Case Study: Black Car

The limousine and black car market is the most lucrative segment of today’s transportation industry. As demand increases from affluent business and leisure clients so does competition vying for this lucrative market.

Red Top Executive Sedan has become a dominant player in the Washington, DC metropolitan market by embracing a philosophy of good, old fashioned customer service and utilizing state of the art dispatch and billing technology. In response to growing demand for credit card payment options, Red Top Executive Sedan took decisive action to streamline the payment process for both customers and drivers, by choosing CHARGE Anywhere®’s mobile payment solution based on secure Smartphone technology. This 21 year old company, with over 120 vehicles, observed a shift in the ratio of credit card transactions compared to corporate account billings, with a significant increase in credit card transactions, reflecting a national trend. Many US companies, including several Red Top Executive Sedan customers, have chosen to issue company credit cards to their employees to consolidate the tracking of all expenses associated with travel or a particular cost center.

Prior to the introduction of a secure mobile payment solution from CHARGE Anywhere, technology was limited. Manual card-imprinting devices were used to accept credit card payments in vehicles. This resulted in delayed funding, messy carbon prints and inefficiencies.

These problems were solved, and other far-reaching benefits were realized when Red Top chose CHARGE Anywhere’s mobile payment solution based on secure Smartphone technology. This cost-effective solution enables drivers to complete live mobile payments and get instant card approvals (or declines), improving funds delivery, and utilizing advanced industry-leading security. It protects cardholder information and meets all PCI Security Standards Council Regulations. For more information on how PCI SSC monitors and controls payment industry security, visit www.pcisecuritystandards.org.

By making use of the smart phones their drivers were already carrying, investment was minimal. Red Top Executive Sedan purchased CHARGE Anywhere’s software for Smartphones and a Bluetooth magnetic card reader/receipt printer for swiping the card. They took advantage of the existing data service available through the phone. To process payments, transactions were securely sent from the Smartphones to the ComsGate® secure payment gateway where they are processed in a matter of seconds. Red Top has achieved a 4%* increase in funds collection since implementing this system. An additional 16%* revenue growth in credit card sales is directly attributable to increased customer satisfaction, which has led to more customer referrals. Red Top has saved money and improved efficiencies, with fewer back office personnel needed to process transactions and keep records. The resulting ROI is 39%* in the first year and 181%* in the second year.