Reimbursement Request: turning support-call chaos into a self-serve flow

Outcomes first

Both key metrics continued improving steadily after launch — and beyond the numbers, the feature replaced a trust-eroding back-and-forth between Owners and Renters with a structured, trackable process.

The problem

Before this feature existed, an Owner seeking reimbursement — for damage, fuel, mileage overages — had exactly one tool: direct messaging the Renter. These exchanges occasionally went sour, producing bad experiences on both sides and a creeping culture of mistrust in the marketplace. Requests were untrackable for HyreCar, unmanageable for Owners, and a major operational cost: reimbursements drove 17% of all incoming Support calls.

We hypothesized a solution addressing five pain points:

• Let Owners submit reimbursement requests directly to Renters inside the app.
• Give Owners tools to manage each case through its full lifecycle.
• Let HyreCar track requests and maintain analytics.
• Extend the effective submission window with a draft/save capability.
• Ensure Renters received timely notifications with clear calls to action.

Discovery with real Owners

Supported by internal subject-matter experts — a Product Owner and Owner Representatives — I surveyed and interviewed both person-to-person (P2P) Owners and Fleet Managers, documenting the existing journey end to end: where requests stalled, where evidence got lost, where statuses became invisible.

We had a useful precedent in the existing insurance-claim submission flow, and mapped our core workflow against it. The two flows turned out to be conceptually almost too similar — which forced a deliberate pass on terminology and presentation so users could never confuse a reimbursement request with an insurance claim.

The key insight: 24 hours isn't enough

Demonstrating the happy path to our Fleet Manager partner and a handful of P2P Owners surfaced the pivotal finding: the 24-hour submission window was the deepest pain point. Owners weren't just struggling to track statuses — they often physically couldn't gather the required photo evidence in time.

The 24-hour window was a business rule we couldn't change. But we could design around it: a Draft state that grants Owners up to an additional 36 hours of grace to complete a saved request. One usability test of an early intake screen, in my own words from the original study, "completely failed" — and that failure directly shaped the status-display model we shipped.

The solution: a status dashboard, not a form

Designed in close collaboration with Owners, the final solution centers on a dashboard view tracking every request's status through its lifecycle — submitted, drafted, pending, resolved. It involved real compromise: Fleet Managers needed a scalable view across many vehicles, while most P2P Owners track a single car. The dashboard model served both without forking the experience.

SELECTED HYRECAR MOBILE DESIGNS — TAP ANY SCREEN TO VIEW FULL LENGTH

Outcome