Glossary
Ancillary revenue
Ancillary revenue is income from extras sold with a hire, like excess cover and child seats. How to measure it per hire day, with a worked example.
Ancillary revenue is the income from extras sold on top of the car itself: excess reduction, additional drivers, child seats, GPS, fuel options, one-way fees, and so on. In car hire it can be a big part of the margin on each hire.
Formula
Ancillary revenue per rental day = ancillary revenue ÷ rental days
Attach rate = hires with the extra ÷ all hires
Track both by extra. A falling attach rate on excess cover is often the first sign of a counter or website problem.
Worked example
Hypothetical. Say you did 300 hires and 1,200 rental days in a month.
| Extra | Hires taking it | Price | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excess reduction | 165 (55%) | NZ$30/day, avg 4 days | NZ$19,800 |
| Child seat | 30 (10%) | NZ$50/hire | NZ$1,500 |
| Additional driver | 60 (20%) | NZ$5/day, avg 4 days | NZ$1,200 |
Total NZ$22,500, or NZ$18.75 per rental day. If your time-and-km revenue per day is NZ$110, extras add 17%.
Lift the excess attach rate from 55% to 65% and you gain 30 × NZ$120 = NZ$3,600 a month with no rate change.
Why it matters for a rental operator
Extras let you price the base car competitively in a price-sorted list and still make the margin. They're also where complaints come from when the counter pushes hard. Watch value-for-money scores alongside ancillary revenue.
See it in Rate Pulse
Rate Pulse shows advertised car prices only, not extras. The brand ranking's value-for-money sub-score hints at which brands' customers feel stung at the counter. Start at Rate Pulse.
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