Hertz

Making Rental Eligibility Understandable for Rideshare Drivers

Role Product Designer UX Researcher

Timeline December 2023 - November 2025

Overview

This project focused on the design of a web app to support a new business model in the company aimed at rideshare drivers renting vehicles through a long-term rental program. To remain eligible, renters were required to meet three conditions:

Making weekly payments
Completing minimum number of weekly trips
Keeping vehicle up to date on maintenance

Drivers typically learned there was a problem only after violating one of the rules, most often through reactive email communications. There was no single place to view payment history, upcoming charges, or progress toward eligibility requirements.

Payment was especially confusing for drivers as the billing system relied on overlapping weekly holds and charges that could not be changed due to technical constraints.

As a result, many drivers were caught off guard when ineligible and often believed they were being double-charged, leading to high support volume over the phone and in-person at rental locations, and preventable churn.

The goal of the app was to increase driver visibility into their rental status, reduce confusion around billing, and provide a centralized source of truth for both drivers and branch staff.

Discovery & Research

Research combined field observation with internal operational input.

A site visit to a rental location provided direct exposure to how payment questions surfaced in real interactions and how drivers reacted to early versions of the web experience. Observations highlighted the stress caused by unclear status and the challenges branch agents faced when answering billing questions without a shared source of truth.

Additional signals came from branch managers, who consistently identified payment confusion as the most common issue they handled. Product managers also shared churn and operations data indicating a relationship between billing misunderstandings and renter turnover, though access to the underlying datasets was later lost.

Together, these inputs pointed to a core issue:

Drivers were being informed too late, and without enough context, to make sense of their status.

Design Approach

Design exploration was conducted in collaboration with product and design partners.

Inputs from renter surveys and branch managers were synthesized into a set of prioritized opportunities. An end-to-end journey map was created, spanning online reservation, vehicle pickup, the first rental week, and ongoing cycles. This helped reveal how lack of visibility compounded over time.

An initial MVP wireframe focused on:

Centralizing eligibility status
Surfacing payment history and upcoming charges
Making consequences explicit before violations occurred

Multiple iterations followed, including collaboration with PMs specializing in payment systems, which introduced constraints related to data accuracy and compliance.

The initiative was paused and restarted several times due to shifting priorities and legal considerations. During one pause, the same communication principles were tested through email and SMS campaigns.

Payments UX

Payments received the deepest design focus due to their frequency and emotional impact.

Education and expectation-setting

An onboarding walkthrough was designed to explain:

The weekly billing cadence
The difference between pending and completed payments
Why overlapping charges appear
How itemized costs, including EV charging, are applied

A detailed FAQ was also linked and became one of the first supporting improvements shipped.

Core payment experience

The Payments view included:

A persistent status alert reflecting the most recent update
Clear explanations when a payment was pending
A transaction list modeled after consumer banking apps, with pending charges clearly surfaced
Tap-through details for full charge breakdowns

Failure states

Payment failures surfaced explicit explanations and actionable next steps, rather than generic error messages.
Extension status tabs are automatically in focus when a warning or failure status occurs.

Trip Count and Maintenance

Trip count and maintenance followed the same eligibility framework while adapting urgency based on predictability.

Trip Count

Emphasized progress toward the weekly goal and increased urgency as the week progressed.
Used language to encourage drivers as the progress through the week.
Use specific language to steer towards solutions for error states and included strike system for drivers to communicate specifics when they weren’t able to meet the mark.

Maintenance

Surfaced upcoming requirements early and escalated messaging as mileage thresholds approached.
Providing connections to flows for scheduling preventative maintenance and reporting incidental vehicle damage.

Day Three

Look Forward & Wrap Up

We explore the possibilities beyond this moment, making space for growth, action, and forward momentum. As we end our time together, we honor the experience, the growth, and the connections made along the way.

Check-In

9:00 – 9:30am

Group Activity

11:00am

Lunch Break

12:30pm

Creative Workshop

2:00pm

Dinner

6:30pm

What to Expect

A gentle pause from the pace of everyday life. The Reset Retreat in the Yucca Valley is designed to help you slow down, reconnect, and return to yourself—through guided experiences, restorative space, and time to simply be.

❋ Intentional Structure

We blend guided moments, open exploration, and space to reflect—so the experience feels both focused and fluid.

❋ Collaborative Energy

Connection is a core part of the process. You’ll learn just as much from the group as from the content itself.

❋ Expert Facilitation

Led by experienced guides who know how to hold space, encourage participation, and keep things moving with purpose.

❋ A Supportive Space

Our events prioritize comfort, safety, and respect—so you can show up as you are and fully engage in the process.

Reconnect with your body and mind as you escape the noise of everyday life.

Day Two

Set Intentions & Reflect

Together, we pause to consider our goals, hopes, and direction. This is about aligning with ourselves and with the journey ahead. This is a chance to reconnect with what brought you here—your questions, your hopes, your turning points—and consider how they’ve shifted or deepened.

Check-In