Lotte Rent-a-Car said on the 10th that it has entered a strategic partnership with global rental car company Hertz and will begin services at 91 branches in 63 cities across eight countries. Major destinations include Hawaii and Los Angeles in the United States, Fukuoka and Sapporo in Japan, and Barcelona in Spain.
It will use Hertz's global network for infrastructure such as branches and vehicles, while reservations and customer support will be provided in Korean through the Lotte Rent-a-Car app. Lotte Rent-a-Car will guide customers in an easy-to-understand way on how to reach local branches, driving precautions, and hard-to-understand coverage details.
To that end, Lotte Rent-a-Car decided to operate a 24-hour Korean-language call center. It also opened a dedicated chat consultation channel in addition to phone support, considering customers who can use only the internet via overseas data roaming.
In the event of an accident, to communicate faster and more accurately, Lotte Rent-a-Car will receive photos of the accident location and damaged parts via KakaoTalk or text links and promptly forward them to local partners. From intake to processing, guidance will be provided in Korean. However, Lotte Rent-a-Car does not handle the accident directly; it supports communication with local partners and provides guidance on initial response methods.
At some locations—such as Toronto, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Paris—reservation rates through the Lotte Rent-a-Car app are about 10% cheaper than on Hertz's official website.
A Lotte Rent-a-Car official said, "We plan to continuously expand the countries and cities we serve so customers traveling overseas can experience convenient rental car reservations in a wider range of regions."