Last month, Automotive Fleet described how the Avis Rent A Car System performed maintenance on its rental units operating out of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. . .
This month, in its second part of a three-part series, AF highlights the maintenance procedures followed by the Hertz Rent A Car Division at the Miami International Airport.
Next month ... a look at National Car Rental System, Inc.
The Hertz Corp.'s maintenance policy regarding its rental units at Miami International Airport can be summarized in two words: checking and uniformity.
All rental units, whether fresh from a local dealer or just in from rental, receive almost continuous maintenance checks. These checks are for one purpose: To catch any flaw in the automobile prior to its being rented.
The uniformity comes in the way the checks are made. There is almost no deviation in the day-to-day maintenance procedures carried out by Hertz personnel at the Miami airport.
Ready Line Check
Each ear ready line cheek is made virtually the same way each day, livery Hertz Quality Control Inspection is made the same way each day. Each unit gets the same inspection before being rented. Each unit receives about the same inspection when brought in from rental.
This checking and this uniformity is not just a Hertz policy designed especially for the Miami airport. It's the basis of the national maintenance policy for the entire Rent A Car Division.
Therefore, by examining Hertz' maintenance policy at the Miami airport Automotive Fleet offers its readers an insight into Hertz' maintenance operations at all of its airport locations.
Because the Miami location is one of the largest rental facilities in the division, there are some procedures that are unique with the Florida location. These deviations, however, are more a matter of procedure. The basic program does not change.
The First Check
The first Hertz check at Miami comes when a new car is delivered by a local dealer to a two and one-half acre staging area adjacent to the airport. Personnel are taken from the main shop, which is located within one-half mile of the airport's renta1 counters, to the staging area. Once there, they perform exterior and interior checks.
When the vehicles arrive at the staging area they also have been given get ready inspections by the delivering dealers.
"We will do business with any dealer in the greater Miami area that wants to do business with us," said Jim Ellis, Hertz city manager. "Regardless of the size of the dealer or how long we have been doing business with him, each vehicle receives the same inspection," Ellis said.
If the unit is found satisfactory, it is driven from the staging area to the main shop. During this ride, further checks are made. If a defect-is noted, the car will either be returned to the dealer or the defect will be noted and repairs or adjustments made at the main facility.
The number of personnel receiving units" at the staging area depends upon the number of units received. In an average month, Miami, like other big cities, will receive new cars at a rate of between 300 to 700 per month, depending upon the season.
Once a unit is sent to the main shop it is put through a second and more thorough check. This is called the quality control cheek. It includes gas, oil, fluids, mirrors, radio, air - conditioner, windshield wipers, heater, horn, lighter, doors and windows. Also included in this cheek are inspections for proper stickers, licensing and state tags.
An Inspection Ride
Once this preparation check is complete, the car is parked beside the maintenance shop until it is to be used by a customer.
One of the 53 garagemen then drives the car to the rental counter. During this ride another inspection is made. If the garagemen find anything wrong with the vehicle, they return the car to the main shop. During the season, the 53 garagemen are joined by 49 others to man the 24-hour-per-day service.
The hiker system is not the standard way Hertz delivers a car to a customer. In most Hertz airport locations, cars are delivered to a ready car area, tagged and the customer picks up the unit from a numbered stall.
When a rental unit is returned to the airport location, the customer is queried, in an informal way, to determine if there were any defects in the vehicle.
Comments Are Helpful
In addition to the verbal check of the customer by the rental representative, a yellow ticket is attached over the mirror. The ticket invites comments from the customer on the condition of the ear and any defects found.
When the customer turns in the car, the garagemen are expected to check the ear for body damage and for the spare tire. The Miami airport has about 200 damage incidents per month. New York has about 400, Chicago 175 to 200.
All Hertz rental locations have collision damage repaired by outside vendors. Miami works with three outside vendors. New York about ten vendors, as does the Hertz unit at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.
When vendors complete the body repairs, each unit is inspected by a Hertz representative before payment is made.
A vital part of this collision repair is the Hertz Appraisal form, which binds the vendor to work performed, price for the work, time of delivery of unit and quality of work.
Each unit returned to the main shop after being in service usually is given an inspection regardless if the hiker, the garagemen and the customer found the car to be in perfect condition. The car gets the same check that it did before being put into service.
If something is noted as wrong, however, actual mechanical work at the Miami airport is performed by one of nine mechanics. The mechanics work three shifts, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.
If a car comes back from a rental with a defect noted, the car is generally given the Hertz Quality Control Inspection before the defect is repaired. In this way, mechanics hope to catch other items in need of repair. In addition to all items previously checked in the preparation check, the Hertz Quality Control Inspection includes steering and all mechanical items, including points, plugs and carburetor.
The main shop facility at Miami airport is a one-story brick structure that contains seven stalls. Five of them are used for mechanical repairs and two for tires.
When a new car is put into service, the spare tire is removed and a "used" tire is put in as a spare. In most cases, the used tire has as much tread life as the original equipment. It must meet national safety standards before it will be used.
"We do this for .security reasons," said John Gallivan, zone maintenance supervisor. "Our customers park in places where security is lacking and as a result, we lose too many tires."
In addition to normal cheeks, each rental unit receives maintenance according to the manufacturers' recommendations under the warranty requirements. Because of this, each Hertz vehicle is inspected at 6,000, 12,000, 18,000 and 24,-000 miles.
Parts stock at most Hertz rental locations are kept to "fast moving items" such as filters, hoses, points, plugs, belts, fuel pumps and bulbs. The parts stock at Miami runs between $3,000 and $4,000.
Hertz personnel at Miami will replace an entire radio unit, but if the radio is in need of repairs, the vehicle will be returned to the dealer. If major problems occur on air-conditioning units, the vehicle also will be returned to the dealer.
As would be expected, Hertz has a very extensive turn back program. "We will sell cars to friends, employees, at auctions, wholesale then sell them privately or sell them back to the dealer," Ellis said.
After the last Hertz turn back sale, two auto manufacturers congratulated Gallivan for having the "lowest turn-back rate per car of any major Florida rental agency." In a letter to Gallivan, the manufacturers said the Hertz turn-back rate was about $19 lower than their nearest competitor.
And this rate is achieved without benefit of a special used car conditioning program.
"We simply try to keep up with daily maintenance," Gallivan said. "When it comes time to sell our cars, we sell them as is."
Is there an added maintenance problem connected with being "Number One"?
"Being in the position we are in has made us work that much more," Gerald Shapiro, vice president and general manager of the Rent A Car Division, told AF. "We can't: be just as good as the next: guy or show gains that are average with the rest of the industry. We must be better; we must have a better product, a better maintenance program if you will. With the addition of a national maintenance program a few years ago, and with the entire division working toward uniformity in standards - whether it's in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Miami, New York, or Little Rock, Arkansas-I can't help but feel that we are making fantastic gains . . . even if we are only Number One."
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