Sixt Orange · Agent checkout
Two screens, one conversation — rethinking the rental counter
Case study
2023–25
Desktop · Tablet · Agent-facing
Context
Orange is the tool SIXT agents use to check customers out at the counter, at every SIXT branch worldwide. Counter agents, branch managers, back office and call centre teams all work in it, from a small city branch with one counter to an airport with twelve.
Customers who already checked in on SIXT Xpress skip most of it and go straight to key handover.
The goal: a faster checkout that still leaves room for the right upgrade.
A tired traveller lands after a long flight. At the counter, the agent turns the monitor around to show them a car.
Behind that screen:
a decades-old desktop system, and 13 minutes for every rental.
The problem
The old system was a cockpit nobody else could read.
• Text-heavy screens, many windows and keyboard codes that took a long time to learn.
• The same details typed again and again.
• No account was linked at checkout, so every rental created a new one. Thousands of duplicates followed, and with them, wrong invoices.
• Long, separate steps for upgrades and extras.
• The customer couldn't see any of it, so agents turned the monitor around.
What was at stake
13 min
for every rental, at every counter
Every branch
from small city branches to the busiest airports
The counter
where most upgrades and extras are sold
My role
I led the design of Orange end to end: the homepage and reservation lists, the checkout flow, key handover on desktop and tablet, returns, invoice correction, walk-in bookings, and both the agent's screen and the customer's screen. I worked with product, engineering, branch operations, legal, payments and the training team. Two designers helped with explorations along the way.
Agents talk while they type.
Learning at the counter
I spent time at several branches in Munich and Zurich, interviewed agents, tested prototypes at real counters and read the data. Orange had to work for two kinds of agents: the veteran who knows every keyboard code by heart, and the new agent in week one, lost between windows.
The biggest lesson was simple: agents keep their eyes on the customer, not the screen. So the screen had to:
be read at a glance
ask for as little typing as possible
let the customer see for themselves
What guided the design
Eyes on the customer
the agent glances, never searches.
Avoid typeing twice
if we know it, we fill it.
Show, don't explain
the customer's screen does the talking.
One flow for every case
bookings, walk-ins and handovers alike.
A conversation, not a transaction.
Connecting the customer first
The biggest time saver wasn't a screen. It was linking every checkout to the customer's account and the right profile, private or business. Once that link is made, documents, payment and personal details fill in on their own. Orange suggests the match from the booking, and the agent can change it. Loyalty status is highlighted, and higher tiers are offered free upgrades.
The same link let the team clean up thousands of duplicate accounts, and invoice corrections dropped noticeably.
Four steps: Warm welcome, Easy checkout, Documentation and accounts, Fond farewell. Agents can move freely between the first three; the last one opens only when everything is ready. A summary of the rental, the price and any notes stays in view the whole time.
Two screens, one conversation
A tablet faces the customer and follows every step. When the agent offers a car, the customer sees it: photo, model, key specs and the price difference. The agent chooses what appears, one offer or two to compare, never more. In tests, more choice only slowed people down.
Honest by design
At first, agents worried that a customer screen would take the sale out of their hands. Giving them control over what the customer sees changed that. Customers now check their own details, see every protection package side by side, and read the deposit as what it is: money held until the car comes back, not a charge. Fewer surprises on the invoice, fewer arguments later.
Speed and sales, together
The hardest problem was making checkout faster without losing the conversation that sells the right upgrade. So:
Upgrades and extras appear inside the flow at the natural moment, not as an extra step.
The best-fit car and package are suggested first.
The customer's screen does the showing.
A customer who says no is one tap away from moving on.
Built for every counter
Key handover. Customers who checked in online get their car at the desk, or on a tablet right next to it in the parking area.
Walk-ins. One early version had a shorter flow. One flow won: easier to learn, and the upgrade conversation stays in.
Busy airports. Agents prepare checkouts before customers arrive, and see how long the queue is.
Returns and corrections. Mileage, fuel and the final invoice, with corrections for billing details afterwards.
Experienced hands. A clear screen for new agents, keyboard shortcuts for veterans.
When faster wasn't better
I added a live timer to the checkout, so agents could see their pace. It worked too well. Agents started rushing and skipping the conversations that help customers choose. So I made the timer quieter, and worked with product to move the goal from speed alone to revenue and customer satisfaction.
Rolled out release by release
Orange started small: a homepage, a reservation list and a basic checkout. The old system ran alongside it while agents moved over. New agents took to it quickly; veterans needed convincing. Every release came back from the counter with something to fix, and by 2025 checkout time had come down from 13 minutes to about 7.
Outcome
↓
checkout time
13 → ~7 min — checkout time per rental
↓
Training time
Much shorter — training for new agents
↓
Correction
Fewer — invoice corrections
↑
Transparency
More transparent — how customers describe the counter
Looking back
If I started again, I would build one global search first. A booking, a handover, an active rental and an invoice are really stages of the same rental. The next step is one home page for all of them, with one search.
Faster checkout mattered. Getting it right for the customer mattered more.
