Telematics for Rental and Leasing Fleets 4th Edition

The concept of telematics is a combination of telecommunications – long-distance communications – and informatics – the science of information. Telematics in general thus refers to the collection of information related to remote objects such as vehicles via telecommunications networks. The introduction of telematics technology in the context of rental and leasing commonly supports asset management and stolen vehicle tracking as well as carsharing and digital mobility offerings. Solutions of the latter type generally enable automotive rental or leasing companies to differentiate their offerings to current and prospective clients. The connected car is a major trend in the automotive industry and most carmakers today offer telematics services as standard on new vehicles. Several categories of car telematics applications supported by both aftermarket and OEM systems are used by car rental and leasing companies. Examples include emergency calls and roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking and recovery (SVT/SVR), vehicle diagnostics, convenience applications, keyless vehicle access and usage-based pricing.

Car rental services allow customers to rent cars for a specific period, usually ranging from a few hours to a few weeks. The total average fleet managed by car rental companies in 2025 was about 4.84 million vehicles in Europe and North America. Vehicle leasing refers to the leasing of a motor vehicle for a fixed period at an agreed cost. The leasing market can broadly be divided into financial and full-service leasing. Vehicle leasing has historically been primarily a financial service, but many corporate customers now also outsource vehicle ownership and management through a full-service lease model. In a full-service lease, the client pays the leasing company a regular monthly payment to cover financing, vehicle depreciation and various services related to the use of the vehicle such as maintenance, replacement car, tyre management, telematics, fuel cards and insurance.

Berg Insight expects the number of telematics systems deployed by rental and leasing companies to increase at a steady rate over the next few years. Key influencers expected to boost the telematics market in this vertical include the connected car trend driven by vehicle OEMs and related service providers; the need for fleet owners to increase fleet utilisation and reduce their carbon footprint; the emergence of new mobility services; and the general electrification trend in the automotive industry. The total number of active OEM and aftermarket telematics systems in use on the European and North American rental and leasing market reached around 8.55 million at the end of 2025. The total installed base in Europe is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0 percent from 4.65 million in 2025 to 8.96 million in 2030. In North America, the total number of OEM and aftermarket telematics systems in use is forecasted to increase from around 3.90 million at the end of 2025 to reach 6.87 million by 2030, representing a CAGR of 12.0 percent. The telematics penetration rate in the total population of rental vehicles was about 52.2 percent in Europe and 59.0 percent in North America at year-end 2025. The corresponding numbers for the car leasing market were 46.0 percent in Europe and 54.6 percent in North America at the end of 2025.

The car rental and leasing markets are gradually consolidating, and a handful of major North American and European companies dominate each market. Rental and leasing companies with notable activities in implementing telematics include Enterprise Mobility, Hertz Global Holdings, Sixt Group, Avis Budget Group, Europcar Mobility Group, Arval, Alphabet, Element Fleet Management, Leasys and Ayvens. Players in the rental and leasing industry can either develop telematics programs independently or rely on partners to varying degrees. Multiple leading rental and leasing companies use a combination of centralised and decentralised telematics strategies across their footprints.

The telematics solution market for rental and leasing fleets is dominated by players such as Geotab, Targa Telematics, CalAmp (Lojack), OCTO Telematics, Webfleet, Powerfleet, MySmartObject, Munic, Zubie and RentalMatics. Leading hardware telematics vendors such as Teltonika Telematics and Ruptela are also serving the market. Other notable vendors in the market include 2hire, Bosch, Autofleet, Ufofleet and WITTE:digital. Several car rental management system providers such as Coastr, Emotion, Fourth Tier, HQ Rental Software and TSD Mobility Solutions partner with telematics service providers to integrate telematics data into their platforms. Multiple players specialising in carsharing telematics have broadened their product portfolio to target car rental and leasing companies. Examples include Invers, Vulog, Convadis, OpenFleet, WeGo Carsharing and Atom Mobility. Automotive OEMs are increasingly taking an active role in the ecosystem by offering OEM telematics services or utilising connected car services through their captive rental and leasing companies. Examples include General Motors, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Ford, Toyota, Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.