Availability

Before reserving a vehicle for a particular class, the availability of that class should be checked. The system calculates availability based on the in-fleet vehicles, reservations, due back contracts and due back repair orders.

Availability is calculated for a range of time. See the "Availability vs. Utilization" section below for differences between availability and utilization.

Currently-Available Vehicles

The system first adds up the in-fleet vehicles that are currently available. If a vehicle is at an unprepared status, it will be considered available in one hour. If an in-fleet vehicle has an expected out-of-service date that is less than or equal to the due back date, it will not be counted.

The system then checks for on-order vehicles that will be in-fleet by the time the reservation is due to be picked up. If the on-order vehicle’s expected in-service date is before the reservation’s pickup date, it will be counted.

Reservations/Due Back Rentals

Once the number of available vehicles has been calculated, the system looks for reservations. Each reservation that is due to be picked up before or during the current reservation’s date range subtracts one available vehicle.

The system then checks for due back rentals. If a rental (or a reservation that will become a rental) is due back before the current reservation’s pickup date, an available vehicle will be added to the total.

If the "Include Repair Due Backs" option is selected, repair orders that are due back before the current reservation’s pickup date will add an available vehicle to the total.

Balance

Once all the vehicles, reservations, and due back rentals have been accounted for, the system will search through the number of available vehicles for each hour of the current reservation’s date range. As long as there is at least one vehicle available throughout the entire range, then the current reservation can be accepted without a lack of vehicles to rent.

Availability vs. Utilization

The availability calculation is similar to the utilization calculation. The major difference between the two is that availability is calculated over a period of time while utilization is calculated for a specific moment in time. Just because utilization is less than 100% does not mean that vehicles are available. For example, suppose one compact car (out of ten) is left on the lot. The utilization is 90%. A reservation is made for a compact vehicle which is due to be picked up tomorrow. Utilization is still 90% (the car is still on the lot right now), but checking availability for a reservation due to be pickup up two days from now will show that no cars are available. The car on the lot will be rented out on that existing reservation, leaving none for the reservation currently being entered.