Car Access Retrofit: 5 Reasons Why

Connectivity opens up new opportunities to develop and improve vehicles and mobility services. But the average age of a car on Europe’s roads is close to 11 years. Only less than 20% are 4 years or younger and therefore potentially have connected car features.¹ Hence, connected mobility is still not an everyday phenomenon and that’s exactly where retrofitting comes into play. One big part of retrofitting is car access. 

Car access retrofit means the modernisation and completion of access to existing cars. Even older cars can be equipped with a modern access solution and upgraded—quickly and at very low cost. The flinkey car sharing box by WITTE Digital is such a car access retrofit solution. It’s a plug-and-play solution for distributed, keyless car access. The unlock mechanism is based on Tapkey’s access technology, which was integrated using our open API and Mobile SDK. Nearly 80% of available cars in Europe can be equipped. Hence it’s ideal for car rental companies and fleet managers. Check out the advantages.

1. Ease of Use

First, you register the box with the app and then place it with your car keys inside in any place in your vehicle, e.g. in the trunk or the passenger footwell. Super easy and straightforward. Now you’re ready to go! Whether 5 vehicles, 50 or 500, no matter which fleet you are managing: You can assign and revoke authorisations individually and at any time. This means maximum ease of use and maximum convenience for drivers. If you want to get more details on your fleet, you can also collect telematics data with an additional dongle. 

2. Low Cost

High cost of OEM access solutions prevent the majority of drivers from enjoying enhanced safety and a user-friendly access experience. Retrofit access solutions are more affordable. Of course, you have to buy the hardware. Additionally, you have to pay a monthly fee, but it doesn’t cost more than what you would pay for your Netflix account.

3. Installation Within Minutes

The car sharing box is the only digital key management system for cars that does not require any setup in terms of CAN integration or disassembly of car keys. The installation is very simple and takes as much time as watching an average YouTube video. Yes, it’s true: It can be installed within a few minutes by any person. There is no mechanic needed, which means that there are no additional costs for installation. It’s completely non-invasive with all vehicles available even during installation. No cables need to be laid inside the car door and nothing is changed in the electronics of the vehicle. Hence, there are no problems with the warranty of the car.

4. Works Offline

Other than many other solutions, the flinkey box doesn’t depend on internet connectivity. It comes with a high degree of flexibility and helps maintain workflows and processes independently of connectivity—be it in the countryside or in a parking garage. 

5. Simple Integration Into Business Systems

flinkey is integrative by design. The technology comes with a powerful API and SDK to facilitate the use of the service for a large variety of use cases, from team sharing to fleet logistics. By integrating the API and SDK into your process, it’s even possible to enable suppliers stock their service fleets overnight without the exchange of a key.