The Need for Car Rental Companies to Use Smart Safes – A Case Study
On March 1, 2018, a national Car Rental Code of Practice was released by the Australian Finance Industry Association (AFIA) and its fleet and rental members. This code was developed to deliver greater protections to customers on a national level.
The code ensured members had to be compliant with industry standards and transparent about policies and procedures, such as contract terms, billing and damage assessment. The expected result was that there would be an increase in consumer confidence because of improved car rental practices and processes.
Summary
Our car rental company decided on the release of the Car Rental Code of Practice to conduct an inhouse compliance audit of all our practices and processes, to ensure that we met all the standards outlined in the Code – listed below:
Post Rental Vehicle Damage Recording Procedures- Credit Card Charging Practices
- Pricing Practices
- Dispute Resolution
The audit took just over a month and involved the entire management team.
The Problem
While the audit uncovered some minor issues that were relatively easy to deal with, we found one major problem that required a significant change in our operations. The problem involved Standard 1 – Post Rental Vehicle Damage Recording Procedures, which affected the branch’s efficacy in handling Dispute Resolutions (Standard 4)
The audit findings are outlined below. Some confidential details have been deleted.
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Key Inhouse Audit Findings Audit Details Organisation details: City Branch, Brisbane Lead Auditor: Branch Manager Audit Reason: To ascertain the level of compliance with the Car Rental Code of Practice |
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| Audit Finding: Critical non-compliance | ||||||
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| Areas of Non-compliance | ||||||
| AFIA Standard 1 – Post Rental Vehicle Damage Recording Procedures
Subsection 1.4 If any damage is detected in a post rental inspection, our member will review their records to ascertain whether the damage is new or pre-existing… Areas of non-compliance highlighted in bold italics. |
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| Key Findings | ||||||
| Over the past two years of branch operations, there have been five occasions when a customer made a complaint involving vehicle damage. For all five cases, a staff member with appropriate experience, knowledge and authority reviewed these complaints during this audit.
In two of the cases, the auditors found evidence of branch non-compliance. At the time of both rentals, which were a week apart, an employee made a diary note in the Customer Management System (CMS) – our primary method of record keeping – that there was no pre-existing damage to the cars rented by the two customers. When the cars were returned, staff found significant damage to both vehicles. So, because our CMS showed that there was no pre-existing damage to either car, it was ascertained that in both cases, there was new damage. However, each customer was adamant the damage to their vehicles was pre-existing. Unfortunately, the original written records and photographic evidence of the condition of the cars at the time of rental were misplaced and were unable to be found. The records had been left unsecured on a supervisor’s desk shortly before he went on leave by a junior staff member. When the supervisor returned from leave, he found the records had gone missing. When the customers made complaints, an Internal Dispute Resolution was unable to be conducted effectively in both cases due to the missing records. As a result, the complaints were escalated to an External Dispute Conciliation with the Australian Car Rental Conciliation Service. The branch received a considerable amount of negative feedback and ratings on Google Maps and other social media platforms over these two complaints. |
The Solution
After reviewing the audit findings, upper-management determined that it was a serious compliance breach for rental records to have been left unsecured on a supervisor’s desk.
It was further determined that the best way to resolve this issue was to buy an electronic safe to keep all rental records in, so that if further complaints were ever received, the branch could resolve disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner.
After researching different electronic safe models, the branch decided on purchasing a KeepControl Smart Safe.
This safe met all our requirements. In addition to having extremely sturdy steel plates, it also had a smart sensor with a high decibel alarm that was activated if you tried to force it open.
For us, the most important feature is that the safe can be opened using a smart phone app. The branch manager can set an admin PIN code, as well as other user codes. These user codes can be added and deleted. The branch manager can also set temporary codes, which are valid for only 5 minutes if required.
The Results
Since we installed the KeepControl Smart Safe, no written records or photographic evidence have been lost or misplaced. They are locked in the safe on a daily basis, and there has never been an issue accessing them when necessary.
All dispute resolutions since the installation have been carried out in a way which fully protected the rights of our customers because all relevant records were available.
Why Choose a KeepControl Smart Safe?
KeepControl has the best security solutions. We offer Australia wide delivery to your door. Contact us today on 1800 654 919 or at info@keepcontrol.au.