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Porthline Digital

For UK vehicle-hire firms on ProHire

Automation for UK hire desks that run ProHire

I have years of hands-on experience with ProHire, so I know what ProHire days look like. I've built a system that sits alongside ProHire for independents: it helps with the mailbox, availability and quotes from your own rate card, and the admin nobody wants. Staff stay in control. In the current drafts-only setup, nothing goes to a customer unless someone approves it.

Hire vans parked in a yard

In short

Live with a UK hire firm since 12 October 2026. Today it drafts replies for staff to approve, mirrors ProHire availability and rate-card pricing for quoting, and helps sort the bookings mailbox. Where it is heading includes amendments, after-hours cover, and PCN matching once the right ProHire platform pieces are in place. Features switch on or off.

Live

What it does today

Running now with a UK hire firm. Staff approve every reply.

Keys and a booking diary on a hire desk

  • Reads and sorts the mailbox

    New mail into the bookings inbox is read and sorted, so enquiries, changes and admin are not all in one pile.

  • Drafts replies for staff approval

    Replies are drafted with the details filled in. Staff check them, edit if they want to, and send.

  • Mirrors ProHire availability

    Availability comes from a ProHire export, so a draft quote works from what is actually free.

  • Prices from your rate card

    Quotes are worked out from your own rate card, so staff are checking a price, not building one.

  • A staff page and alerts for your team

    One page shows staff what is waiting, and an alert reaches the team when something needs a person.

  • Monitoring

    I keep an eye on it running, and I hear about it if something stops.

  • Works with your staff through their channel

    Staff can review drafts, respond to the assistant and provide decisions or business facts through their staff channel.

  • Applies staff decisions to future drafts

    It uses staff-confirmed answers and decisions to inform later drafts, so replies follow the way your desk already works.

Built but switched off for now

Neither is in use. They stay off until the firm chooses to turn them on.

Holding replies

A short acknowledgement for new enquiries is built, with the send gate closed. It sends nothing until the firm decides to open it.

More reply types

Further types of reply are added as staff come to trust the drafts, one type at a time.

Where it is heading

None of this is switched on yet, and some of it depends on what the ProHire platform makes available.

  • Amendments to existing bookings.
  • After-hours cover for the enquiry types you pick.
  • Desk metrics, so you can see where the desk's time goes.
  • PCN matching, where the ProHire platform supports it.
  • Answers to damage and utilisation questions from your own records.
  • Writing bookings back into ProHire, where the platform allows it.

How much it does is your call

Today it runs in drafts-only mode. If you choose to go further later, selected routine replies can be approved for unattended sending, one type at a time. You choose each step and can switch it off again.

  1. Drafts onlyToday

    Everything is a draft. Staff approve every reply before it goes.

  2. Out of hoursLater option

    Selected replies could go out while the desk is shut.

  3. Unattended for selected typesLater option

    Selected routine replies could go out without waiting, during the day too.

  4. Wider coverLater option

    More of the desk's routine work could follow, as far as the firm wants to take it.

Who it is for

  • Independent UK vehicle-hire firms running ProHire.
  • Google Workspace and Outlook or Microsoft 365 mailboxes supported.
  • Built to work alongside the booking system you already run. ProHire is the live booking-system integration.

Start with a free audit of your hire desk

I'll look at how enquiries arrive, how your staff handle them and where repetitive work builds up. I'll then tell you plainly what I would automate first and what it would cost.

There is no obligation to go ahead.

A hire van on a single-track road

Pricing

If you decide to go ahead, there is a setup fee and a monthly fee. I agree both with you after the audit, based on the work you want it to take on.

Where it is running

It has been live since 12 October 2026 with a UK hire firm, drafting replies that their staff approve. It is one firm, and I won't put numbers on this page until they have been measured.

Questions hire desks ask

Not in the current drafts-only setup. Staff check and approve every reply, and holding replies are built but their send gate is closed. Later, a firm can choose unattended sending for selected routine reply types, with clear limits and the ability to switch it off again. That is an optional later step, not how the live system runs today.

No. It sits alongside ProHire and works from what ProHire gives it, such as an availability export. Your team keeps using ProHire as they do now. It is my own system, independent of ProHire, and not made or endorsed by them.

Yes. Outlook and Microsoft 365 are supported through the Port integration. Google Workspace is supported too.

I don't name the firm on this page. It is a UK hire firm, and I'm happy to talk you through how it runs there on a call.

The same approach can work with other rental systems, depending on what they allow. See hire and rental automation for how I check that.

If your desk runs on ProHire, get in touch

Ring or email and tell me what you need. I'll tell you straight whether this would help. I'm happy to start with a free audit of how your desk works.

Call 01463 589301Email cal@porthlinedigital.co.uk

Based near Nairn, working across the UK.