How to Manage Loan (Courtesy) Cars

Navigator allows service departments to manage loan cars (also referred to as courtesy cars) by maintaining a live vehicle register, managing availability, and tracking bookings. Accurate management of these vehicles supports operational planning, improves customer satisfaction, and provides crucial data for audit trails such as fines or damage claims.

This article outlines how to add, delete, view, and report on loan car bookings and history.

Adding a Loan Car

Steps:

1. From the main menu, open the Courtesy Cars icon.

   • Note: Navigator uses the terms "courtesy car" and "loan car" interchangeably.

2. On the right-hand side, click Add.

3. Enter the vehicle’s registration number in the Reg Number box and click VRM.

   • The system will retrieve vehicle details automatically.

4. Adjust:

   • Date added to the fleet (defaults to today).

   • Mileage, if required (optional).

5. To make the car available at multiple branches:

   • Click Change, then add the appropriate branches.

6. Click Update to save.

   • A confirmation will appear with the car number and registration.

⚠ If the registration already exists, a duplicate vehicle error will display. Select No and re-enter the correct registrationScript - 19a Loan Cars.

Deleting a Loan Car

To remove a car from the system:

1. Highlight the loan car you wish to delete.

2. Click Delete on the right-hand side.

3. A confirmation prompt will appear:

   • “Are you sure you want to remove [Vehicle] from the system and clear any future allocations?”

4. Select Yes to complete.

This removes the vehicle and any future bookings from the systemScript - 19 Loan Cars.

Viewing Loan Car Bookings

There are two ways to check which cars are booked out:

1. Through the Service Reception Diary

1. Open the Service Reception screen and click View Diary.

2. Select the desired day by clicking its row.

3. At the bottom of the screen:

   • Tick marks in the Courtesy Car column indicate bookings.

   • Clicking the Courtesy Car header filters the list to only show bookings.

4. Select the Loan Car tab to view all cars booked that day and their full details.

2. Through the Loan Car Report

1. Go to Service Manager’s Toolkit and click the Loan Car Report icon.

2. The calendar defaults to today.

3. Either:

   • Select a specific date and click Refresh, or

   • Use the arrow to scroll through dates.

4. Bookings for the selected date will appear with full details.

Viewing Loan Car History

For historical enquiries (e.g. traffic fines, damage claims):

1. Open the Loan Car History report from the Service Manager’s Toolkit.

2. Use the Date From and Date To calendars to select the required range.

   • The default is the current month.

   • You can go back several years if needed.

3. The report will show who the car was booked to during the selected period.

This is especially useful when investigating incidents such as parking fines or speeding tickets.

Summary