Car rental acquisition cost: worksheet and tracker
Print these pages, or copy them into a spreadsheet. They work with any booking system. Rows marked "Example" use made-up numbers to show the math. They are not typical costs. Replace them with your own.
How to use this pack
- Fill in the cohort setup card (Sheet 1) for each channel, once a month.
- Log every new inquiry and every extra booking in the inquiry-to-booking tracker (Sheet 2) the day it arrives.
- Work out your per-rental ceiling and run the separate rough cash check (Sheet 3). Update them when rates or costs change.
- When the follow-up window ends, close the cohort and fill in the cohort cost sheet (Sheet 4).
- Copy each cohort's results into the channel comparison (Sheet 5) and run the monthly checklist (Sheet 6).
If a number can't be worked out, write N/A, never 0. A 0 reads as "free", which is the most flattering reading of the worst result.
Spreadsheet versions: inquiry-to-booking-tracker.csv, channel-cohort-worksheet.csv, channel-cohort-worksheet-hypothetical-example.csv and per-rental-ceiling-worksheet.csv. The CSV files hold plain values only, no formulas. Type N/A in any cell that can't be worked out.
Cohort setup card
One card per channel per cohort period. Fill it in before you look at results.
Channel:
Cohort period (first contact dates):
Follow-up window ends:
Value of one hour on leads: $
Shown only to people who haven't rented from you? Yes No (if No, customer acquisition cost will be N/A for this cohort)
Source rule (pick one and keep it)
- The renter's first answer to "How did you hear about us?"
- The tracked link or phone number they first used
- Other rule:
Which cohort gets a booking? (one cohort per booking)
- Is the customer in a cohort whose window is still open? Add an extra booking row under their original lead code and cohort, however they came back.
- If not, add a first contact row with a new lead code, in this period's cohort for the channel your source rule picks. Mark them "Past" if they have rented from you before.
- Follow-up time and offers for a customer whose cohort window is still open go in that cohort (Sheet 4, G5 and G7). Spend on past renters whose window has closed (win-back emails or offers, ads shown only to your past-renter list) belongs to its own channel: Returning customers.
- If one past-renter ad also reaches customers whose window is still open, split its cost once between Returning customers and those cohorts (their share goes in G7), by a rule you write down and use every month (for example, share of the audience). Until it's split, mark those cohorts' cost numbers "provisional".
Inquiry-to-booking tracker
One row per booking attempt. A lead's first inquiry is a first contact row. Each later booking by the same customer while their cohort's window is open is an extra booking row with the same lead code and cohort. Every row gets its own row ID. Use codes, not names. Keep names, license details, card details and addresses in your booking system, never in this sheet.
| Row ID | Row type (first contact / extra booking) | Lead code | First contact date | Cohort | Channel | How they heard (their words) | Contact method | Customer code | New or past customer | Status | Status date | First completed rental for this customer? (Y/N) | Earned rental revenue | Cancellation fee kept, less processing | Trip costs | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-001 | first contact | L-001 | Oct 3 | Oct | Search ads | "Found you on Google" | Form | C-101 | New | Completed | Oct 18 | Y | $240 | $0 | $74 | Hypothetical |
| R-002 | first contact | L-002 | Oct 5 | Oct | Search ads | "Google ad" | Call | C-102 | New | Canceled | Oct 20 | N/A | $0 | $0 | $0 | Hypothetical |
| R-003 | first contact | L-003 | Oct 9 | Oct | Search ads | "Clicked your Google ad" | Text | C-087 | Past | Completed | Nov 2 | N | $240 | $0 | $74 | Hypothetical; rented before this cohort |
| R-004 | extra booking | L-001 | Oct 3 | Oct | Search ads | Text | C-101 | New | Completed | Dec 12 | N | $240 | $0 | $74 | Hypothetical; same customer as R-001, inside the window | |
| R-005 | first contact | L-004 | Oct 11 | Oct | Social ads | "Saw your post" | Text | C-103 | New | Completed | Oct 25 | Y | $240 | $0 | $74 | Hypothetical |
Example rows are a sample from the hypothetical October search and social cohorts in the worked example, not the full cohorts. They use the example's average revenue and trip costs.
Count rules
- Leads = rows marked first contact.
- Reservations = rows with status Reserved, Canceled or Completed.
- Cancellations = rows with status Canceled. Completed rentals = rows with status Completed.
- Unique new customers = different customer codes marked New that have at least one Completed row.
- Extra bookings by new customers = Completed rows marked New with "First completed rental" = N. Past-customer rentals = Completed rows marked Past.
Status words (use only these)
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| Open | Still talking. No dates held yet. When the window closes, change it to Not booked by close. |
| Not booked by close | No dates held when the window closed. If they book later, add a first contact row in that period (Sheet 1). |
| Reserved | Dates held on your terms. Trip not yet completed. Still Reserved at close means "reserved, not completed when the window closed". |
| Canceled | Reserved, then never became a trip. |
| Completed | The trip happened and closed out. |
Earned rental revenue = rental charges and fees you earned and kept, after any discount. Do not enter refundable deposits, taxes you collect for the government, or refunded amounts. A kept cancellation fee goes in its own column on the Canceled row; the trip does not count as completed.
Per-rental ceiling worksheet
Describe one average completed rental. The example column is a hypothetical 3-car fleet.
| Line | Item | Your number | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Earned rental revenue per completed rental (no deposits, taxes or refunds) | $ | $240.00 |
| B1 | Payment processing | $ | $9.00 |
| B2 | Cleaning | $ | $25.00 |
| B3 | Fuel or charging you don't charge back | $ | $0.00 |
| B4 | Delivery or pickup | $ | $0.00 |
| B5 | Maintenance and tire allowance (miles per trip × cost per mile). Not depreciation; that goes in D1a. | $ | $30.00 |
| B6 | Allowance for damage you can't recover | $ | $10.00 |
| B7 | Other per-trip costs | $ | $0.00 |
| B | Trip costs (B1 to B7 added) | $ | $74.00 |
| C | Contribution (A − B). Not net profit. | $ | $166.00 |
| D1a | Depreciation, all cars, per month | $ | $600.00 |
| D1b | Loan interest only, per month. Never the principal part of a payment. A car with no loan has none. | $ | $120.00 |
| D1c | Insurance, per month | $ | $450.00 |
| D1d | Registration, software, phone and other fixed costs, per month | $ | $150.00 |
| D1 | Monthly fixed costs (D1a + D1b + D1c + D1d) | $ | $1,320.00 |
| D2 | Completed rentals expected in a normal month, all channels, marketplace trips included (low estimate; must be above 0) | 20 | |
| D | Fixed-cost share (D1 ÷ D2) | $ | $66.00 |
| E | Target retained amount per rental (your choice) | $ | $40.00 |
| F | Acquisition ceiling per completed rental (C − D − E) | $ | $60.00 |
Fixed costs use one basis: depreciation plus loan interest. Never enter full loan payments here, because depreciation already counts the car's cost being used up. If F is 0 or less, no marketing spend fits at these rates and costs: fix rates or costs first, and write N/A for L and M on Sheet 4. If D2 is 0, D can't be worked out. Ask your accountant how to treat deposits, taxes, loans and depreciation in your books; this sheet is a decision tool, not a tax record.
Rough cash check (separate; one calendar month)
The ceiling measures cost. This check is a rough cash estimate. It uses all rentals completed in the month and this month's bills, so keep its numbers out of the ceiling and the cohort sheets. CC2 uses your trip-cost allowances, such as maintenance and damage, not the cash you actually paid. For a true bank check, use the cash actually paid for each cost and count each bill once: a bill already in trip costs doesn't go in CC4.
| Line | Item | Your number | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| CC1 | Completed rentals this calendar month, all channels | 20 | |
| CC2 | Contribution from those rentals (add up each rental's A − B) | $ | $3,320.00 |
| CC3 | Cash marketing spend this month (ads, listings, agency; not your time) | $ | $850.00 |
| CC4 | Cash fixed bills paid this month that aren't already in trip costs, except loans (insurance, registration, software, phone). No depreciation. | $ | $600.00 |
| CC5 | Full loan payments this month, principal and interest | $ | $700.00 |
| CC6 | Cash left (CC2 − CC3 − CC4 − CC5) | $ | $1,170.00 |
Below 0 is a warning that you may be short of cash this month even if every channel fits its ceiling. The example assumes 20 rentals at the average contribution ($166 × 20); a real month adds up each rental's own numbers. The $700 of loan payments is $120 of interest (already in D1b) plus $580 of principal, which appears only here.
Cohort cost sheet
Channel:
Cohort period: Window ended:
Timing: G1 to G3 cover the cohort period only. G4, G5 and G7 cover this cohort's leads and customers up to the end of the window. Enter each cost once.
| Line | Item | Your number |
|---|---|---|
| G1 | Ad spend for this channel in the cohort period | $ |
| G2 | Listing or directory fees in the cohort period | $ |
| G3 | Design, agency or other paid help (leave out any ad spend already in G1) | $ |
| G4 | Hours on this cohort's leads, from first contact up to their first completed rental (or until they canceled or the window closed) | |
| G5 | Hours following up this cohort's customers for extra bookings, through the end of the window | |
| G6 | Value of one hour | $ |
| G7 | Offers or credits used to win extra bookings, if not already taken out of earned revenue, plus any split share of a shared past-renter ad (Sheet 1) | $ |
| G | Cohort cost (G1 + G2 + G3 + (G4 + G5) × G6 + G7) | $ |
| R1 | Leads (rows marked first contact) | |
| R2 | Reservations (rows marked Reserved, Canceled or Completed) | |
| R3 | Cancellations | |
| R4 | Reserved, not completed when the window closed | |
| H | Completed rentals (should equal R2 − R3 − R4) | |
| H1 | ... of which first rentals by new customers | |
| H2 | ... of which extra bookings by those new customers inside the window | |
| H3 | ... of which rentals by past customers (H1 + H2 + H3 should equal H) | |
| I | Unique new customers (people, counted once; equals H1) | |
| J | Cost per completed booking (G ÷ H) | $ |
| K | Blended cost per new customer (G ÷ I). Includes spend on past customers and extra bookings. Not customer acquisition cost. | $ |
| F | Ceiling per completed rental (from Sheet 3) | $ |
| L | Room under the ceiling (F − J; negative means over) | $ |
| M | Completed rentals needed to fit the ceiling at this cost (G ÷ F, round up) | |
| N1 | New-customer spend (G1 + G2 + G3 + G4 × G6). Only if the campaign was shown only to people who haven't rented from you and H3 is 0 with no past customers among the leads. Otherwise N/A. | $ |
| N2 | Customer acquisition cost (N1 ÷ I). Compare with F: at or under F, first rentals pay back their acquisition on their own. | $ |
| CF | Cancellation fees kept from this cohort, less processing. Record only: don't subtract from G and don't count as rentals. | $ |
N/A rules (never enter 0 for a number you couldn't work out)
- H is 0: J and L are "N/A, no completed rentals". All of G went unrecovered. Decision: fix or stop.
- I is 0: K and N2 are "N/A, no new customers".
- F is 0 or less: L and M are N/A. Fix rates or costs first.
- New-customer spend can't be separated: N1 and N2 are N/A. Report K, labeled "blended".
Double-count check
- Each lead is in only one channel's cohort, and each booking is in only one cohort.
- No cost is entered in two lines or two channels. Shared costs are split by a rule written here:
- Spend on past renters whose window has closed is in Returning customers, not here. A shared past-renter ad is split once by the written rule, or this cohort is marked "provisional".
- A discount already taken out of earned revenue is not also entered in G7.
- Only rentals from this cohort's rows are counted, not every rental this month.
- Marketplace trips are left out of these counts (they belong in D2 on Sheet 3).
- Deposits, taxes and refunds are not revenue. Kept cancellation fees appear on line CF only.
Channel comparison
One column per closed cohort. Watch at least three cohorts before you cut or grow a channel. Small counts move a lot.
| Line | Channel / cohort: | Channel / cohort: | Channel / cohort: | Channel / cohort: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cohort cost (G) | ||||
| Leads | ||||
| Reservations | ||||
| Cancellations | ||||
| Completed rentals (H) | ||||
| Unique new customers (I) | ||||
| Cost per completed booking (J) | ||||
| Blended cost per new customer (K) | ||||
| Customer acquisition cost (N2) or N/A | ||||
| Ceiling (F) | ||||
| Room under ceiling (L) | ||||
| Cancellation fees kept (CF) | ||||
| Decision: keep, fix, shrink, stop |
Monthly close checklist
- Every inquiry from the cohort period has a first contact row and one channel.
- Every extra booking by this cohort's customers before the window closed has an extra booking row here, and in no other cohort.
- Rows still Open at close are changed to Not booked by close.
- Reservations = completed + canceled + reserved, not completed when the window closed.
- If a row still Reserved at close completes later, update its status, but leave the closed cohort's counts on Sheet 5 as they were.
- Ad spend matches the platform's bill for the cohort period, entered once.
- Hours up to first rental, hours on extra bookings and offers through the window's end are recorded once.
- Every number that couldn't be worked out says N/A, not 0.
- The ceiling uses depreciation plus loan interest, no principal. The rough cash check is done separately.
- Results copied to Sheet 5. Decision written down with the reason.
- Repeat headroom per new customer (not lifetime value) is used only where closed cohorts have measured it, and only against customer acquisition cost (N2), never against cost per completed booking (J).
Worked example (hypothetical)
Made-up October cohorts, followed to December 31, owner time at $25 an hour. Ceiling per completed rental: $60.00 (from the Sheet 3 example). Search ads reached everyone, including past customers. Social ads ran as a new-only campaign that left out the past-renter list. No offers were used.
| Line | Search ads | Social ads |
|---|---|---|
| G1 Ad spend | $600.00 | $250.00 |
| G2 Listing fees | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| G3 Other paid help | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| G4 Hours up to first rental | 10 | 4 |
| G5 Hours on extra bookings | 1 | 1 |
| G6 Value of one hour | $25.00 | $25.00 |
| G7 Offers not already out of revenue | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| G Cohort cost | $875.00 | $375.00 |
| R1 Leads | 40 | 22 |
| R2 Reservations | 12 | 9 |
| R3 Cancellations | 3 | 2 |
| R4 Reserved, not completed when the window closed | 0 | 0 |
| H Completed rentals | 9 | 7 |
| H1 First rentals by new customers | 7 | 6 |
| H2 Extra bookings by those new customers | 1 | 1 |
| H3 Rentals by past customers | 1 | 0 |
| I Unique new customers | 7 | 6 |
| J Cost per completed booking (G ÷ H) | $97.22 | $53.57 |
| K Blended cost per new customer (G ÷ I) | $125.00 | $62.50 |
| F Ceiling per completed rental | $60.00 | $60.00 |
| L Room under ceiling (F − J) | −$37.22 | $6.43 |
| M Completed rentals needed to fit (G ÷ F, rounded up) | 15 | 7 |
| N1 New-customer spend | N/A | $350.00 |
| N2 Customer acquisition cost (N1 ÷ I) | N/A | $58.33 |
| CF Cancellation fees kept, less processing | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Reading it: search ads cost $875 against the $540 their 9 rentals can carry (9 × $60), $335 over; they would need 15 completed rentals. A past customer came through search, so it has no true customer acquisition cost, only the blended $125.00. Social ads fit per booking ($375 against $420, or 7 × $60). Social's customer acquisition cost ($350 ÷ 6 = $58.33) is $1.67 under the ceiling, so its first rentals pay back on their own. Its blended $62.50 is higher only because it includes the 1 hour spent on the extra booking. These counts are small, so one cancellation changes the picture.