Enhancing Penske’s truck rental experience
As the UX Designer on the Penske Rental App project, I design efforts aimed at improving the digital rental experience for users booking vehicles via their website. The goal was to reduce user friction, clarify next steps, and ensure confidence throughout the rental process—from booking to pickup.
The project began with qualitative research methods, including intercept and phone interviews with users across various journey stages. Insights gathered informed a set of design and content recommendations, which were later mapped against an Impact vs. Effort matrix to guide implementation priorities.
My role
Wireframing | Research | Information architecture | Interaction design | UI design | Design QA
Impact and results
The redesign of Penske’s truck reservation experience delivered a faster, clearer, and more customer-friendly booking process. By simplifying language, reducing the number of screens, and reordering steps to align with customer mental models, the experience became more intuitive and supportive.
User feedback highlighted increased trust, appreciation for cost-saving transparency, and a stronger sense that Penske was there to help. These improvements led to reduced drop-off rates, fewer support inquiries, and quicker bookings—ultimately boosting customer satisfaction and conversions.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
10% increase
Usage for return transactions
15% increase
Confidence rating (measured via intercept feedback)
22% higher confidence
Customer support calls about pickup instructions
18% reduction
“I like the new version. It’s ‘let us serve you’ oriented.
‘Where do you need us to be?’ I like the wording.”
“The price comparison tool is great! I love it! I know where I can pick up. I know I can save money.”
Original design
Design challenge and goals
User research revealed that Penske’s booking experience was fragmented, with confusing policy language and too many screens—often leaving customers unsure or frustrated.
Our challenge was to streamline the flow and create a more supportive, trustworthy experience that helps customers make confident decisions.
Our key goals were to:
Present policies in clear, customer-friendly language
Optimize workflows by consolidating steps
Guide users to avoid backtracking
Use visuals to aid understanding and speed up decisions
Improve tone to make customers feel valued and informed
Make price comparisons quick and easy
Highlight savings to build trust and drive conversions
Design spotlight
Once we began uncovering the needs of truck renters, I sketched several exploratory workflows for testing, including:
A traditional flow, mirroring related experiences, where users first selected dates and pickup/drop-off locations.
A reversed approach, starting with truck selection before choosing locations and dates.
A conversational, guided interaction model.
A simplified, single-page scrollable layout with all selections visible at once.
The final design direction retained familiar workflow steps but restructured them to better align with users’ mental models and adapt dynamically based on prior selections.
Our redesigned rental interface combines conversational language, an intuitive comparison tool, and a dynamic editable sidebar—enabling customers to explore options and make changes without backtracking through screens.
Our location selection screen combines an interactive map with distance-based availability, giving customers clear spatial understanding of their pickup and drop-off options.
In addition to the detailed workflows, our comparison poster helped the client visualize how the new rental process dramatically streamlines their customer experience—reducing steps, consolidating screens, and reorganizing tasks for a more intuitive and efficient booking journey.
Customers preferred a conversational tone like “Where do you need us to be?” over transactional language.
Trust increased when customers were notified when a round-trip rental would be cheaper than a one-way rental for short distances.
Comparison tools for price, availability, trucks, dates, and locations empowered decision-making.