One QR code per vehicle: why and how

Flotly Team - published 11 September 2026 · 6 min read

A QR code on each vehicle links to its bookable page, identifies the right vehicle without error and opens a contactless journey. What it encodes, where to place it, how to print it.

A QR code per vehicle is a printed label, stuck on the vehicle or handed over with the keys, that links to the online page of that specific vehicle: availability, price, booking. It does three things: it identifies the right vehicle without error, it lets a customer book or find their booking from the car park, and it gives your team a single entry point to the vehicle without typing a registration number. It contains no personal data: only a link.

Here is what you need to know to set it up: what the code encodes, where to place it, what format to print it in, and the mistakes to avoid.

What a vehicle QR code encodes

A QR code is simply a link encoded as an image. In Flotly, each vehicle has its own code, generated from the back office, which opens the vehicle’s page in your online booking catalogue, under your brand. A second mode links to the list of vehicles in the same category, useful when the exact unit matters less than the type (a 12 m³ van, an e-scooter). A code for the whole catalogue also exists, for your shop window or your printed materials.

The code gives access to nothing private. A customer file, a condition report or a rental agreement cannot be opened from a QR code stuck on a door: that access goes through an account or a dedicated session.

Why one code per vehicle, and not one for the branch

• No ambiguity: two identical vehicles in a car park can no longer be mixed up. The customer scans and lands on the right page, at the right price.
• The car park becomes a point of sale: a passer-by who scans sees the availability and can book without walking into the branch.
• The vehicle carries its own link: on a self-service scooter, on a bike, on a van parked at a building site, there is sometimes nobody around to help.
• Your team saves a step: no need to type a registration number to find a vehicle record.

Where to place the code

• Car or van: inside the windscreen on the passenger side (readable from outside, protected from rain and car washes), or on the driver’s door pillar.
• Two-wheelers: on the leg shield or under the seat, on a flat surface, protected by a film.
• Bike or e-scooter: on the frame, at hand height, away from areas that rub.
• On the key fob: a second code on the key tag makes the vehicle identifiable at the counter even when it isn’t in front of you.

In every case: a clean, dry surface when you apply the label, no tinted or heat-reflective glass that disrupts scanning, and a test with two different phones before rolling it out across the fleet.

Printing: format, size, contrast

Flotly exports each code as PNG and SVG. SVG is the format to give a professional printer: being vector-based, it scales up without loss for a plate or a shop window. PNG is enough for office printing on adhesive labels.

1. Size: a code must stay readable from the distance at which it will be scanned. For a windscreen, a few centimetres per side is enough; for a shop window read from the pavement, go bigger and test.
2. Contrast: a dark code on a light background, never the reverse on a reflective surface.
3. Margin: keep the white area around the code (the “quiet zone”). A code stuck edge to edge on a dark background becomes unreadable.
4. Material: laminated vinyl label for outdoors; laminated paper for a shop window; a tag for the key fob.
5. A line of text under the code: “Scan to book this vehicle” and the name of your branch. The code on its own doesn’t say what it is for.

Mistakes that cost you a reprint

• Printing a code that points to a temporary address or to a subdomain you plan to change: the code must point to your final domain. Generate it once your white label is set up.
• Sticking the same code on two vehicles “for now”: that is exactly the problem a per-vehicle code is meant to remove.
• A tiny code on dark bodywork, or behind tinted glass.
• Not removing the code from a vehicle that has left the fleet: people will keep scanning it.

What the customer sees after scanning

The vehicle’s page in your catalogue: photos, price, options, availability calendar, and the booking button with online payment, advance payment and security deposit included, as explained in rental security deposits: pre-authorisation, capture, release. If they already have an account with you, they find their bookings there. The journey is the one of your online catalogue: the QR code is just a physical entry point to a digital storefront.