Car hire broker

A car hire broker is a website or agency that sells rentals from many suppliers side by side and takes a commission or margin on each booking. rentalcars.com is one. The customer books with the broker, then picks the car up from you.

How it works

You load rates and availability, usually via your booking system or a channel manager. The broker shows your cars next to every other supplier's for the same airport and dates, often sorted by price, with your customer rating beside them.

Your net per booking = broker sell price − broker commission or margin

How that's set depends on the contract. See net rates and commission.

Worked example

Hypothetical. Say a broker sells your 3-day compact hire for NZ$420 and keeps 20%.

• Commission = 420 × 20% = NZ$84
• Your net = NZ$336, or NZ$112 a day

On a direct booking at the same price, your net is NZ$420 less card fees. That gap is why operators push direct for repeat customers and use brokers for reach.

Why it matters for a rental operator

If you sell through a broker, it sets the frame. Customers see you ranked against every competitor, on price and rating, in one list.

That makes broker prices the best public view of the market, and the place your price rank matters most.

See it in Rate Pulse

Rate Pulse is built on public search results from rentalcars.com at each airport, searched from New Zealand. So the dashboards show the market much as a broker shopper sees it. Start at Rate Pulse.