I Wish Mr. Clean Worked for the University

You know the guy, tall, bald, likes to clean, smells a little bit like ammonia. Unfortunately, he doesn’t work here, so it is up to each department to make sure their assigned vehicle(s) from Fleet Services are kept clean. For the exterior, we have car wash coupons available to wash your passenger vehicle once a month. You can get those coupons at our front desk. Reminder, you are eligible to get one free wash per month (or every 30 days), per vehicle, additional car washes will be billed back to the department for $5.00 per wash. For your interior cleaning needs, we have vacuums and cleaning supplies located at the Fleet Office for departments to use free of charge.

The Name Game

Please remember, when renting a vehicle, only those who are listed on the Fleet Services requisition are authorized to drive the vehicle. Even if the person is picking up the vehicle for someone else; every person who drives must be listed on that particular reservation.

Lost Your Fuel Chip Key?

The chip-key is that little thingy that most folks keep on the vehicle key ring that allows access to the fuel pumps. If that gets lost or you are using a spare set of keys without it, we have a temporary chip key that can be used to fill up any vehicle, we call it the “Lost Chip-Key.” Just stop down at the office when you need to fuel and grab Lost Chip-key.

Please note the person filling the vehicle must be extremely careful; the Lost Chip-Key will allow any type of fuel from our pumps. So, it would be very easy to pump the wrong type of fuel into the vehicle. If there are questions about what type of fuel to use, ask one of our staff members when the Lost Chip-Key is picked up and we can tell the person what type of fuel goes into the vehicle.

Fleet Factoid

According to Automotive Fleet Magazine, Iowa is the best state to drive in beating out Oklahoma and Kansas for the top spot. The determining factors included things such as average gas prices, safety issues, rush-hour traffic congestion, frequency of car thefts, and road quality. Interestingly, Hawaii ended up being the worst. Read the article about the most driver-friendly states.

How To: Jump-Start a Car Battery

It’s inevitable, there will come a time when you need to jump start your vehicle or help someone jump theirs. For those of you who don’t know how to correctly jump start a vehicle, below are step-by-step instructions:

1. Position the two vehicles so the batteries are within jumper cable distance of one another, but do not let the vehicles touch.
2. On each vehicle remove the key from the ignition and turn off all factory electrical systems such as the lights, radio, etc. 
3. Connect the jumper cables in the following order to the specified locations:
   1. Connect one end of the positive jumper cable (red clamp) to the positive terminal (it will have a “+” near the terminal) of the dead battery.
   2. Connect the red clamp of the other jumper cable to the positive terminal of the booster battery (“+”).
   3. Install one end of the negative jumper cable (black clamp) to the negative terminal of the booster battery. This terminal will have a “-“ symbol near it.
   4. Connect the black clamp at the other end of the jumper cable to a ground point on the vehicle with the dead battery, such as the engine block, accessory bracket, or other unpainted surface.
4. Start the vehicle with the good battery and let it run a few minutes. Then try to start the vehicle with the dead battery. If the engine seems to be turning too slowly, stop cranking and wait a few minutes to avoid draining both batteries. Then try to start the dead vehicle again.
5. Once the vehicle starts: allow it to run at a high idle for 30 seconds or more, then remove the jumper cables in the reverse order of installation and finally, turn off the headlights and heater.

Watch Advanced Auto Parts great how-to video on how to jump start your car battery.