I. INTRODUCTION

Often operations with multiple rental locations encounter the following situation:

This creates the following problems:

1. The RA will be closed at the check-in location, but the monies must be received and processed at the opening location.
2. Operational reports (DBR, Drawer Balance, etc.) must report the transaction correctly.

The use of Location Holding Drawers is meant to solve the above problems.

II. DEFINITION

HOLDING DRAWERS - A holding drawer is a cash drawer used by the closing location to transfer payments to the opening location.

III. SETUP INSTRUCTIONS

Use the Edit Cash Drawers program to create holding drawers. In addition to Cash Drawers used by counter personnel, each location should have a drawer created as its Holding Drawer. The Holding Drawer drawer number should be assigned in such a way that the relationship between the drawer and the location will be obvious.

For example, if the rental counter at Orange County Airport (OCA) is considered Location 1 and it has 3 counter cash drawers, the assigned drawer numbers could be;

Location: 1 (OCA)

Drawer #     Description

11           OCA RIGHT COUNTER
12           OCA CENTER COUNTER
13           OCA LEFT COUNTER
100          OCA HOLDING DRAWER

In the previous illustration, all counter drawers are two digits long and begin with the location number. The holding drawer for this location is three digits long beginning with the same character.

User tip: Some operations may not want to use a separate drawer for these transactions. In that case, enter the main drawer number in the Hold Drawer field of the Location record.

IV. USE OF THE HOLDING DRAWER AT THE RENTAL COUNTER

When an RA is processed by the RA Close program, the system assumes that any balance due will be covered by a pre-signed credit card voucher. Therefore, if a pre-signed credit card voucher was left at the opening location, CARS+ will automatically use that voucher to pay-off the RA. When check-in takes place at another location, the computer must be informed that the voucher is still at the opening location and that the actual processing of the payment will be done there.

For the sake of clarity, we will follow RA #1234 that was opened at location OCA and closed at TUS.

A. At closing, the customer decided to put the $100.00 charge on his pre-signed Mastercard voucher that was left at OCA.

Because CARS+ assumes that the balance due will be covered by the pre-signed Mastercard voucher left at OCA (the opening location) the rental agent at TUS (the closing location) should close the RA as usual. After pressing F1 to save the transaction, the user will be asked, "Use Holding Drawer for Pre-Signed Voucher?" Answer "Y" for YES.

By answering YES, the rental agent at the closing location (TUS) is telling the system that the credit card payment should be processed at the opening location, OCA, using the pre-signed voucher that was left there at the start of the RA.

B. Using the same example, RA #1234, suppose the customer decided to pay in full with the credit card at the closing location (TUS) by signing a new credit card voucher. Again, the rental agent should close the RA as usual. Upon pressing F1 to save the transaction, the user will be asked, "Use Holding Drawer for Pre-Signed Voucher?" Answer "N" for NO.

By answering NO, the system is being told that the credit card payment is being taken at the closing location (TUS). This creates an Interoffice Receivable discussed below in Section VI.

NOTE: Be sure to inform the opening location to destroy the pre-signed credit card voucher.

V. DAILY PROCEDURE

The following steps are necessary to reconcile the various operational reports at both the closing and opening locations. At the end of the day:

1. RUN A DRAWER BALANCE REPORT ON YOUR HOLDING DRAWER. Each location manager should run a Drawer Balance Report on their location's holding drawer. This is done in order to discover if other locations have closed any of their RAs involving a pre-signed voucher.
   
   If any FOPs appear, pull the printed RA from your files, fill in the proper amount on the voucher form and include the voucher in your bank deposit. If an additional credit authorization was required, pull the RA up on the Close RA screen or Edit Closed RA screen and examine the Payments Sub-window for the new authorization number and amount that the closing location needed to obtain in order to close the RA.
   

   In our example A, when the manager of OCA runs a Drawer Balance Report on Drawer 100, a $100.00 Mastercard FOP for RA #1234 will appear.

2. RUN AN OPERATIONS DBR SORTED BY THE CLOSING LOCATION. A DBR sorted by the closing location will report all RAs that closed at a location regardless of where they were opened. This is the report that is used to audit all work that took place at your counter.
   
   Therefore, when TUS runs a DBR sorted by closing location, RA #1234 will appear.
   
   But you must remember the DBR is NOT MEANT TO BE a cash reconciliation report. The Drawer Balance Report and the Cash Receipts Report are designed to serve that purpose. The DBR, on the other hand, is designed to give the complete history of all closed RAs. This history includes all payments received, regardlessofcashdrawerused. As a result, if holding drawers are used, the FOP totals on a DBR will NOT match the sum of your location's cash drawer receipts.
   

   In our illustration, TUS's DBR will show RA #1234 as having closed at TUS. The $100.00 Mastercard will also appear both in the detailed Closed RA section and the FOP Summary section at the end of the report. Therefore, if RA# 1234 is the only inter-office rental, the FOP summary will be $100.00 greater than the sum of TUS's Drawer Balance Reports.

3. RUN A CASH RECEIPTS REPORT FOR YOUR LOCATION. When you place a payment in another location's holding drawer, that payment is then reported on their Cash Receipts Report, and not yours.
   
   For example, when TUS runs a Cash Receipts Report for all drawers at its location, the $100.00 Mastercard payment placed in Drawer 100 will not be listed. It will be listed on the Cash Receipts Report for OCA.
4. RUN AN ACCOUNTING DBR FOR YOUR LOCATION. Remember, the Accounting DBR is run by opening location. When monies are placed into the opening location's holding drawer, the payments are reflected on the DBR and in the DBR FOP summary. This FOP summary should agree with the Cash Receipts Report for the location. In our example, RA #1234 will be listed on the Accounting DBR for location OCA, along with the $100 payment placed into OCA's holding drawer by location TUS. Conversely, RA# 1234 will not be listed at all on the Accounting DBR which is run for location TUS.

VI. INTEROFFICE RECEIVABLES

Interoffice receivables are created when an RA is opened at one location and closes at another location AND the customer pays at the closing location. The closing location ends up with the monies, but the monies are due to the opening location because the opening location earns the revenue from the rental. This type of transaction uses an Interoffice Accounts Receivable account to show the monies received at one location and the revenue earned at the other.

When the Accounting DBR for the opening location is posted, the revenue is passed to its revenue accounts and an offsetting debit is made to the Interoffice A/R account.

When the Accounting DBR for the closing location is posted, the monies received are recorded for it and an offsetting credit is made to the Interoffice A/R account.

If both locations are posted together, no entries to the Interoffice A/R account will be made since they balance and cancel each other out.

Whether the closing location takes payment in full or only a partial payment, an Interoffice Receivable is created for whatever payment is taken at close. If the closing location takes payment on the same credit card authorized at open, (instead of the customer using the pre-signed voucher left at the opening location), an Interoffice Receivable is created by answering "No" to the holding drawer question.

VI. SPLIT PAYMENTS

There are those occasions where the customer wants to split payment between the pre-signed voucher and another FOP. Following our example, suppose the customer wanted to pay $80 of the rental charges by using the pre-signed Mastercard voucher left at the opening location and pay $20 cash at the closing location. The following procedure must be followed by the closing location during the close of the RA:

1. On the Close RA Payments sub-window, edit the pre-signed voucher amount to the correct value of $80 that will be processed by the opening location on the pre-signed voucher. That will leave a balance due which will be covered by another FOP.
2. Enter the additional payment of $20 cash received at your location in the Payments sub-window on the closing screen.
3. When asked "Use holding drawer?", answer Yes. The system will place only the payment mentioned above in Step 1, $80, in the holding drawer for the opening location. The other payment of $20 will be placed in a regular drawer at the closing location.

By splitting the payment between the opening and closing locations, the holding drawer is used in addition to an Interoffice Receivable being created.

VII. SUMMARY

When a credit card is authorized at by the opening location and entered on the RA Open screen and is later used for payment at close, the closing location will be asked the Holding Drawer question. The answers are interpreted by CARS+ as follows:

"Y" for Yes Payment processed at Opening Location
Holding Drawer used at Opening Location

"N" for No Payment processed at Closing Location
Creates at Interoffice Receivable