The RentHive guide.
How to use every feature well: setup, best practices, precautions, and exactly what's automated for you.
Getting started
Getting started with RentHive
Create your account, use the 7-day free trial, and work through the six-step setup list: a vehicle, your website, payments, policies, extras and a rental agreement.
Adding vehicles and setting prices
Add a car with the six-step wizard, then set its rate, length discounts, fees, taxes, deposits, extras, protection plans and coupons. Set company defaults once and override per car only where needed.
Booking website
Launching your booking website
Pick a template, claim a free .sites.renthive.co address and go live. Then shape the site in the drag-and-drop editor, add pages, and set how each page shows up on Google.
Connecting your own domain and email
Point a domain you already own at your booking site, with SSL set up for you. Then send renter emails from that domain and get replies in your Inbox.
Setting up checkout and the booking widget
Choose the order renters go through at checkout and how long unfinished bookings hold the dates. Then put the same checkout on any other website with the booking widget.
Bookings & calendar
Using the calendar
See every car on one timeline, drag bookings to new dates or another car with the new price worked out for you, block days off, and send bookings to Google Calendar.
Creating and managing reservations
Create a booking in seven checked steps, edit it with the price difference shown, and run it from one page: readiness checklist, invoice versions, payments, drivers, documents, photos and history.
Setting change and cancellation rules
Decide whether renters change or cancel on their own, ask you first, or contact you, and how much they get back. On card bookings, price differences are charged or refunded for you.
Payments
Getting paid with Stripe
Connect your own Stripe account so renters pay you directly, with 0% commission. Take payments by card, payment link, saved card or cash, and refund from the booking.
Taking security deposits
Ask for a refundable deposit as a card hold or as a charge you refund later. Holds are placed the day before pickup and released two days after the trip, unless you capture them.
Verification & agreements
Checking renters' ID and insurance
Verify each renter's driver's license and selfie with Stripe Identity, and their own auto insurance with Canopy Connect, before pickup. Includes what happens when an automatic check fails.
Rental agreements and e-signature
Build your rental agreement from the template or upload your own PDF, choose how renters sign, and get a signed copy with a certificate of completion for every booking.
Fleet & operations
Connecting cars with Smartcar and tracking mileage
See location, fuel, battery and odometer readings from the car itself, with no hardware to fit. Lock and unlock supported cars, and turn odometer readings into mileage charges.
Tracking maintenance and team tasks
Book cars into the workshop so they're blocked on the calendar and website, log the cost as an expense, and let booking events create and close your team's tasks.
Adding your team and setting permissions
Give staff their own logins, choose which parts of RentHive each person can use, and remove access without losing their work.
Tracking money: overview, expenses and revenue
See what you kept after costs and where your income came from (website, app or Turo), and log expenses with receipts, repeating costs and CSV import.
Still have a question?
Search the Help Center, or email our team at business@renthive.co. We answer around the clock.