WooCommerce online store development for car rental and sales

CREATING.LV built a WooCommerce store for Virāžas, a company engaged in car rental and sales that also sells car accessories. An online store for car rental and sales meant combining three different types of purchase on one site: rental, where the customer chooses a period; buying a car, where the customer chooses a specific car; and ordering accessories.

The most complex part was rental pricing. The company had many pricing conditions: separate prices per day and per hour, different prices at weekends and discounts when a car is rented for a certain number of days or more. These conditions had to be built into the booking so that the price matched exactly the period the customer chose.

CREATING.LV built the store on WordPress and WooCommerce, from the visual design and user flow to the mobile version. The rental booking module is our own development, not a ready-made plugin. The project was handed over in 2022. Our work covered:

• the visual design and UX for all three types of purchase;
• a rental booking module with prices per day and per hour, weekend prices and discounts for longer rentals;
• car purchase orders or requests and ordering accessories;
• a user account with bookings, cancellations and store purchases;
• a version adapted for use on a phone.

The customer chooses a car and the rental period — the dates or hours they want. The booking calendar shows booked and free days and times. The rental booking module calculates the price according to the conditions set by the company: a price per day or per hour, a different price at weekends and a discount when the rental period reaches a certain number of days. For example, a weekend rental can have a different price from a weekday one, and a longer rental a discount from a certain number of days. The company does not have to recalculate these prices manually for each booking.

There were many pricing options, and each condition had to work together with the others in one calculation. For the customer, this means they see the price at the moment of booking rather than finding out later by phone or email.

The module is built into the same WooCommerce store that sells cars and accessories. Customers do not have to move to a separate booking system, and the company receives rental bookings in the same admin as other orders.

For a car that is for sale, the customer can choose one of two paths: place a purchase order or send a request. The request is sent from the page of the specific car. A request suits someone who wants to ask questions or agree on details before deciding.

The store also sells car accessories, so one site serves both the customer who rents or buys a car and the one who is only looking for accessories.

The home page had descriptions of the maintenance and car rental services, as well as links to the offers of new and used cars, campers and touring equipment.

In the project screenshot, in the “Our services” section, the maintenance and service description covers bus and truck repair and maintenance, while the car rental description gives the camper rental conditions: the driver must be at least 21 years old and must have held a category B licence for at least three years. This way the renter can check whether they meet the conditions before sending a booking.

Each of the four types of offer had its own link with a photo, so a visitor looking for, say, a camper or a used car goes from the home page straight to their offer rather than browsing the whole range. The home page also had a news section, and the footer had a contact form where a question can be asked without making a booking or purchase.

The store has no online payments or delivery service integrations. The transaction takes place after approval:

• the customer chooses a rental period, a car or an accessory and sends a booking, order or request;
• the request arrives in the WordPress admin and the company’s email;
• the company reviews and approves the order;
• after approval, the customer pays by bank transfer;
• for accessories, the company confirms the delivery address after the order and sends the item.

This way the company checks each rental or purchase before payment, and the customer pays for a transaction that has already been approved.

On the company side, all requests — rentals, car purchases and accessories — arrive in one WordPress admin, and a notification also comes by email. This way a new request can be noticed straight away, even away from the admin panel, while the order history and customer data stay in one place.

A registered user sees their bookings and store purchases in their account, can cancel a booking and can change their personal information themselves. Rentals and purchases are in one account, so a returning customer does not have to search for when and which car they rented before or which accessories they bought. If their contact details change, the customer updates them themselves, and the company has up-to-date data for the next order.

The visual design and user flow were our work. Rental, sales and accessories are on one site, so each path had to be clear in the design: where to choose a rental period, where to look at cars for sale and where to order accessories.

We also built an adapted mobile version for the site, so that a booking or request can be sent from a phone. On a phone, choosing dates and hours, the price and the request form have to be just as usable as on a desktop, otherwise a booking is hard to complete on a small screen.

WordPress and WooCommerce with a rental booking module we developed. WooCommerce brings rental bookings, car sales and accessory orders together in one admin environment. How WooCommerce extends WordPress is explained in the article What is WooCommerce and how does it extend WordPress?.

The company’s site was later changed because the company joined another group, and the domain now leads to another company’s site. This description shows the store we handed over, not the current site.

For a company that offers rentals with many pricing conditions and also sells goods or services on one site. An online store for car rental and sales is one example; the same structure also suits equipment or gear rental combined with selling goods.

If each transaction has to be approved before payment, a bank transfer after approval can be enough even without an online payment integration. If you are planning a similar project, see our online store development service and the indicative prices.

• Online store development
• Web design

This portfolio entry reflects the solution as delivered at handover. The current website may have changed.