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."