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XYO: How the Blockchain Can Help Rental Car Companies Track Those Lost Keys

How the Blockchain Can Help Track Those Lost Keys

It’s no secret that people lose things like their car keys. Being able to track down the last place you saw them takes up time and energy and sometimes costs you money. It’s irritating as hell! Where are they!?  I drove here, so they have to be somewhere.

Lost Keys
Lost Keys

Now imagine this problem but exponentially bigger with tons of keys, tons of people losing them all over the country. This problem is costing rental car companies money to deal with this very issue.

Since we can’t take the human aspect of losing things out of the scenario, what can we do to remedy such an asinine waste of resources and money? The launch of blockchain technology for cryptocurrencies evolves daily and new uses are coming to light, one such use for this technology is tracking these lost keys.

Finding lost is hardly brain surgery, but the concept behind saving money and tracking where your keys are is a constant struggle for rental car companies. They rent the cars out and during the time a customer has a car, they lose the keys, or they forget to return the keys. They may even jump on their flight home with the keys still in their pocket putting hundreds and even thousands of miles between the business and its keys.

Car keys aren’t cheap either! It’s not like 20 years ago when the key would merely open your car, now keys will start your car, pop the trunk, open doors, roll down windows and they are encrypted so you can start your car without even entering the key into the ignition.

The average cost to replace one of these keys is $250 or more. This cost comes without the key being programmed, so you still have to program it or pay a dealership to program the key for you. You can see how this can quickly add up and take away from a company’s bottom line and all for someone losing their car keys.

You can typically rent a car for $12/ day aside from taxes, fees, and whatnot. If you rent a car for one day and return it the next, even if you rent a compact car, the key usually has a convenience feature or two on it.

If you lose that key and that car cannot be rented until a new key is purchased and programmed, the car rental company loses not only its daily revenue from loaning the car out, but it will need to rent that car out for over 21 more days to recoup the lost revenue of replacing that one car key. This problem needs to be solved.

A new project build on the blockchain has recognized that solving this problem is a potential lifesaver for rental car companies.  The XY Oracle Network, or XYO, is applying their pilot blockchain project to the rental car industry to solve the problem.  Rental car companies that deploy the XYO network stand to save not only monies from lost keys, but the hours of staff trying to track down these lost keys, and enabling the rental car companies to get the cars back out to the next paying customer.

Car Keys
Car Keys

Car Keys

After the pilot with rental car companies, XYO can begin implementing this technology across other industries. Commercial airlines would be able to utilize this technology to track lost or misplaced luggage. Another industry that would benefit from this location ledger would be security companies.

Security companies who manage a multitude of business and locations have keys and access to them to ensure they are safe and secure. The security officers who routinely check these residences and or businesses are required to keep track of all of the keys, codes, key fobs and other means of entering and securing a location.

If these keys are lost they have to report back to their customer with the issue. This issue not only reflects poorly on the business it also leaves the customer’s home or business unsecured until a resolution has been made. While most security companies are not large scale, this type of technology if made readily available would directly benefit them and their bottom line. If a security guard loses access to a client’s property a replacement is needed and paid for by the security company.

After repaying the customer for the lost key, there is usually no guarantee that the customer will stay with them after the mishap.

The pilot XYO Network has launched with a large rental car company is able to provide tracking information that can help locate these keys, in essence, save the company money and the industry itself millions each year. XYO’s platform has a trustless location ledger that both the customer and business can use to verify the lost keys. Allowing both the business and the customer the same access should also reduce disputes over whether or not the keys were in fact returned or not.

Lost Car Keys
Lost Car Keys

While it’s not as frequent of a problem for the rental car industry, this technology can also be used to track of the location of their cars. If one was to be lost or stolen the cars can be installed with a tracking device that is also logged on the open ledger for both the customer and company to verify its location.

Using a crypto-location network basically means that the item or items being tracked are being logged into an open ledger that is verifiable. Having this tracking allows for someone to locate the items and with the security of crypto technology, it is considered tamperproof. This technology would enable the rental car company to know where their cars and keys are at all times reducing costs and increasing revenue. The question, “Where are my keys!?” will always have an answer.

Check out our complete list of affordable hotels and resorts via Agoda or you may also see available Airbnb properties in the city.

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Written by Melo Villareal

Melo Villareal is the Online Publisher of Outoftownblog.com. He is an Accountant by profession who left the corporate world at the age of 23 to explore his beautiful country and the rest of the world. Today, Melo works as a part-time Social Media Manager for local and international clients. His full-time work focuses on discovering interesting culture, explore different cuisines and take memorable photos from local and international destinations he's visiting.

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(Marketing Director Chad Sotelo, Business Unit Head for IT & Mobile Jerry Manus, President Kevin Lee, Business Unit Advisor for IT & Mobile Min Su Chu, Product Marketing Manager for Flagship Smartphones Lea Cua, Marketing Manager for Flagship Smartphones Chiqui Tapawan, and Product Marketing Head for IT & Mobile Ivan Pua) were joined by the S9 and S9+ ambassadors, Georgina Wilson and Solenn Heussaff, to toast the successful unveiling of the Galaxy S9 and S9+: The Camera Reimagined.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ officially launches in the Philippines – enters the market March 16, 2018

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