Understanding Fleets - Organize Your Rental Inventory

Fleets are how you organize your rental inventory in RecSystems. Think of a fleet as a category or collection of similar rental items—like grouping all your pontoon boats together, or all your jet skis in one place.

What Is a Fleet?

A fleet is a container that groups similar rental units. Instead of having a long, unorganized list of equipment, fleets let you categorize your inventory in a way that makes sense for both you and your customers.

Example: A lake rental business might have these fleets: - Pontoon Boats — All pontoon units - Fishing Boats — Bass boats and fishing vessels - Jet Skis — Personal watercraft - Kayaks & Paddleboards — Human-powered watercraft

When customers visit your booking website, they'll see these organized categories, making it easy to find what they want.

Why Use Fleets?

For Your Customers

- Easy browsing — Customers can quickly find the type of rental they want

- Clear organization — Each category has its own description and photos

- Better experience — No scrolling through unrelated equipment

For Your Business

- Organized dashboard — See all units grouped logically

- Fleet-level settings — Apply add-ons and waivers to entire categories

- Better reporting — Track performance by fleet type

- Efficient management — Make changes to groups of units at once

Fleet Types

RecSystems supports many rental business types. When creating a fleet, you'll choose a fleet type that best matches your equipment:

The fleet type helps RecSystems optimize the display and features for your specific rental business.

What You Can Set for Each Fleet

When you create or edit a fleet, you can configure:

Basic Information

- Name — The fleet's display name (e.g., "Luxury Pontoon Boats")

- Type — The category of equipment

- Labels — Singular and plural labels for customer display

Marketing Content

- Headline — A short, catchy tagline

- Subheadline — Supporting text for your headline

- Description — Detailed information about this fleet

Fleet Settings

- Published — Whether customers can see this fleet

- Add-ons — Extra items available for units in this fleet

- Waivers — Required liability waivers for this fleet

How Fleets, Units, and Locations Work Together

Understanding the relationship between fleets, units, and locations is important:

Account (Your Business)
├── Fleet: Pontoon Boats
│   ├── Unit: 22ft Bennington
│   ├── Unit: 24ft Tritoon
│   └── Unit: 20ft Party Barge
├── Fleet: Jet Skis
│   ├── Unit: Yamaha WaveRunner
│   └── Unit: Sea-Doo Spark
└── Fleet: Kayaks
    ├── Unit: Single Kayak
    └── Unit: Tandem Kayak

Each unit can be available at one or more locations.

Key points: - Each unit belongs to exactly one fleet - Fleets contain any number of units - Units can be available at multiple locations - Add-ons are assigned at the fleet level

Creating Your First Fleet

Ready to set up your first fleet? Here's the quick process:

1. Go to Account → Fleets in the navbar
2. Click Create Fleet
3. Choose a fleet type that matches your equipment
4. Enter a name for your fleet
5. Click Create

That's it! You can always add more details later. Once your fleet is created, you can start adding rental units to it.

Tip: Start with your most popular equipment type. You can add more fleets as you grow.

Best Practices

Naming Your Fleets

- Use clear, descriptive names customers will understand

- Include the equipment type (e.g., "Pontoon Boats" not just "Boats")

- Consider using size or style categories if you have many similar items

Organizing Your Inventory

- Group by equipment type, not by location

- Create separate fleets for significantly different equipment

- Don't create too many fleets—aim for clear, distinct categories

When to Create a New Fleet

Create a new fleet when:

- You have a different type of equipment

- Equipment requires different add-ons or waivers

- Pricing structures are significantly different

- You want separate marketing content

Next Steps

Now that you understand fleets:

1. Create your fleets — Set up categories for your equipment types
2. Add units — Add your individual rental items to each fleet
3. Configure add-ons — Set up extras customers can add
4. Set up locations — Define where customers can pick up rentals

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Related Articles: - Adding Rental Units - Add-Ons & Extras - Creating Your First Fleet