Overview - Vehicle Features

I. INTRODUCTION

This chapter outlines the set up and practical use of using vehicle features during the renting process.

CARS+ provides the ability to define up to 10 codes for desired vehicle features (or options) that customers may request. In this chapter, the following features are uses as examples:

Heated seats

Back up camera

Automatic braking

Bluetooth

Proximity Sensor

Tracking

Sunroof

Leather seats

Navigation

Once set up, the features can become part of the vehicle search accessed from Reservations, RA Open, and Vehicle Inventory Control programs. This allows the rental agent to search for vehicles which have the feature(s) that their customer is requesting.

II. REQUIRED SET UP STEPS

A. CREATE THE FEATURES CODES IN EDIT VEHICLE FEATURE CODES

To access the Edit Vehicle Feature Codes program, type EDFEAT (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Fleet Control Files menu. The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ EDIT VEHICLE FEATURE CODES

1 Feature Code
2 Feature Desc
3 Feature Priority
4 Feature Old Code

1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

Enter data as follows:

1. FEATURE CODE

Enter up to 20 alphanumeric characters to define a vehicle feature.

EXAMPLE: Type HEATED SEATS (RET)

2. FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Enter up to 10 alphanumeric characters for a shorter description. It is this shorter description that will display in the Model Code file and in the Vehicle Search.

EXAMPLE: Type HT SEATS (RET)

3. FEATURE PRIORITY Assign a priority code of 1 - 10 to rank the importance of this feature when the vehicle search program is used. Use 1 for the most important feature, use 2 for the next most important feature, etc. A Feature Priority cannot be used more than once (that is, there cannot be two features with same priority) and only levels 1 through 10 can be used.

EXAMPLE: Type 1 (RET)

4. FEATURE OLD CODE
Prior to the development of the Vehicle Features logic, 2-character Vehicle Option Codes could be created in Edit Vehicle Options and entered in the Model Code record (refer to Edit Model Codes, page 1, Field 11). If these codes were already created, this field is used to map an existing 2-character Vehicle Option Code to this new Features record.

After all the Features are created, ask Thermeon Customer Support to run the program Update Model Records Feature Codes (INVMDL). The program will examine the model code records looking for the Vehicle Option Codes assigned to each Model Code. When found, the new Feature value will be set to "Y" (meaning that the model has that option/feature.)

EXAMPLE: Type HS (RET)

The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ EDIT VEHICLE FEATURE CODES

1 Feature Code HEATED SEATS
2 Feature Desc HT SEATS
3 Feature Priority 1
4 Feature Old Code HS

1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

PRESS "F1"AT "OPTION:" TO SAVE THE RECORD.

Continue to create any other features available. A maximum of 10 is allowed.

User tip: When the F2 key is used to scroll through this file, the codes will be in alphabetical order. However, in the Vehicle Search and the Model Code records the codes are listed in order of the assigned priority 1 -10.

B. EDIT MODEL CODES

The features created will automatically be displayed on page 2 of every Model Code record. See example below.

OPTION: __ EDIT MODEL CODES
Model/Yr CAMRY 23 (Page 2 of 2)
1 Grounding Days 12 HT SEATS
2 Gross Weight 13 CAMERA
3 Foreign Mdl 14 AUTO BRAKE
4 Exempt CDPID 15 BLUETOOTH
5 Exempt Incl Rates 16 PROX SENSR
6 Exempt Vouchers 17 TRACKING
7 Exempt 1 Way 18 SUNROOF
8 Block 1 Way Close 19 LEATHER
9 Block Exchange 20 NAVIGATION
10 Req Manager Open 21 Feature 10
11 Req Manager Close

1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NXT PAGE

The Model Code records can be updated in two ways:

1. Update manually by going to page 2 of each one and indicating with a "Y" for yes or "N" for no if the model code has the feature.

2. As mentioned in the previous section, if 2-character Vehicle Option Codes are already set up and assigned to the Model Codes, they can be 'mapped' to the new Feature Codes. (See Field 4 "Old Code" of Edit Vehicle Feature Codes.) Ask Thermeon Customer Support to run the program Update Model Records Feature Codes (UPDMDL). The program will examine the model code records looking for the Vehicle Option Codes assigned to each Model Code. When found, the new Feature value will be set to "Y" (meaning that the model has that option/feature.) This will eliminate or at least cut down on manual updating.

An example of an updated Model Code is shown below after entering Y for the features it has. Note that Feature 10 is not yet defined in Edit Vehicle Feature Codes so Field 21 shows as "Feature 10".

OPTION: __ EDIT MODEL CODES
Model/Yr ACCORD 24 (Page 2 of 2)
1 Grounding Days 12 HT SEATS Y
2 Gross Weight 13 CAMERA Y
3 Foreign Mdl 14 AUTO BRAKE
4 Exempt CDPID 15 BLUETOOTH Y
5 Exempt Incl Rates 16 PROX SENSR
6 Exempt Vouchers 17 TRACKING
7 Exempt 1 Way 18 SUNROOF Y
8 Block 1 Way Close 19 LEATHER
9 Block Exchange 20 NAVIGATION Y
10 Req Manager Open 21 Feature 10
11 Req Manager Close

1SAVE 2NEXT 3ERASE 4DELETE 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8NXT PAGE

User tip: Once saved, a "blank" field is interpreted as "N" when searching for vehicles.

To update the individual vehicle records, use the program Set Vehicle Feature Values. (see next section)

C. SET VEHICLE FEATURE VALUES

Once the Model Codes are updated, the individual vehicle inventory records must be updated by the program Set Vehicle Feature Values.

To access the Set Vehicle Feature Values program, type INVMDL (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Vehicle Control File Global Fleet Changes sub-menu. The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ SET VEHICLE FEATURE VALUES

1UPDATE 2 3 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

Simply press F1 to update the vehicle records.

D. VEHICLE INVENTORY CONTROL

After the set up steps listed above are completed, when a vehicle record is brought to the Vehicle Inventory screen, page 5 of the vehicle record will show the defined features, Features present in the vehicle model are indicated with a 'Y'. An example is shown below:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE INVENTORY CONTROL
Vehicle # 000350 (Page 5 of 5)
1 HT SEATS Y
2 CAMERA Y
3 AUTO BRAKE
4 BLUETOOTH Y
5 PROX SENSR
6 TRACKING
7 SUNROOF Y
8 LEATHER
9 NAVIGATION Y
10 Feature 10

1UPDATE 2 3 4 5BACKUP 6 7HELP 8

This page can be individually edited if a vehicle varies from the defaults in the Model Code.

III. RENTAL COUNTER INSTRUCTIONS.

A. RA OPEN and RESERVATIONS

To search for vehicles with one or more features that a customer is requesting, perform the Vehicle Search as usual.

Example of a search for class PCAR:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE FILE SEAR
F1=Class F2=Veh# F3=License F4=VinLst8 F5=OwnLoc F6=Stat: A F7=CurLoc: STL
Veh# License Class Model Type Color Odom OwnLoc CurLoc Lt Stall St
1 000347 LIC347 PCAR MAXIMA WHITE 200 STL STL A
2 000348 LIC348 PCAR MAXIMA BLUE 350 STL STL A
3 000350 LIC350 PCAR CAMRY SEDAN GRAY 1100 STL STL A
4 000351 LIC351 PCAR CAMRY SEDAN TAN 850 STL STL A
** No More Records ** Press S to shift display

E

Notice that the phrase Press S to shift display is shown below the rows of data.

Type "S" and press (RET); the display will show the first 5 vehicle features (in order of priority setting) across the screen and indicate with a "Y" if any of the vehicles have the feature in question.

Example:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE FILE SEAR
F1=Class F2=Veh# F3=License F4=VinLst8 F5=OwnLoc F6=Stat: A F7=CurLoc: STL
Veh# License HT SEATS CAMERA AUTO BRAKE BLUETOOTH PROX SENSR
1 000347 LIC347 N Y Y Y N
2 000348 LIC348 N Y Y Y N
3 000350 LIC350 Y Y N Y N
4 000351 LIC351 Y Y N Y N
** No More Records ** Press S to shift display

E

To view the next vehicle features, type "S" and press (RET. The display will show the next 5 vehicle features (in order of priority setting) across the screen and indicate with a "Y" if any of the vehicles have the feature in question. In this example, only 9 features have been defined.

Example:

OPTION: __ VEHICLE FILE SEAR
F1=Class F2=Veh# F3=License F4=VinLst8 F5=OwnLoc F6=Stat: A F7=CurLoc: STL
Veh# License TRACKING SUNROOF LEATHER NAVIGATION
1 000347 LIC347 N N N Y
2 000348 LIC348 N N N Y
3 000350 LIC350 N Y N Y
4 000351 LIC351 N Y N Y
** No More Records ** Press S to shift display

E

1. FEATURE CODE	Enter up to 20 alphanumeric characters to define a vehicle feature. EXAMPLE: Type HEATED SEATS (RET)
2. FEATURE DESCRIPTION	Enter up to 10 alphanumeric characters for a shorter description. It is this shorter description that will display in the Model Code file and in the Vehicle Search. EXAMPLE: Type HT SEATS (RET)
3. FEATURE PRIORITY	Assign a priority code of 1 - 10 to rank the importance of this feature when the vehicle search program is used. Use 1 for the most important feature, use 2 for the next most important feature, etc. A Feature Priority cannot be used more than once (that is, there cannot be two features with same priority) and only levels 1 through 10 can be used. EXAMPLE: Type 1 (RET)
4. FEATURE OLD CODE	Prior to the development of the Vehicle Features logic, 2-character Vehicle Option Codes could be created in Edit Vehicle Options and entered in the Model Code record (refer to Edit Model Codes, page 1, Field 11). If these codes were already created, this field is used to map an existing 2-character Vehicle Option Code to this new Features record. After all the Features are created, ask Thermeon Customer Support to run the program Update Model Records Feature Codes (INVMDL). The program will examine the model code records looking for the Vehicle Option Codes assigned to each Model Code. When found, the new Feature value will be set to "Y" (meaning that the model has that option/feature.) EXAMPLE: Type HS (RET)