customer’s confirmation.
Step 1: Looking up an existing customer by email
Enter the customer’s email to search the shared customer database. If a matching, eligible customer is found, their details are retrieved automatically — the customer database is shared across shops, so a customer who’s rented from another shop can still be found here.
Another Option: Adding a new customer manually
If no existing customer is found, you’ll capture the required information to create a new customer record:
- First name and last name
- Mobile number (US format)
- Date of birth
- Any other required eligibility information
Depending on configuration, a new customer may also go through insurance and MVR (motor vehicle record) checks as part of this step.
Selecting a vehicle & understanding availability
Next, choose the requested dates and, optionally, a vehicle category from the categories RNTLS Administration manages. The system searches for available vehicles based on:
- The requested date range
- The pickup location and the configured search radius
- Vehicle eligibility
Vehicles that are already rented, reserved, inactive, under maintenance, or under inspection for the selected dates won’t show up as options — only vehicles that are genuinely available for that window are offered.
Setting pickup time and location
Enter a start date (no earlier than the permitted date) and an end date that’s later than the start date. For pickup:
- Enter the pickup address and time — your shop’s profile location is available as the default, or you can select a different location on the map.
- Pickup time must meet the minimum lead time configured by RNTLS Administration (four hours is the example currently used).
Submitting the rental request
Before the request is created, the system revalidates everything — customer eligibility, your shop’s payment readiness and selected payment method, and vehicle availability — to make sure nothing has changed since you started.
Once submitted successfully, the rental:
- Enters Pending Customer Approval status
- Reserves the selected vehicle
- Sends the customer an invitation to confirm or reject the rental
- Becomes visible in both your shop’s rental list and the Admin rental list
Keep in mind a customer can only hold one active rental at a time, so a customer with an existing active rental won’t be eligible for a new request until that one is resolved.