If you're looking at software for your rent a car business, you've probably seen half a dozen offers and they all say the same thing: "all-in-one", "easy to use", "Spanish support". And they all cost about the same. How do you choose?
These are the 7 things that really matter. If a vendor fails on any of them, it's not the right one, no matter what its website says.
1. Does it support the actual tax regime of your region?
If you're in the Canary Islands and the software doesn't apply IGIC per invoice line, rule it out. It's not enough for it to "support IGIC" as a checkbox. Ask specifically: can I have a car at 7% and a van at 3% on the same invoice? If the answer is no, it's no use to you. The same goes for IPSI if you're in Ceuta or Melilla.
For the mainland, check that invoicing complies with the Verifactu regulation, which comes into force with deadlines set by the tax authority. Software that hasn't been updated to Verifactu by 2026 never will be.
2. Does it work multi-office if you need it?
One office today can be two tomorrow. Ask:
- Does each office have its own contract numbering (a different letter)?
- Are permissions assigned per office (an employee only sees their own, the owner sees all of them)?
- Is the cash register balanced per office?
- Does the owner have a consolidated view of all offices?
Many software products treat "multi-office" as a label: everything goes into a single cash register. If you have an airport office plus a city-centre one, that's unmanageable.
3. Does it print contracts on a dot-matrix printer?
This sounds outdated. But many rent a car companies in the tourism sector still use dot-matrix printers with continuous paper rolls for contracts. It's cheap, fast and keeps up with the pace of the airport.
If your software only prints A4, you'll have to change your printer too. That's €200-500 extra and a change of habit for your employees. Ask directly: does it support a dot-matrix template?
4. Is your data really yours?
A direct question: if in two years I decide to move to another software, how do I take my data with me?
The possible answers:
- "Yes, you can export everything to Excel/CSV whenever you want": good.
- "Yes, but with a migration fee": so-so.
- "We'll talk about that when the time comes": run.
Your contracts, customers and invoices are yours. A decent vendor will put that in writing.
5. Is the pricing clear, with no surprises?
Red flags in pricing:
- "Ask us for a quote" with no public prices.
- Per-user pricing instead of per-fleet pricing (it discourages you from giving your team access).
- "Annual maintenance" of 20% of the software's value (typical of custom-built software).
- High setup costs (a SaaS shouldn't have an "installation" fee).
What's reasonable today: a monthly or annual fee, scaled by fleet size, with no lock-in period. If you pay annually, you get a discount. You cancel whenever you want.
6. Is the free trial real?
Offering a "demo" is not the same as offering a "free trial". Demo = a salesperson shows you around. Trial = you log in to the platform yourself with test data for X days.
A free trial should be:
- No credit card required (so it's truly optional).
- Full access (not a stripped-down version).
- No pressure (they let you try it without calling you 3 times a day).
7. Who is behind the software?
If the vendor disappears, your business is left stranded. Check:
- Who is the company? Tax ID (CIF) visible on the website, not just "info@…".
- How many years have they been operating?
- Do they have customers in the sector who can act as references? (Even better if you can talk to one.)
- Do they reply to an email within 24 hours with a real person, not a bot?
Human support in Spanish, from people who understand the industry, is what separates "technically good" software from software that "actually works for you". When Friday at 7:00 PM comes around and your accounts don't add up, you need someone who knows what you're talking about.
Bonus: the 3 questions no salesperson wants to hear
- "Show me a real customer using it for 2 hours, not a guided demo."
- "If I'm not convinced after 6 months, what happens to my data?"
- "What does the software do that the competition doesn't, and vice versa?"
If you get evasive answers, you know what that means.
Why we're confident in what we sell
car-rent.es meets all 7 points:
- IGIC per line, native IVA and IPSI.
- Multi-office with permissions and a cash register per branch.
- A4 and dot-matrix printing.
- Export your data to CSV whenever you want, at no cost.
- Public pricing, no lock-in, from €39/month.
- 14 days free, no card, no pushy sales calls.
- KraakVC OU (Estonia), but built by people from the Spanish industry. A real person answers.
Try it free for 14 days and judge for yourself. Create account.