INTRODUCTION

A vehicle transponder is a product developed by various companies which plugs into the vehicle's OBD2 port. It transmits vehicle information wirelessly to a receiving device (base station) which is connected via the internet to a host system. The transponder's host posts the information received so it can be read by a 3rd party such as Thermeon. Currently CARS+ interfaces with vehicle transponders at the following points:

Thermeon supports two transponder systems:
JumpDrive ( https://www.jumpdrive.com/hardware/ )
Geotab ( https://www.geotab.com/ )


Prior to doing any of the set up steps listed below, Thermeon Customer Support must first do some basic configuration to your system to use these devices.

I. REQUIRED SET UP STEPS


A. INSTALL DEVICES

A compatible transponder must be installed into each vehicle's OBD2 port and base station must be installed at an appropriate spot at each rental location.

B. UPDATE VEHICLE RECORDS

The installed transponder's unique ID code must be manually entered into the Alt ID field of the vehicle record in Vehicle Inventory Control.

OPTION: __ VEHICLE INVENTORY CONTROL
(Page 1 of 4)
1 Vehicle # 20 VIN
2 License Entity 21 Engine Blk #
3 License 22 Security Code 23 Fleet Type
4 Year Model/Prod 24 2nd Security Code
5 Model 25 Notes
6 Make 26 Damage
7 Class 27 Service Flags
8 Type 28 Owning City
9 1st tank size (Name)
10 2nd tank size Parked at
11 Fuel type 29 Curr status
12 Est MPG Last Transmit
13 Pricing Code 30 Alt ID #
14 Post Code 31 Phone ID
15 Color Phone Curr Reading
16 Purchase odom 32 Neverlost Ind
17 Tab # 33 Key #
18 Model Options 34 Unit Owned
19 Veh Options
Last Physical Inv 35 Lot No
1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4PREV 5BACKUP 6SEARCH 7 8NXT PAGE

C. ACTIVATE THE TRANSPONDER LOGIC

After the devices are installed and IDs entered into the Vehicle record, Thermeon Customer Support must set up a GVT (Global Varable Table) record to turn on the vehicle transponder interface. The GVT records are JUMPDRIV for JumpDrive and MOVISTAR for Geotab.
D. SET UP THE CONTROL RECORD

There is a separate control record for each type of device. Thermeon Customer Support will set up the appropriate one:
Edit JumpDrive Control Record
Edit Geotab Control Record

II. SUMMARY OF DATA FLOW

The request for vehicle data is always initiated by your CARS+ system. A request for data from a single vehicle or all vehicles physically at a rental location is sent by CARS+ to the transponder's host system.
The host system will query the transponder installed in the vehicle or vehicles requested for the needed data and then post that data so that it can be retrieved by CARS+ and inserted into the requesting program.

III. TRANSPONDER USE WITH RAs AND NON-REVENUE TICKETS

NOTE: In all cases below, CARS+ will compare the date and time reported by the transponder's host system against the "Current" date and time on the vehicle record (as seen in the right column on page 2 of Vehicle Inventory Control). The host system data will be used only when the date and time reported by it are more recent than the current date and time on the vehicle record. The current date and time on the vehicle record indicate the last time a CARS+ program updated that vehicle record. If the current date and time on the vehicle record are more recent than that reported by the host system, that is an indication that something has transpired in CARS+ that the host system is not aware of; therefore, the data from the vehicle record in CARS+ should be supplied to the programs below rather than the transponder's host system data.

The following are the changes to RA Open and Non-Revenue Movement Entry when opening a new transaction:

After entering a vehicle into the RA or Non-Rev, rather than loading the last known odometer reading and tank level recorded in CARS+, a call will be made to the transponder's host system for the current odometer and fuel gauge level to be sent by the vehicle's transponder.

Because this data is current and thus up to date, data sent by the transponder's host system is NOT editable by the counter agent when in RA Open On-line mode. In Batch or Edit mode, these fields are editable.

If for some reason the data cannot be accessed via the interface, the fields will not default to a value. The rental agent can manually enter the odometer and tank level.

At the time of close:

As soon as the RA or Non Rev is accessed on the closing screen, the system automatically requests the closing odometer and fuel level of the returning vehicle. Like at open, if the rental agent is in On-Line Close, this data is NOT editable (but it is editable in batch or edit mode).

If both the tank level out and tank level in on the RA came from the transponder unit, the system will automatically calculate the fuel charge based on tank level. The prompt ask whether to calculate the charge based on miles or tank level will not be displayed.

In the case of a vehicle exchange:

The transponder for both the returning vehicle and the new vehicle going out in its place will be queried. The returning vehicle will report it's current odometer and fuel level and the new vehicle will report its checkout odometer and fuel.

Make Vehicle Available:

Like RA Open, Make Available will receive the current odometer and tank level from the transponder, and those fields will not be editable.

IV. VEHICLE TRANSPONDERS AND PHYSICAL INVENTORY
When using the program Vehicle Transponder Physical Inventory, pressing F1 will initiate a call to the transponder's host system so that all vehicles within the range of the location's base station will "report in" the fact that they are physically on the lot. A record will automatically be created for each reporting vehicle indicating that on the system date and time the vehicle was present at the requested location. These records can then be studied by the Physical Inventory Update program and Lost Vehicles Report. This replaces the need to manually enter a Physical Inventory record for each car on a lot.