Quick answer: An inquiry form loses bookings because the renter has to wait for you to check availability and send a price, and while they wait they book a company that showed both. Renters expect to see free cars for their dates, the total price and a way to pay or hold the car, then a confirmation. If you want to approve bookings yourself, take them as requests that already hold the car and carry the price, so you answer with one click instead of an email thread.
Here is a Friday evening at a small rental company with an inquiry form.
At 21:40 a couple planning a weekend trip fill in the form: Saturday 10:00 to Monday 10:00, "a small automatic". At 21:44 they fill in the same form on a second site. At 21:52 a third site shows them a Toyota Yaris automatic, €38 a day, €76 in total, pay €30 now. They pay.
At 09:15 on Saturday you reply to the first form with a price. They don't answer.
Nothing went wrong on your side. You replied the next morning, which is normal for a person. It is slow for someone booking online.
How long replies take, and why it matters
There is no published study of response time for car rental inquiries. The best-known data is from general sales leads, and it points one way:
- A Harvard Business Review audit of 2,241 US companies found that among those that replied within 30 days, the average reply took 42 hours. 23% never replied at all.
- In a related study of 1.25 million leads, companies that tried to reach the customer within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to have a real conversation with them as companies that tried an hour later, and more than 60 times as likely as those that waited a day or longer.
These are sales leads across many industries, not rental inquiries. But the pattern is hard to argue with: interest is highest when they press send, and it fades while they wait.
What a renter expects from "book online"
When a site says "book online", renters expect it to work like booking a flight or a hotel room:
- Pick dates, see what's free. Cars already taken for those dates shouldn't be offered.
- See the total. Daily rate, extras, insurance, fees, and the deposit and how it comes back. In Baymard Institute's survey of US online shoppers, 12% of those who abandoned an order said they couldn't see or calculate the total cost up front.
- Secure it. Pay now, pay part now, or at least get a booking that holds the car.
- Get a confirmation. An email with the booking, right away.
A form that sends you an email does none of these. It looks like booking and works like a phone call.
The bookings you lose are the obvious cost. The ones you win also take work:
- Email back-and-forth. Is the car free, what is the price, can I add a child seat, how do I pay. Three or four messages per booking.
- Typing it in. Someone copies the booking into the calendar or spreadsheet by hand.
- Double bookings. Two inquiries for the same car on the same weekend, answered by two people. See how to avoid double bookings.
- No-shows. Nothing paid means nothing lost by not turning up. See how to stop no-shows.
"But I want to approve every booking"
That is a fair reason to keep a form. Some operators check every renter, or only rent certain cars to people they know. You can keep approval without keeping the form.
In Nomora, set the Guest Book payment mode to Inquiry only (no payment), or turn on booking rules that send only some bookings for approval, such as same-day pickups or Sundays. Either way the renter still picks from cars that are actually free and sees the price. Their request:
- holds the car, so nobody else books it while you decide
- arrives with dates, car, extras and the price already worked out
- gets one of three answers: Accept & send payment link, Confirm without payment, or Decline
The renter gets a "request received" email straight away. If you don't answer by the pickup time, the request is cancelled and the car is free again.
That is the difference between a request and an inquiry. The request uses your real calendar and price list. The inquiry is a message you have to turn into a booking.
If a form is all you can have for now, make it collect what you need to answer in one message:
- Pickup and return date and time
- Pickup location, if you have more than one
- Car or car class
- Extras: child seat, second driver, delivery
- Name, email and phone
- Driver's age and how long they have held a licence, if your prices or rules depend on it
And reply with a price and a payment link in the first message, not a question.
When you are ready to replace the form, read how to add online booking to your car rental website. If a web agency is about to build it, take these questions to the meeting.
Get it set up
Book a free 30-minute setup call and send your vehicle list in any format. Your fleet, prices and booking page go live in Nomora within 48 hours, and the booking link or the booking blocks go onto your website on the same call. If you would rather click through it yourself, start a 14-day free trial. No card needed.
Frequently asked questions
No. A booking form sends you the renter's request by email. Online booking checks availability, shows the full price, takes payment or holds the car, and confirms the booking without anyone at the office.
Can I approve bookings and still use online booking?
Yes. In Nomora, set the Guest Book payment mode to Inquiry only, or use booking rules set to Request. Each booking arrives as a request that holds the car and carries the price, and you accept it with a payment link, confirm it without payment, or decline.
Pickup and return dates and times, location, the car or class, extras, the renter's name, email and phone, and the driver's age and licence history if your rules depend on them.
How fast should I reply to a car rental inquiry?
As fast as you can. Sales research found that contacting a lead within an hour made a real conversation nearly seven times as likely as contacting them an hour later. Online booking removes the wait because the renter gets the answer from the page.
Set this up on your own fleet
Book a free 30-minute setup call. Send your vehicle list in any format, and your fleet, bookings and contract template are live in Nomora within 48 hours. Or start a 14-day free trial on your own. No card needed.
