🚗 Introduction

Building a car rental platform involves much more than displaying a list of vehicles. It requires secure authentication, booking validation, role-based access control, database management, and a responsive user experience. This project was developed to simulate a real-world car rental system where customers can easily rent vehicles online while owners can efficiently manage their fleet.

✨ Key Features

Customer Features

Secure user registration and login using JWT Authentication
Browse all available rental cars
View detailed car information
Book vehicles for selected dates
Prevent duplicate bookings through date validation
View booking history and booking status
Responsive interface for desktop and mobile devices

Owner Features

Dedicated owner dashboard
Add new cars with images
Update or delete existing listings
View all customer bookings
Manage vehicle availability

🛠 Technology Stack

Frontend

React.js
Vite
Tailwind CSS
React Router
Axios

Backend

Node.js
Express.js

Database

MongoDB Atlas
Mongoose

Authentication

JWT (JSON Web Token)

Image Storage

ImageKit

Deployment

Vercel
MongoDB Atlas

⚙️ How It Works

Users create an account or log in securely.
Customers browse available cars and select a vehicle.
The system validates the selected booking dates.
If the vehicle is available, the booking is confirmed and stored in the database.
Customers can view their bookings from their dashboard.
Owners manage vehicles and monitor all bookings through a dedicated dashboard.

🏗 Project Architecture

React Frontend
       │
 REST API Requests
       │
Express.js Backend
       │
 ├── Authentication
 ├── Car Management
 ├── Booking Management
 └── User Management
       │
MongoDB Atlas Database

🔒 Security Features

JWT-based Authentication
Protected API Routes
Role-Based Authorization
Secure Password Storage
Booking Conflict Validation
Server-side Input Validation

📂 Folder Structure

project/
│
├── client/
│   ├── components/
│   ├── pages/
│   ├── context/
│   ├── assets/
│   └── services/
│
├── server/
│   ├── controllers/
│   ├── models/
│   ├── routes/
│   ├── middleware/
│   ├── config/
│   └── utils/
│
└── README.md

💡 Challenges Faced

Implementing secure authentication using JWT
Preventing overlapping bookings
Managing role-based access for customers and owners
Optimizing image loading with ImageKit
Designing reusable React components
Building scalable REST APIs