This CARS+ program is used either via a hand held device by a "roving agent" or at the guard gate to finish processing rental agreements that are involved in the Gold Choice program.

If the renter has selected the vehicle that was pre-assigned when the RA was pre-processed (using the pre-print feature - although actual printing of the pre-processed RA is not required), this program behaves similar to the Release A Vehicle program.

If the renter has chosen a vehicle different from the one that was preassigned, this program will change the vehicle assigned to the RA, add any upsell charge that may be appropriate and re-quote the rates on all class sensitive options. If the selected vehicle had been assigned to another pre-processed RA, that transaction will be updated as well.

Options can also be sold from this program.

If the renter's reservation was not pre-processed, this program will create a new rental agreement based on the reservation and the vehicle selected.

This program can also release any rental (gold or non-gold) at a guard gate of the rental staging area.

SYSTEM SET UP

In order for to use the Gold Choice logic, the following set up is required:

• Location record: Set the RA Status of pre-printed RAs to either "O" Open or "H" Hold (see the chapter on Edit Locations). Locations that set their pre-print RAs to Void-Pre-Print cannot use this feature.
• If the RA has to be reprinted due to changes made in Exit Gate Gold Choice, the field "RLSGLD RA Copies" in Edit Locations defines the number of copies that will be printed.
• Ask Thermeon's Customer Support dept. to set up the GVT record "RLSGLD" for each location that will offer the Gold Choice logic. Reminder: this GVT record must be set up with a location code.
• A setting in Edit Vehicle Hold Codes can be used to allow Gold Choice RAs to bypass the hold code and release the vehicle.
• In order to access Exit Gate Gold Choice, the Terminal Record must be defined. The choices for configuration are:
  

  G = Gate terminal with existing feature set
  R = Roving terminal with existing feature set
  1 = Gate terminal with expanded feature set
  2 = Roving terminal with expanded feature set

  Expanded feature set (choices 1 or 2) provides a section on the screen displaying if coverages ( LDW, P&P, DDW) are accepted, included, CDP included, declined, or available for sale.

User tips:
Hold Codes: A field in the Hold Code record can be set so that Exit Gate Gold Choice overrides the hold code logic which would otherwise prevent the vehicle from being rented. Name of the field is "RLSGLD Override".

Number of RA Copies: A field in the Location record can be used to define the number of RA copies that are printed when it is necessary to print a RA from this program. Name of the field is "RLSGLD RA Copies".


RUNNING THE PROGRAM

To access the Gold Choice program, type CHOICE (RET) at any menu "OPTION:" field or the appropriate line number on the Hertz Programs Menu. The screen display is dependent on the setting in Edit Terminal Records.

Example: Gate terminal with existing feature set

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # 2 License # 3 RA # Ret Loc 4 Name Search Make/Model/Yr Color Driven Class NVL/Sat Radio Name(L/F) DL#/State Service Level Printed N 5 Tank Out 6 Odom Out 12 Optional Svc * F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE _

Example: Gate terminal with expanded feature set

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # 2 License # 3 RA # Ret Loc 4 Name Search Make/Model/Yr Color Driven Class NVL/Sat Radio Name(L/F) DL#/State Service Level Printed N 5 Tank Out 6 Odom Out Coverages: LDW: P&P: 12 Optional Svc * DDW: F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE _

The following instructions are based on the full screen version of this program. At the end of this chapter is the discussion on how this program behaves when run on a hand held (roving) device.

Enter data as follows:

	TO START THE PROGRAM, ENTER DATA IN EITHER FIELDS 1 OR 2 AND/OR FIELD 3 IF THE RENTER HAS A PRINTED RENTAL AGREEMENT
1. VEHICLE NUMBER	Enter the vehicle number of the unit that the Gold Customer has selected to drive. Or skip this field and proceed to Field 2. This can be entered by scanning a bar code of the vehicle. EXAMPLE: Type 123456 (RET) User tip: If the vehicle has been assigned to a lot and stall number, a pop-up window will appear showing the lot and stall number where the vehicle is located.
2. LICENSE NUMBER	If Field 1 was left blank, enter the vehicle license plate number of the unit that the Gold Customer has selected to drive. This field will be filled in automatically if a vehicle number was entered into Field 1. EXAMPLE: Type ABC123 (RET)
3. RA NUMBER	If the driver has a printed rental agreement, enter or scan the bar code for the RA number in this field. If the renter does not have a printed RA (often the case with Gold Customers), leave this field blank and press return to advance the cursor to field 4.

If a vehicle and an RA # are entered:

The program will check if the vehicle in Field 1 matches the vehicle on the RA.

If the vehicles match, the RA will be displayed on the screen and the following message will appear:

SMITH IS FREE TO PROCEED.

Press F1 to resave the RA and clear the screen.

If the vehicles do not match, the following message will be displayed:

VEHICLE DOES NOT MATCH THE RA, SEND CLIENT TO THE COUNTER

Press RET to clear the screen.

If a vehicle but no RA # is entered:

The program will attempt to find an open RA that has NOT yet been processed by the gate. If an RA is found, the system will pull the RA up on the screen and display information about the renter. The following message will be displayed:

IS THIS THE CORRECT CUSTOMER?

Using the driver's license data and the renter's full name displayed on the screen, enter:

Y = Yes, if the customer data displayed match the driver's license data on the renter's drive's license.

N = No, if the customer data displayed DOES NOT match the driver's license data on the renter's drive's license. After entering "N" the cursor will advance to Field 4.

If no open RA is found, the cursor will advance to Field 4.

Enter data as follows:

4. NAME SEARCH

Enter just the first three characters of the renter's last name from their driver's license. This may be entered in either upper case or lower case characters. EXAMPLE: SMI (RET)

After entering the start of the renter's last name, the Reservation Search program will be automatically called. Reservations will be displayed if:

• The first three characters of the reserved customer's last name matches the characters just entered
• The reservation is for a Gold customer
• The pickup location matches the user's default location

Enter the line number of the correct reservation for the renter.

The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # 123456 2 License # 3 RA # Ret Loc 4 Name Search SMI Make/Model/Yr FORD/MUSTANG Color RED Driven Class M NVL/Sat Radio Y Name(L/F) SMITH/STEVE DL#/State CA/E1234567 Service Level PLATINUM Printed Y 5 Tank Out 6 Odom Out 12 Optional Svc * IS THIS THE CORRECT CUSTOMER? F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE

Once an RA or reservation is selected, the un-numbered fields will display the following data:

• The return location code and name of the location if an owned location. If a foreign location, the name from its customer record.
• The make, model code, and year of the vehicle
• The color of the vehicle
• The vehicle class
• A indicator if the vehicle has the installed NeverLost and/or Satellite Radio system.
• The rental agreement number that previously created for this renter.
• The full last and first name of the renter
• The renter's driver's license number and the state /country that issued it
• A description of the renter's gold service level (Gold, Platinum, Presidents, Five Star, etc.)
• A Y/N indicator as to whether a final copy of the RA has already been printed at the counter.

NOTE: A "Yes" in this last field means that the contract has been examined by an employee in the renter's presence either at the rental counter or by a roving agent using this program. As a result, there is little for the guard gate employee to do besides pressing F1 and releasing the vehicle.

After selecting a reservation the following question will appear on the screen:

IS THIS THE CORRECT CUSTOMER?

Using the driver's license data and the renter's full name displayed on the screen, enter:

Y = Yes, if the customer data displayed match the driver's license data on the renter's drive's license.

N = No, if the customer data displayed DOES NOT match the driver's license data on the renter's drive's license. After entering "N" the Reservation Search program will be called again so that another reservation can be selected.

If you exit the Reservation Search screen without selecting a reservation, the following message will be displayed and the transaction ill be cancelled.

RES NOT FOUND, PRESS ENTER TO CONTINUE

SEND TO COUNTER

If a reservation was selected, continue entering data as follows:

5. TANK OUT	Enter the fuel tank reading of the unit that the Gold Customer has selected to drive. EXAMPLE: Type 8 (RET)
6. ODOMETER OUT	Enter the odometer reading of the unit that the Gold Customer has selected to drive. EXAMPLE: Type 3234 (RET)

The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # 123456 2 License # 3 RA # 4 Name? SMI Make/Model FORD/MUSTANG Color RED Class M NVL Y RA# 90471294 Name(L/F) SMITH/STEVE DL#/State CA/E1234567 Service Level PLATINUM Printed Y 5 Tank Out 8 6 Odom Out 3234 12 Optional Svc F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE

If the vehicle selected is different from the one assigned and it represents an upgrade, additional fields for the Upsell will display.
If the vehicle has Neverlost and Satellite Radio, additional fields will display.
An example showing these additional fields is below.

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # SP1909 000137 2 License # LIC909 LIC137 3 RA # HC000015 4 Name Search Make/Model/Yr FORD/TAURUS/14 FORD/FOCUS/1414 Color GRAY TAN Driven Class SCAR CCAR NVL/Sat Radio Y/Y N/N Name(L/F) SWEENEY/PHIL DL#/State S1234XXXX/MA Service Level GOLD SVC Printed N 5 Tank Out 8 6 Odom Out 123 7 FPO Y FPO Total 60.00 Res Class CCAR 8 Charge Upsell N 9 Upsell Rate 12.00 10 Charge NVL N 11 Chg Sat Radio N 12 Optional Svc * F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE

Continue entering data as follows:

7. FPO	Enter one of the following: Y = Yes, the renter would like to pre-pay for a full tank of fuel. If "Y" is entered, the FPO charge will display in a display only field. N= No, the renter does not want to pre-pay for a full tank of fuel. They will instead be charged a fuel charge at the return of the vehicle based on the Fuel Service Option. EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) This may be entered in either upper case or lower case characters.
8. CHARGE UPSELL?	This field only displays if the vehicle selected by the renter and entered into Field 1 is a more expensive class than the class that was originally reserved. Enter one of the following: Y = Yes, the upgrade charge that is displayed in the next field will be added to the rental agreement. N = No, although the vehicle the renter selected is more expensive than the one which was reserved, an upsell charge will not be added to the rental agreement. This choice is usually used when the reserved class was not available and the renter was forced to take a different class. EXAMPLE: Type Y (RET) This may be entered in either upper case or lower case characters.
9. UPSELL DAILY RATE	This field only displays if the vehicle selected by the renter and entered into Field 1 is a more expensive class than the class that was reserved. Access to this field is only granted if the previous field has the value "Y". If this rental has a CDPID number associated with it, the default value of this field is the standard upgrade rate from the reserved class to the class that was selected. This daily rate can be edited either up or down in value. If this is not a CDPID rental, enter the daily rate that should be charged for this upgrade. EXAMPLE: Type 10.00 (RET)
10. CHARGE NVL (NEVERLOST)	This field will only appear if the selected vehicle has an installed Neverlost system. Enter one of the following: Y = Yes, the charge for the Neverlost system will be added to the rental agreement N = No, the renter will not be charged for the installed Neverlost system. If the reservation had the indicator that the renter wanted Neverlost, this field will default to "Y" if the vehicle selected has an installed Neverlost device. EXAMPLE: Type N (RET) This may be entered in either upper case or lower case characters.
11. CHG SAT RADIO	This field will only appear if the selected vehicle has an installed Satellite Radio system. Enter one of the following: Y = Yes, the charge for the Satellite Radio system will be added to the rental agreement N = No, the renter will not be charged for the Satellite Radio system. If the reservation had the indicator that the renter wanted Satellite Radio, this field will default to "Y" if the vehicle selected has an installed Satellite RadioUP. EXAMPLE: Type N (RET) This may be entered in either upper case or lower case characters.
12. OPTIONAL SVC	To call the Option Pop-up window, type "Y" in this field. (the Option Pop-up window can also be accessed from the main OPTION field by pressing Shift/F5.
COVERAGES	When the Terminal record is set to expanded features, the additional display fields for coverages are shown in the lower right side of the screen. For the first two coverages, one of the following will display: "Accepted" = the coverage is already on the RA as a charge to the customer. "Included" = the coverage is included in the rental rate either by an inclusive Option Set, by the Y/N fields in the Rate Rules record, or by a tour voucher. "CDP Included" = the coverage is given as a no charge option via a Privilege Code on the CDPID. "Declined" = the coverage is declined via a Privilege Code on the CDPID or through the Y/N fields in the Customer record. "Available" = the coverage is available for sale. A third coverage, DDW, shows only when an LDW type option with a deductible has already been sold or if it's available to sell. In these cases, DDW is indicated as "Available".

The screen will then display:

OPTION: __ EXIT GATE GOLD CHOICE 1 Vehicle # 123456 2 License # 3 RA # 4 Name? SMI Make/Model FORD/MUSTANG Color RED Class M NVL Y RA# 90471294 Name(L/F) SMITH/STEVE DL#/State CA/E1234567 Service Level PLATINUM Printed Y 5 Tank Out 8 6 Odom Out 3234 7 FPO Y/60.50 Reserved Class C 8 Charge Upsell? Y 9 Upsell Daily Rate 7.50 10 Charge Neverlost Y 11 Charge Sat Radio 12 Optional Svc F1=SAVE F3=CLEAR F5=BACKUP F8=ESTIMATE

ADDING OTHER OPTIONAL CHARGES

To access the standard Option Sales pop-up window do one of the following:

Enter "Y" and press (RET) in Field 12, "Optional Svc".

or

Press Shifted /F5 when the cursor is at the main "OPTION" field at the top of the screen.

When options are added, an incremental credit card authorization is sought at the F1 save for the extra charges. If the system is not able to acquire the incremental authorization, the following message will display:

REMOVED DUE TO AUTH DECLINED

Note: Adding other options is NOT available when the program is run in hand held mode.

PRESS F1 TO SAVE THE TRANSACTION

1. One of the first things the program will do after F1 is pressed is to do a complete re-estimation of all rental charges. If the total charges are now greater than the amount that was pre-authorized when the RA was pre-printed, or if no pre-authorization is found, the system will seek additional approvals for the credit card delivered in the reservation. If sufficient authorization cannot be obtained,

• and the rental does not involve an upsale charge, all options that were added by this program will be removed so that the charges now equal the pre-printed estimate.
• and the rental DOES have an upsale charge, the following message will be displayed and the save will be terminated:

AUTH NOT SUFFICIENT FOR THE UPGRADE, SEND CLIENT TO THE COUNTER

2. Unlike, the Release A Vehicle program, Gold Choice Exit will re-write the RA date and time out to the exact moment the user presses F1 to save the transaction.

3. If the vehicle selected by the renter was previously assigned to another pre-printed Gold reservation,

• The vehicle will still be added to the RA that is being checked out at the gate.
• The other pre-printed RA which had the vehicle will be flagged as "Questionable" with questionable flag = "g".
• The reservation that is linked to the other pre-printed RA will have it's status re-set to "O", Open and thus will reappear on the Res Display screen.
• A message will be sent to the "Name on Lights" board to remove the message for that customer until a new vehicle is assigned.

4. If,

• The Already Printed flag is not "Y"
• Or if RA was NOT processed by a roving agent and the vehicle the renter selected is NOT the one that was preassigned to them
• Or if any additional charges were added to the contract there at the guard gate,

the user will be prompted to reprint the RA. If your operation prints a separate estimate of charges before printing the opening RA, that will print first followed by the printing of the opening RA.

5. Finally, if this rental is based on a reservation that was NOT pre-processed, this program will create a whole new rental agreement. In the process of doing that, the program goes through all of the audit checks that normally occur in RA Open. If a problem is found, the user will either be prompted to correct it or will be directed to send the client to the counter. The following are two examples:

MISSING OR BAD ADDRESS CITY ________________

In this case the address sent in the reservation only had the letter "L" in the City field. The field after the statement is there to allow the user to enter the corrected data.

RENTER FAILED DNR CHECK. PLEASE SEND THEM TO THE COUNTER.

This error (being found on the Hertz Do Not Rent list) does not have a remedy that can be made in this program. The renter must be sent to the counter. Pressing RET after this message is read will clear the RA from the screen.

WHEN RUN IN HAND HELD MODE

Gold Choice can also be run on a hand held device. In this mode, "roving rental agents" can pre-process Gold Choice rentals before the renter arrives at the guard check-out gate. The basic flow of data entry is the same when running in hand held mode. The difference is the fields are displayed in "pages" of screens.

• Page 1 has fields 1 through 4
• Page 2 has the display of the reservation search screen
• Page 3 has the display only fields describing both the vehicle and the renter, with the question "IS THIS THE CORRECT CUSTOMER?"
• Page 4 has the fields for tank and odometer readings
• Page 5 will optionally have the remaining fields for FPO, upgrade and Neverlost if appropriate.

The following Function keys are used to page back and page forward within the program:

• F2 = page forward
• F4 = page back

RAs that have been processed by a roving agent prior to the guard gate can not be printed or re-printed by the roving agent. They must be printed at the guard gate.

SYSTEM MANAGEMENT WHEN GOLD CHOICE IS IN USE

As explained above, one of the features of Gold Choice is the ability of the renter to select a vehicle for their use that has already been assigned to another client. This results in a single vehicle being on two open RAs at the same time. The client who "gets to the car first" receives the vehicle. The other client's pre-printed RA;

• Will drop off the "Name in Lights" board.
• Is flagged as "Questionable" and can be seen on the Gold Choice Questionable RAs Report.
• Will re-appear on the Res Display screen as a gold reservation that requires a vehicle assignment (the Res Display can be run to only list those preprocessed RAs that require new vehicle assignments).

Either the Res Display or the Gold Choice Questionable RAs Report must be worked regularly throughout the day to catch pre-printed RAs that have been compromised by another's Gold Choice. Such RAs need to be pulled up on to the RA Open screen and have a new vehicle assigned to them. This "exchange" of vehicles is NOT done through the Exchange subwindow but rather directly in the Main Window of RA Open. That action will remove the questionable flag and resubmit the transaction to the "Name in Lights" board.

If for some reason, the "new" vehicle to be assigned to the RA is the original vehicle that had been assigned (perhaps a previous Gold Choice customer selected the vehicle but then changed their mind), processing still needs to be done to clear the questionable flag. Simply re-enter the vehicle number on the contract, the following message will then display and the user should answer "Y":

ORIGINAL VEHICLE REASSIGNED TO THIS CONTRACT?

Finally, a separate NoShow processing program, Gold No-Show Processing, exists for Pre-Printed Gold RAs that are left in the questionable status. This program will:

• Void the pre-printed RA
• Send the voided RA to CARRENT in OKC
• Change the status of the related reservation to "N" No-Show

This program is designed to be run several times per day from the report driver to "clean up" these types of transactions at a different frequency than that of the standard No-Show Processing program.


GOLD CHOICE EXPORT

Gold Choice Export generates a csv report for Gold Choice Rentals. Located on Data Transmission Submenu of the Hertz Menu