Ritesh

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Luxury Car Rental Platform, Redesigned

Project Details

My Role

Product Designer & Founding Designer. Solely responsible for the end-to-end creation of the MVP:

Context

Upcar is a mobile‑first car rental app that connects busy professionals with trusted local car owners and delivers the car directly to them—no counters, no paperwork, no hidden fees.

The vision: bring the convenience of app‑based services into the world of premium car rentals.

At this stage, Upcar was an early prototype. To become a real product, the team needed:

A smooth experience for hosts to onboard and list their cars
A clear, trustworthy flow for guests to search, compare, and book
A design foundation that could scale as Upcar expanded to more cities and car categories

The Problem

How do we design a marketplace where both hosts and guests can complete key tasks without getting stuck?

Early tests exposed several issues:

Hosts

Listing a car felt long and scattered.
Pricing, availability, and delivery settings were split across screens.
Many hosts abandoned the flow before publishing their car.

Guests

Booking felt confusing and easy to break.
Total price and requirements weren’t clearly explained.
Some users lost progress or logged out mid‑booking.

User Problem: People wanted to use the app but failed at core tasks (listing, booking) due to confusing flows and weak feedback.

Business Problem: If hosts cannot list and guests cannot book, the marketplace cannot grow inventory or revenue.

How do we design a marketplace where both hosts and guests can complete key tasks without getting stuck?

Early tests exposed several issues:

Hosts

Listing a car felt long and scattered.
Pricing, availability, and delivery settings were split across screens.
Many hosts abandoned the flow before publishing their car.

Guests

Booking felt confusing and easy to break.
Total price and requirements weren’t clearly explained.
Some users lost progress or logged out mid‑booking.

The Solution

Make renting a car through Upcar feel as simple as purchasing something online.

Instead of exposing all operational complexity to users, the redesign focused on familiar patterns:

Guided steps for hosts, similar to wizards used in onboarding tools.
A booking flow that behaves like checkout in an online store.
Clear hierarchy and trust‑first visuals for a premium, yet approachable experience.

Design Decisions

1. Guided host listing flow

To reduce drop‑offs, the host flow was rebuilt as a step‑by‑step wizard:

Grouped information into logical steps: car details, photos, pricing, and policies.
Added inline validation and helper text to prevent errors early.
Used smart defaults and suggestions (e.g., price ranges) to reduce cognitive load.

This turned listing from a confusing multi‑page process into a clear journey that hosts could finish in one session.

2. Streamlined guest booking flow

Guests now move through a focused booking experience:

Grouped information into logical steps: car details, photos, pricing, and policies.
Car, dates, delivery method, and total price appear in a single, structured flow.
A progress indicator and confirmation states show users where they are and what’s next.
Non‑essential steps were removed or postponed to after booking, reducing friction.

The result is a booking flow that feels close to standard checkout, making it easier for guests to commit.

Designing for trust

Because Upcar relies on everyday hosts, trust is crucial:

Visible verification signals (profile, rating, “verified host” badges).
Transparent price breakdown with no hidden fees.
Trip‑status indicators and clear messages before, during, and after the rental.

4. Lean design system

To support fast iteration, a compact design system was created:

Core components: cards, buttons, inputs, search filters, chips, navigation bars, progress indicators.

Token‑based foundations for color, typography, spacing, and elevation tuned to a premium brand feel.
Basic documentation so engineers could reuse components and ship new screens consistently.

Visible verification signals (profile, rating, “verified host” badges).
Transparent price breakdown with no hidden fees.
Trip‑status indicators and clear messages before, during, and after the rental.

4. Lean design system

To support fast iteration, a compact design system was created:

Core components: cards, buttons, inputs, search filters, chips, navigation bars, progress indicators.

Token‑based foundations for color, typography, spacing, and elevation tuned to a premium brand feel.
Basic documentation so engineers could reuse components and ship new screens consistently.

Visible verification signals (profile, rating, “verified host” badges).
Transparent price breakdown with no hidden fees.
Trip‑status indicators and clear messages before, during, and after the rental.

We followed Atomic Design theory to build a component.

40+ ❖ Component

Showing a few examples from 40+ components.

Outcome & Learnings

After the redesign, hosts found it easier to list cars and guests could complete bookings with far fewer obstacles, making the MVP ready for real‑world testing and growth.

Key learnings:

In marketplaces, broken flows directly translate into lost revenue, not just bad UX.
Clear steps, feedback, and trust cues matter more than adding extra features.
Investing early in a simple design system keeps the product coherent as the team scales.