Airlines proved that passengers are willing to book online and get their boarding passes from airport kiosks if it meant saving money. Now Hertz Rent A Car has applied the concept to its Simply Wheelz budget-priced subsidiary, which debuted in September. Weekend rental rates start at just USD 15 dollars a day and weekly rates start under USD 100. To get those savings, customers must book online and check in via an electronic kiosk at the airport. Customers can choose online from 8 car models. When they arrive at Simply Wheelz' airport location, they let a self-service rental machine scan the bar code on their printed web reservation. The machine also scans the renter's driver's license, and lets the customer select from a few options such as adding drivers, renting a portable GPS system or booster seats for children, after which it assigns a vehicle and prints the rental agreement. Renters can then go directly to their cars. One-way rentals aren’t allowed, minimum rental periods apply and customers don’t receive frequent flyer miles.

Hertz launched Simply Wheelz in Orlando, Florida, where cost-conscious family travellers en route to Disney World can already choose from a multitude of budget car-rental companies. As the Orlando Sentinel reported, Hertz, which announced plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs early this year, may be targeting leisure travellers as a way to boost margins. But that shouldn’t take anything away from Simply Wheelz’s automated, no-frills approach. The trend, which began decades ago when consumers showed they were willing to pump their own gas, bus their own tables and check out their own groceries has firmly taken hold—all the more so as companies find new ways to integrate the web into the sales process, cutting costs and offering a segment of customers the convenience and lower prices they desire. Even if you’re not in the car-rental business, you can still capitalize on this trend by devising ways to streamline interactions with customers, whether it’s self check-in technology at the gym or movie tickets booked via text message. Or go with the inevitable counter-trend, offering high service and high touch for fewer sales and higher margins ;-) (Related: Mobile car rental, wherever it’s needed.)

Website: www.simplywheelz.com
Contact: www.simplywheelz.com/carrental/customersupport

There's nothing like an old Volkswagen camper van to evoke images of footloose and fancy-free holidays during the Summer of Love. Now, modern-day flower children can relive the experience thanks to Devon-based O'Connors Campers and Bristol’s Seven Degrees West. Both companies operate small fleets of VW campers, including the 1960s splitscreen and the 1970s bay-window style vans, offering a retro taste of freedom for authentic hippies and wannabes alike. O’Connors uses rebuilt vans with new engines and new interiors that maintain the classic charm with which they were originally made. Seven Degrees West, meanwhile, has imported brand new VW campervans from Brazil, combining the classic look with new everything. Prices are around GBP 630 –700 for a summer week.

The power of nostalgia is well-known to marketers. The added appeal of an outing in a VW campervan is that it goes beyond evoking memories to actually recreating an experience. O'Connors and Seven Degrees West aren’t the only outfits doing this—Cornwall-based Rent a Dub offers something similar, for example, including a classic VW Beetle for those seeking smaller transportation—and it's easy to imagine the concept spreading to other countries. There are an estimated 450 million baby boomers worldwide, according to MIT AgeLab; those in the US alone spend almost USD 2 trillion on goods and services each year. Now that's flower power... ;-) Much more on catering to baby boomers can be found in trendwatching.com's booming business briefing.

Websites: www.oconnorscampers.co.uk — www.sevendegreeswest.co.uk
Contact: pete@oconnorscampers.co.uk — info@sevendegreeswest.co.uk

Spotted by: Penny Watson and Susanna Haynie

One of the problems with traditional carpool matching sites has been the anxiety most people feel when faced with the prospect of sharing a car with someone they don’t know. By tapping into the power of social networking, however, a few companies on both sides of the Atlantic are making that problem go away. In the US, Zimride and GoLoco have both gotten a fair bit of attention recently for harnessing social networking platform Facebook to arrange shared rides. By combining the ride-matching function with the reassurance of perusable user profiles, such sites eliminate much of the fear that can come up when people try to find rides anonymously.

In the UK, meanwhile, isanyonegoingto.com launched in April incorporating its own social networking component. Users register their name and town or postcode, then add a photograph of themselves and/or their vehicles and a short description of themselves. They also pick one of three categories that suits their travel needs best—leisure, business or student—and enter their travel requirements. Other members can then search the site and communicate through Skype or e-mail to arrange travel and divide the costs before meeting. Over ten thousand members have already registered with the free site.

Founder Sonia Slater explains: “Our fundamental objectives are to realize how we all can be environmentally sound and still have fun, improve the environment by reducing the number of cars on the roads, use the Internet to introduce travelers and change the way we travel.” The advertising-supported site hopes to go global in 2008, and is seeking partners with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility to help. Meanwhile, it provides a nice example of how social networks can overcome the barriers that keep real-world consumers apart. One to bring to other parts of the world? (Related: Facilitating cab shares to the airport.)

Websites: www.isanyonegoingto.com — www.zimride.com — www.goloco.org
Contacts: sonia@isanyonegoingto.com — logan@zimride.com — info@goloco.org

After years of being ignored, female drivers are finally getting recognized by the auto industry as an important part of the market. What could make more sense, then, than an emerging market for women-specific automotive tools?

The Pink Toolbox Co. packs its GBP 24.99 Pink Car Kit with essential emergency supplies such as jump leads, mobile charger and hammer—all in girly-girl pink. (Springwise isn't a big fan of pinkwashing, but we'll put our personal feelings aside.) California-based Safety Girl, meanwhile, offers the more whimsical USD 29.95 Safety Girl Roadside Emergency Kit, which includes breath freshener, lip balm and chocolate as well as utilitarian items such as an emergency blanket and instructions for changing a flat tire.

British Love My Car, on the other hand, offers an interesting variation on the theme by zeroing in on young women driving their very first car. Four kit options are available with such useful “Make Me Safer” tools as a safety hammer with built-in torch, phone charger, UK map book and de-icer. Prices range from GBP 24.75 to GBP 55.

We’ve already written about DIY home-repair kits for women, and the opportunities surely abound to bring female-friendly alternatives to other areas traditionally dominated by men. Female fever could be contagious ;-) Related: Going after female drivers.

Websites: www.pinktoolbox.co.uk — www.love-my-car.co.uk — www.safetygirl.com
Contacts: info@pinktoolbox.co.uk — info@love-my-car.co.uk — info@safetygirl.com

Spotted by: Susanna Haynie

We've featured group purchase facilitators in the past, from Chinese Taobao to Malaysian Tumpang. A new start-up from Sydney is cleverly focusing on a product niche: parts for Japanese performance cars, aimed at owners with a keen passion for modifying, tuning and styling their vehicles.

Every month, Auto Group Buy features a limited range of parts that are up for group buying. Customers register their interest, and if there are enough potential buyers by the end of the registration period, the parts are ordered directly from manufacturers in Japan. Prices are said to be about 10 – 15% lower than retail.

Focusing on a niche makes sense when it comes to group buying: it's easier to hone in on potential buyers through special interest websites, and the products on offer might not be readily available or competitively priced elsewhere. For more on the larger trend of consumer grouping online for a specific cause, from bringing down politicians to forcing suppliers to fork over discounts, check out trendwatching.com's crowd clout briefing.

Website: www.autogroupbuy.com
Contact: www.autogroupbuy.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us

Spotted by: Nathan Curtis