RENTQUAL: A new measurement scale for car rental services

Abstract

Service quality perception is one of the key determinants of customer satisfaction and repeat purchase. As such, it has received considerable attention in the marketing literature. Quality issues in the car rental industry, however, have received less attention. Furthermore, there is lack of a scale developed to measure service quality in car rental services. This paper aims to develop a measurement scale in accordance with the procedure recommended by Churchill (1979) and Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988). Empirical studies were conducted in two waves. First, qualitative research was undertaken in the form of 23 in-depth interviews that produced 61 items describing tourists' perceptions. Then, a quantitative study was used to purify the scale items and to examine dimensionality, reliability, factor structure and validity. Finally, an 18-item RENTQUAL scale with the following six factors emerged: comfort, delivery, safety, handing over, ergonomics and accessibility. Results show that safety is the most important factor in car rental services. Paper also presents scale development procedure, discussion, implications and limitations.