ADP support staff and consultants are often repeatedly asked questions which perhaps could be answered by this topic. It may save you a phone call and prevent mistakes from being made.
Please do not hesitate to seek help if you have a problem, no matter how small you think it is. Depending on your company structure you may have a systems department, or a system manager, who is your first port of call if you have a problem. Try that route first if that is the way you normally operate. ADP staff will always be happy to help you out if you need access to further assistance when questions are not answered to your satisfaction.
The points covered in this topic are merely a summary of those already included in this manual, however look through them to acquaint yourself of some of the common questions that our customers have asked.
A vehicle is late back, New vehicle will not operate?
A vehicle due out, but is still out on hire on agreement A, either because the agreement has been extended or because the customer is late back, you need to allocate another vehicle to the agreement which is about to start, agreement B. There are a couple of points here to bear in mind.
Should I have known earlier?
Why did the system not warn me?
How can I get the New vehicle to work?
Is the new agreement at the wrong status?
Should I have known earlier?: Yes, obviously. However sometimes these things happen at the last minute. The system can help you to plan ahead by monitoring the vehicle requirements for the next 48 hours via the Report Generator. This is normally by way of reports set up as part of the end of day routine.
Why did the system not warn me?: As already mentioned a report or two could have helped you out. In this case a late returns report run first thing in the morning may have eased the situation by giving you more time to react to the late return of one of your vehicles.
OK, but what now! Why does not the New vehicle work? You can only allocate a new vehicle to an agreement which has already started, this means an agreement which is currently at status O. An agreement which has a vehicle allocated to it but is not yet started is at agreement A. In this case all you have to do is Unallocate the vehicle, and then Allocate another.
Please be aware that although the original vehicle is still on hire to a customer on another agreement the system will allow you to allocate it to later agreements. This enables you to plan ahead. Naturally things will go wrong from time to time and the vehicle may be late back, therefore necessitating the un-allocation process.
The system will also allow you to start a later rental, even though the previous rental has not yet been finished. This is necessary sometimes because you may not want to close the previous agreement until you have had it delivered back, (which may happen when you are unable to log it into the system). Meanwhile you can start and print the next agreement and leave the paperwork with showroom staff for the customer to come in out of normal hours, sign on the dotted line and proceed with their hire.
Is the new agreement at the wrong status? Yes, if you can not un-allocate a vehicle from a booking it must be either at status BOR or X. To un-allocate you need the agreement to be at status A. Swapping a vehicle via the New vehicle routine requires the agreement to be at status O, (which it should not be until the hire has actually started.
Always remember the status codes. A new booking is created at status B, booked. Once a vehicle is allocated to the booking it moves on to status A, allocated. When you start the hire agreement it becomes status O, on hire. Finish the rental to move it onto status R, returned. Finally, at a much later stage you will close a fully invoiced agreement and move it to its final status C.
I cannot access the marketing options I need?
Some users may not see the Rental specific options they require on the Company, Target or Vehicle forms in the marketing system. Some people see the options but cannot get into them when selected. This is not uncommon, it is also not difficult to remedy. There are a couple of points to watch for here.
User access control:In the marketing System Utilities menu there is an option called User Access Control. This, if it is switched on, will allow selected users to access marketing options which are unavailable to other users. Speak to your system manager if you cant see the rentals options. Amendment of you access control is a fairly high priority and most normal users cannot change it.
If this does not solve the problem contact ADP support.
I can see them but I cant use them? If you see the rentals options, but the form does not allow you access there are two possibilities.
You are displaying the record rather than amending it, in this case the forms will only display if there are valid rental details for the record being displayed.
You did not access the marketing system from the vehicle rentals system. Leave marketing, go into the vehicle rentals reservation form and press the Marketing button. This will return you to marketing and allow access to the options you need.
What if a customer wants four cars, on the same day?
If you get an enquiry for four of the same cars for the same customer you can use the clone facility. Make a single booking for the group of vehicle required, on the date required, and then save it. Go into the review option and call up the booking which you have just made. An option called Clone will be available. Select this and tell the system how many copies of the booking you require. The new agreements will be created automatically for you.
Even if all the bookings are for different groups you can create then with the clone option and then simply edit the new agreements to amend the group code.
Do I really have to create target records for all drivers?
No. If your customer is not likely to return then use the casual rental facility. Once the booking is made, search for the driver in the normal way, if the record is not found take the option for Casual Rental and just create the driver details on the booking form. Be aware that once the agreement is deleted the driver record will also go.
Also, if the booking is for a company who have full insurance details recorded on the company record you will not need to complete driver details.
