Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are essential for evaluating car sharing performance. They offer insight into fleet availability, customer usage, and financial health. In car sharing, where vehicles serve multiple users and margins are tight, tracking the right KPIs is critical. Without them, you cannot identify revenue-generating vehicles, address operational issues, or prioritize key decisions.
This lesson covers the most important KPIs for car sharing operations and how to use them to enhance performance, reliability, and profitability.
Why Tracking KPIs is Essential
Car sharing operations face constant pressure to keep vehicles available, reliable, and profitable. Offline vehicles, whether for maintenance, charging, or other issues, cannot be booked but still incur costs. KPIs provide clarity by turning raw data into actionable insights. Regular tracking highlights what is working and what needs improvement. This supports better decisions on profitability, customer satisfaction, and cost control.
For example, if vehicle utilization is low in a specific area, KPIs can tell you whether you should adjust your marketing strategy or relocate vehicles to better align supply with demand.
KPIs are also crucial when seeking funding. Investors expect clear data that demonstrates a scalable business model. Strong KPI trends build confidence and support investment decisions.
Core Operational KPIs
These KPIs measure the day-to-day performance of your vehicles and operations.
Vehicle Uptime
What it measures
The percentage of your fleet's total operating time available for rentals
Why it matters
Vehicles lose uptime when they spend excessive time in the workshop, are offline while charging, or are unavailable between purchase and first rental. Crashes, theft, and technical issues also reduce uptime. Low uptime limits both availability and revenue.
How to calculate:
Uptime (%) = (Time Available for Rentals ÷ Total Operating Time) × 100
Key improvement factors
Vehicle Utilization
What it measures
The proportion of available vehicle time that is booked and used by customers
Why it matters
Vehicle utilization is the primary measure of fleet productivity. Unused vehicles still incur fixed costs such as insurance and financing. Low utilization limits revenue, even if uptime is high.
How to calculate:
Utilization (%) = (Booked Minutes ÷ Available Minutes) × 100
Key improvement factors
Place vehicles in high-demand areas, use dynamic pricing to match demand, rebalance the fleet effectively, and minimize turnaround time for cleaning, charging, and maintenance.
Trip Success Rate
What it measures
The reliability of trips running from start to finish without failures
Why it matters
Trip success rate measures end-to-end service reliability. Common failures include customers being unable to unlock or start the vehicle due to connectivity issues, or finding the car too dirty or damaged. These issues harm customer experience, erode trust, and negatively affect revenue and retention.
How to calculate:
Trip Success Rate (%) = (Completed Trips ÷ Total Trip Attempts) × 100
Key improvement factors
Ensure reliable vehicle connectivity and unlock capability, conduct regular maintenance and cleanliness checks, maintain functional payment and fuel card systems, and proactively monitor for technical issues before customers are affected.
Support Contact Rate
What it measures
The frequency with which users contact support during or after a trip
Why it matters
Support contact rate highlights friction in the user experience and increases operational costs. Each contact may indicate confusion, frustration, or a service failure. Common causes include unclear app instructions, confusion about fueling or parking, and unexpected billing issues. Frequent support contacts raise staffing costs and reveal areas needing improvement.
How to calculate:
Contact Rate (%) = (Support Contacts ÷ Total Trips) × 100
Key improvement factors
Maintain reliable telematics for consistent vehicle connectivity, provide clear in-app instructions for fueling and parking, ensure transparent billing with upfront cost breakdowns, implement proactive cleaning and inspection protocols, and offer self-service support resources for common questions.
Incident Recovery Time
What it measures
The speed at which operational incidents are resolved and vehicles are returned to service
Why it matters
Every minute a vehicle is offline reduces revenue. For example, reducing recovery time from 8 hours to 2 hours saves $240 per incident at a $40 per hour labor cost. Fast resolution lowers operational costs and increases fleet availability.
How to calculate:
Recovery Time = (Total Time to Resolve Incidents ÷ Total Incidents)
Key improvement factors
Establish clear incident response protocols with defined roles, use telematics for real-time location and diagnostics, partner with towing and repair services, and implement automated workflows to trigger immediate action when incidents occur.
Customer Growth and Engagement KPIs
These metrics provide insight into customer behavior, engagement depth, and long-term loyalty.
New User Activation Rate
What it measures
The number of verified users who complete their first trip after identity verification
Why it matters
This metric links customer acquisition costs to revenue. A high activation rate indicates effective onboarding and immediate value perception. The first trip is critical for converting new users into repeat customers. Low activation often signals onboarding friction or poor vehicle availability.
How to calculate:
Activation Rate (%) = (Users With First Trip ÷ Users Who Passed KYC) × 100
Key improvement factors
Offer a simple sign-up process, ensure strong vehicle availability in accessible locations, provide attractive welcome offers to incentivize first trips, and communicate clearly to build trust and explain the service.
Monthly Active Users (MAU) & Trip Frequency
What it measures
The number of users who actively use your service and how frequently they book trips
Why it matters
Together, these metrics reveal demand trends and customer habits. They show whether your service is part of customers' regular routines or used occasionally. Low frequency may indicate pricing issues, limited availability, or lack of reliability.
How to calculate:
Trips per Active User = (Total Trips in Month ÷ MAU)
Key improvement factors
Maintain fleet density for consistent accessibility, offer subscription packages or day rates to encourage frequent use, develop B2B accounts for regular weekday trips, and ensure service availability in key locations such as airports, transit hubs, and business districts.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT & NPS)
What it measures
CSAT measures immediate trip-level satisfaction, while Net Promoter Score (NPS) assesses long-term brand loyalty and likelihood to recommend.
Why it matters
CSAT provides real-time feedback on service quality. NPS predicts word-of-mouth growth and customer retention. Together, they offer insight into retention and growth. Poor satisfaction often leads to churn, increased support contacts, and lower utilization.
How to calculate:
CSAT = Average post-trip rating (e.g., 1–5)
NPS = % Promoters (9–10) − % Detractors (0–6)
Key improvement factors
Maintain consistent vehicle cleanliness and maintenance, ensure reliable vehicle availability, provide a stable and user-friendly app, offer transparent and fair pricing, and deliver responsive customer support that resolves issues promptly.
Financial Health and Risk KPIs
These KPIs measure operational costs, insurance risk exposure, and your ability to protect profit margins.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) per km
What it measures
The total cost to operate each vehicle per kilometer driven, including all direct and indirect expenses
Why it matters
TCO establishes the baseline for profitable pricing and fleet decisions. Pricing must exceed TCO for sustainability. TCO also enables smarter procurement by comparing vehicle models based on actual operating costs, not just purchase price.
How to calculate:
TCO per km = (Total Costs ÷ Total km Driven)
Key improvement factors
Select vehicles with strong resale value and low maintenance needs, prioritize energy efficiency to reduce fuel or charging costs, implement preventive maintenance to avoid expensive repairs, negotiate insurance rates based on safety features and driver restrictions, and optimize vehicle lifecycle to balance depreciation and operating costs.
Claim Frequency and Severity
What it measures
Claim frequency measures the frequency of incidents, while severity measures the average cost per claim.
Why it matters
Insurance is a major expense driven by claims. Understanding your risk profile is essential for managing premiums and protecting profit margins. High claim frequency or severity directly affects your ability to secure affordable insurance.
How to calculate:
Frequency = (Claims ÷ km Driven) × 100,000
Severity = (Total Claims Cost ÷ Claims)
Key improvement factors
Set driver eligibility criteria such as age or experience requirements, use telematics to monitor driving behavior, equip vehicles with safety features like ADAS, implement driver education programs, and consider urban environments when selecting service areas.
Damage Recovery Rate
What it measures
The percentage of damage costs recovered from responsible parties
Why it matters
A low recovery rate means your business absorbs damage costs, which directly reduces profitability. For example, MyWheels increased incident traceability from 30% to 93% using AI damage detection. High traceability ensures accurate cost assignment and protects your bottom line.
How to calculate:
Recovery Rate (%) = (Recovered Damage Costs ÷ Total Damage Costs) × 100
Key improvement factors
Use AI-powered damage detection to document vehicle condition before and after each trip, communicate clear damage liability policies during sign-up, automate damage reporting to capture evidence immediately, establish processes for billing responsible parties, and partner with collection services as needed.
Conclusion
The KPIs discussed here provide a foundation for data-driven car sharing operations. Consistent tracking shifts management from reacting to problems to proactively identifying and resolving issues before they affect revenue or customer satisfaction.