This form is largely used for external brokered type business so that the customer can ring the rental company to inform them that they no longer require the vehicle and receive an off-hire number as confirmation of this fact. The rental company may then have to inform the third party supplier that the vehicle requires collection, etc. However, standard rental businesses may also wish to incorporate this function into the rental process. This is a toggle-function: once the off-hire option is used and the vehicle is off-hired then this menu option toggles to a value of On-Hire enabling the vehicle to be placed on-hire again.
Note: The Off-Hire status performs the same availability process as the Returned status in making the vehicle available for hire again.
If the Off hire used flag is ticked in the Supplier/Misc Tab within System Parameters then this ensures that the off-hire function is enabled within the Tools menu option (or equivalent icon). If this flag is not ticked then this option is not enabled (i.e. greyed-out).
Dependent upon another setting within system parameters this form functions in an alternative way i.e. If the Off hire brokerages flag is ticked in the Supplier/Misc Tab within System Parameters then the off-hire process functions as above; however, the status of the agreement changes to Off-Hired (this status can subsequently be utilised for generating an off-hired vehicle report).
Note: With the Off hire brokerages flag ticked, the Off-Hire menu option is only enabled when the agreement is at a Booking status.
To off-hire a vehicle:
From the Master Menu, select the Vehicle rentals option and Company required.
The VEHICLE RENTALS Menu is displayed.
Select the Reservations option.
The Reservations and Availability form is displayed.
Select the 
icon.
The Open Agreement form is displayed.
Locate the required agreement using the appropriate selection criteria and select the Open command button.
The Rental Agreement form is displayed.
Select the Off-Hire option from the Tools menu.
The Off-Hire form is displayed.
Tip: As well as being accessed via the menu or icon options the display of this form can also be initiated by deselection of the TBA flag within the Create Booking form. In external brokerage parlance, this denotes that the booking does not have an estimated (or to-be-agreed) return time and that it has a specific automatic pick-up (APU) time and as such can be immediately off-hired.
This form is divided into three parts that are as follows:
In addition to displaying the form name the Title Bar provides a number of other useful identification criteria and buttons.
The Off-Hire dialogue box contains the following fields:
Off-Hire Date: The date on which the vehicle is off-hire by the customer.
If the Use current date/time flag is ticked in the General 4 Tab within System Parameters then this ensures that the current system date/time is entered into the Off-Hire Date and Off-Hire Time fields in this form and subsequently returned to the agreement for the finishing and invoicing of the hire. In this case both of these fields are disabled and cannot be edited. If this flag is not set then both fields are enabled allowing entry of required dates and time (in this case the Off-Hire Time value defaults to the hire To field in the agreement although this may be overridden).
Off-Hire Reference: Enables entry of a reference given by the customer to be entered for the off-hire; this is a free-format field for entry of up to 25 alphanumeric characters.
Off-Hire Time: The time at which the vehicle is off-hire by the customer.
If the Use current date/time flag is ticked in the General 4 Tab within System Parameters then this ensures that the current system date/time is entered into the Off-Hire Date and Off-Hire Time fields in this form and subsequently returned to the agreement for the finishing and invoicing of the hire. In this case both of these fields are disabled and cannot be edited. If this flag is not set then both fields are enabled allowing entry of required dates and time (in this case the Off-Hire Time value defaults to the hire To field in the agreement although this may be overridden).
COMMAND BUTTONS:
OK: Enters the off-hire details into the agreement and prompts with a form that declares: This is off-hire number ???? (where ???? is the system generated off-hire number. The off-hire number is displayed above the Damage fields within the Vehicle Tab. The status of the agreement may change from On-Hire to Off-Hire dependent upon the setting of the Off hire brokerages flag in the Supplier/Misc Tab within System Parameters. The off-hire number is populated within the Vehicle Tab.
Cancel: Returns to the Agreement form without off-hiring the vehicle.
Help:Displays online context-sensitive help using the default browser.
