How SANI SIXT solves for payments challenges in the car rental space, with Stitch

Pre-authorisations are standard practice in car rental. When a customer collects a vehicle, the provider places a hold on their card to cover the rental period and any potential additional charges. The problem was in what happened next.

“Historically, the biggest pain point was managing pre-authorisations and, more importantly, releasing those funds once a rental was complete,” says Bertus Floor, Group Digital Officer at SANI SIXT. “The process of releasing those funds was often handled through multiple systems and could involve manual intervention, making it difficult for both customers and rental providers to track the status of the release.”

For customers, this created real uncertainty about money they knew was tied up but had no visibility over. For SANI SIXT's operations teams, it introduced manual overhead and limited control across a high-volume, time-sensitive environment.

Consistency across locations added further complexity. With customers collecting and returning vehicles at airports and branches throughout South Africa, any variation in payment processes increased training burden, error risk and the difficulty of maintaining compliance and internal controls.

SANI SIXT recognised that payment technology had advanced enough to address these challenges. What they needed was a partner willing to build a solution rather than hand over a standard product. “We weren't simply looking for a payment processor. We were looking for a technology partner that shared our commitment to innovation and customer experience,” says Floor.

Stitch worked closely with the SANI SIXT team to automate and streamline the payment lifecycle end to end. The scope spans both online and in-person channels, with all teams operating within a single consolidated payments ecosystem.

The centrepiece of the collaboration is an automated pre-authorisation release flow. When a rental closes and all obligations are met, the hold release is triggered immediately, without manual intervention. “The rental provider can now ensure the release is actioned promptly once the rental is closed, improving visibility for customers and reducing uncertainty around the end-of-rental payment process,” says Floor.

For corporate clients, Stitch supports structured account-based payment processes with the reporting and flexibility their programmes require. For individual travellers, the experience is transparent at every stage of the rental journey. “Stitch effectively bridged the gap we identified for leisure customers who need access to their pre-auth funds as soon as the rental is completed,” says Floor.

Having a single provider across both channels has also changed how the business operates day to day. “Having a single payment partner across both channels provides a unified view of transactions throughout the business,” says Floor. “Beyond simplifying reconciliation and reporting, it has improved efficiency by enabling all teams to work within a consolidated, automated payments ecosystem.”