For Car Rental Companies, Cleanliness Is Top Priority
Industry working to ensure fleet is sanitized and safe to book
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, car rental companies worldwide are doing what they can to ensure their fleets are safe to use.
For maintenance staff, it will be an all-hands-on-deck endeavor. The U.S. National Institutes of Health released an advisory that the virus can live up to three days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. The NIH did not issue any information on the survival timespan of the virus on other materials found in a car interior like upholstery.
Modified cleaning procedures announced across the board
Hertz updated its website with an assurance that the company has modified its cleaning procedures. Extra concentration will be placed on interior items that users are most likely to touch. That includes dashboards, door handles, consoles, seats, steering wheels and others. Its fleet and shuttle buses will be subject to more enhanced and regular sanitation methods.
“We’ve added more alcohol-based hand sanitizers and are reminding employees to take important hygiene steps, including frequent handwashing and staying home if ill,” added the company in the statement.
Avis also reported adopting similar procedures as well as following any advice issued by the World Health Organization. The company has also changed many of its cleaning products to address the Coronavirus issue.
Enterprise announced that some of their offices have been closed in response to the pandemic, but for those still open, employees have been instructed to follow a strict hygiene regiment. For vehicle cleaning, spots most likely to be in contact with customers are being treated with special disinfectants. The company also introduced a training course to ensure all maintenance staff follow revised procedures.
“We’ve always taken seriously the cleanliness of our locations and vehicles, and we know this is more important now than ever,” said the company on its website.
Finally, Sixt implemented equal measures, including the cleaning of its fleet in a multi-stage process.
One report in the U.K. revealed that most car rental companies there are using cleaning products containing anti-viral ingredients such as isopropanol. In the U.S., the Center for Disease Control reported that products must contain at least 60 percent alcohol for them to be effective on surfaces that might be hosting viral particles.
Those products also include hand sanitizers, which are being made available by all car rental companies reporting on their cleaning procedures.
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