Use this program to:

The Release Vehicle program accomplishes the following:

For vehicles attached to a rental agreement just opened: (vehicle status = O):

  1. Removes the vehicle from the assigned parking stall.
  2. Changes the status of the related RA from "Hold" to "Open".

For vehicles attached to preprinted rental agreements: (RA is VOID-P status; Vehicle Status is other than O):

  1. Removes the vehicle from the assigned parking stall.
  2. Changes the status of the vehicle to “O” (on rent).
  3. Changes the vehicle’s current date in the Vehicle Inventory file to the current system date and time.

Note: field in the Location record controls whether the status of a vehicle changes to “O” at the time of preprinting a RA or if another status is used.

User tip: Releasing a vehicle on a preprinted RA does NOT change the status of the RA. To convert the RA from VOID-P status to OPEN status, the RA must be brought up and saved in Batch RA Open.

For rental agreements that are in HOLD-P or OPEN-P status:

  1. Removes the vehicle from the assigned parking stall.
  2. Changes the status of the vehicle to “O” (on rent).
  3. Changes the vehicle’s current date in the Vehicle Inventory file to the current system date and time.
  4. Changes the status of the corresponding reservation from “O” (open) to “F” (filled).
  5. Changes the opening date/time on the RA to the current system date and time.
  6. For Hertz Canada users, the RA is re-queued for transmission to CARRENT and the renter's name is removed from the light board.

For vehicles not in"O" (on rent) status (no associated rental agreement):

  1. Vehicle data is displayed so that lot control personnel can be aware that a non-rented vehicle is being driven off the lot.

Locations using the Dispatch feature can be defined in one of two ways in the Location record regarding the opening time for the RA.

  1. The Opening Date/Time of the RA is set at the date/time when the RA was initially saved and it is not changed when the vehicle is released.
  2. The Opening Date/Time of the RA is updated to the date/time when the vehicle is released - or the time may be edited in the Release Vehicle program.

Hertz Gold Service Rentals: RAs are pre-printed for customers receiving Gold service. Therefore, customers do not interact witha Hertz employee until they are leaving the lot and checkout with the gate guard and their vehicle is released. At that time, the drivers license needs to be verified. For Hertz locations offering Gold service, additional fields for the drivers license number and expiration date are added after the customer's name. The advisory message "Gold Service" displays on the right side of the screen.

Hertz Australia – For Hertz Australia, this program can be accessed from a handheld terminal. See the section at the end of this chapter on this topic.

To access the Release Vehicle program, type RELEASE (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Dispatch menu. The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ RELEASE VEHICLE
1 Vehicle #
2 License #
3 Date out
4 Time out 5 Toll Opt in
Make/Model
Notes
Status/Odom
Date/Time
Location
RA #/Status
Name
DL#
Location
Date/Time In



1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8DAMAGE

Enter data as follows:

Vehicle information can be brought to this screen by entering the Vehicle Number in Field 1 OR by entering the License Plate Number in Field 2.

1. VEHICLE #

Enter the vehicle number* for the unit that is leaving the lot.

If there is only one vehicle on file with the unit number entered, all pertinent data relating to that vehicle will be loaded. If more than one vehicle is on file with the unit number (multiple owners), the Vehicle File Search program will automatically be called and all vehicles with a matching unit number will be displayed for selection.

EXAMPLE: Type 14131 (RET)

*If your Control Files are set to require a vehicle check digit, enter that date after the unit number. After the check digit is entered and used to validate the vehicle number, it is automatically erased off the screen.

EXAMPLE: Type 914592A (RET)

OR:

2. LICENSE #

Enter up to 11 alphanumeric characters representing the license plate of the vehicle that is leaving the lot.

EXAMPLE: Type YAX149 (RET)

When a valid vehicle number or license plate number is entered, data is displayed:
3. DATE OUT

This field defaults to the current system date, but is available in case a different date needs to be entered.

EXAMPLE: Press(RET)

4. TIME OUT

This field defaults to the current system time, but is available in case a different time needs to be entered.

EXAMPLE: Press(RET)

When a valid vehicle number or license plate number is entered, data is displayed:
5. TOLL OPTION IN
 This field is reserved for a single user who feeds rental data from CARS+ to the local company that managers the toll roads and bridges.

MAKE/MODEL

The vehicle’s make and model.

NOTES

The notes field from the vehicle record entered from other programs are displayed.

STATUS

Current vehicle status code.

ODOMETER

Current vehicle odometer reading as last entered.

DATE/TIME

The date and time vehicle status was last set.

LOCATION

Location to which vehicles was last assigned.


When the vehicle status is "O", details of the related rental agreement are displayed in the bottom portion of the screen.

RA#

Rental agreement to which vehicle is currently assigned.

STATUS

Rental agreement status.This is typically "H" (Hold) and will be changed to "O" (Open) when released by this program.If the status is "O", no action will be taken by the program.

NAME

Driver last name.

LOCATION

Opening location.
DATE/TIME IN
 The scheduled return date and time of the RA.

The Screen will then display:

OPTION: __ RELEASE VEHICLE
1 Vehicle# 14131
2 License 1HKD238
3 Date out 04-12-04
4 Time out 1140A 5 Toll Opt In
Make/Model FORD ESCORT
Notes
Status/Odom H 2398
Date/Time 04-12-04 1134A
Location LAX
RA#/Status L001235 H
Name SMITH
DL# 1569321
 Date Out 04-12-04
Location LAX
Date/Time In 04-15-04/0500P

1BEGIN 2 3ERASE 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

The lot control personnel should verify that the driver's name and License number printed on the rental agreement matches the one displayed on the screen.

Damages: If new damage needs to be recorded on the vehicle, press the F8 key when the cursor is at the "OPTION:" field to access the Quick Damage Entry program.

ADDING OR CHANGING OPTIONS

Options can be added or removed from RA’s (prior to releasing the vehicle) by accessing the Option Pop-Up Window using Shift/F5 (as is done on the RA Open screen.)

Additionally, options can be defined so that a prompt appears in the Release Vehicle program asking if the option should be added to the RA as follows:

ADD xxx?

(where xxx is the Option Code)

If the user enters “Y”, the option is added to the RA.

If this option is an asset controlled option (such as a GPS) the following line will appear for entry of the unit number of the asset:

ENTER ASSET # ____________

Finally, if the RA was opened without selecting Pre-Paid-Fuel and the rental was an express rental (the renter bypassed the counter and went directly to their waiting vehicle) the following question will be displayed at the bottom of the screen:

ACCEPT PPD FUEL AT $?

If the user enters “Y”, the Pre-Paid Fuel flag on the RA will be changed to "Y".

Note that the Release Vehicle program does not check to see if there is a sufficient deposit/authorization to cover charges added on at this time. Any extra charges that are added on will be due at Close.

PRESS "F1" AT "OPTION:" TO RELEASE VEHICLE.

If you have changed the options or pre-paid fuel, upon pressing F1, the following prompt will display:

Print RA (Y/N)?

This allows you to reprint the RA so that the changes made can print on the new form.

HERTZ AUSTRALIA – HANDHELD MODE

In handheld mode, the following fields display:

1. Vehicle #

2. License #

3. Date out

4. Time out

Make/Model

RA#/Status

Name

Drivers License #/expire date

Gold Service flag

License # field: Because license plate numbers have a hyphen in them and there is no hyphen on the hand held terminal keypad, entering a period in the License # field is interpreted as a hyphen. For example, entering“ABC.123” will cause a search on license plate # “ABC-123”.