Fuel Island Construction

We have an upcoming construction project at the Fuel Island scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 31^st. During this period, E85 fuel will not be available.  To accommodate those needing E85 fuel, we will activate the Wright Express fuel cards for affected vehicles.  To use the card, make sure your staff know the Driver ID# is 4-last 4 digits of the vehicle license number and 5.  Use this opportunity to make sure the fuel credit card is in your vehicle.  Remember, credit card fuel is very expensive, so to minimize your cost, make sure your staff fill up on Friday, May 27.

During this project, the south lane of the fuel island will be harder to access.  We recommend large vehicles and trucks to use the north lane during this time.

Weather depending, everything should be back to normal by Monday, June 6th. 

Lot 64 parking – Now Fully LPR

We made the permanent switch to digital permits for our customer lot on May 2^nd.  Customers needing to leave a personal vehicle in our lot during their reservation will need to provide their license plate number, state, and the make of the vehicle when they pick up their rental. We’ll enter that information into the digital permit system so your car will be safe and free of tickets. Please remember to park personal vehicles in the east half of the lot closest to Madison Street.

How to Clean Tar Off of Your Car

After driving on a newly paved road on a hot day or on a street with a fresh patch job you may find yourself with a tar splattered car. Luckily there is an easy and effective way to remove the tar off using some peanut butter and a little elbow grease. Much like how peanut butter is used to get gum out of hair, the oil in the peanut butter penetrates through the tar, separating its molecules, making them easier to break down. Just dab some peanut butter on the tar, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then wipe it off with a microfiber cloth. Read the full article from Lifehacker.  

Fleet Services is Hiring Students

We are currently looking to hire at least one part time Student Dispatcher to help us maintain and service our daily rental fleet. Duties include detailing, fueling, shuttling vehicles, and providing basic customer service. Starting wage is $13.00. If you know a student who may be interested in this opportunity have them call the main office and ask for Blake.

Spotlight on the Fleet Services Website

We just wanted to take up some space this month to shine a spotlight on our website and point out some of the helpful information available there. You can find vehicle rates for both rental and assigned vehicles, links to request both daily rental and assigned vehicles, video tutorials that can be used for training purposes, policies and procedures, driver training information, a very handy FAQs section, along with a list of helpful links and forms. 

The Best Way to Take On a Speed Bump

In an article about speed bumps from the Autopian, suspension engineer Huibert Mees describes three approaches he sees drivers use when going over speed bumps, slow down and turn just before the bump to cross it diagonally, maintain speed and power through, or the conservative approach to simply lower your speed and drive over slowly. With the “Diagonal approach,” each wheel hits the bump separately causing the car to pitch sideways and makes the body of the vehicle want to twist. With the “Power Through” approach, when your suspension comes up to a speed bump, it has to move up and out of the way to cross it. The faster you go, the faster the suspension has to get out of the way, which causes added stress to all suspension components, especially the dampers. The final approach involves slowing down to a crawl and driving over the bump two wheels at a time. In this case slow and steady does win the race, this method keeps the suspension in its more or less normal position because the body has time to move up with the bump.

Fleet Factoid

Fleet Services is scheduled to take delivery of our first electric cargo van in the coming days. It is a Ford E-Transit 350 that will be used by Campus Mail. If you or your department are interested in learning more about the vehicle, please call the office.