PoolCar is an incredible pool booking solution that has helped many organisations make significant reductions to the size of their fleet. But while booking vehicles is the solution’s core functionality, there’s more to PoolCar than might first meet the eye. We’ve encountered several organisations that have used PoolCar to manage unique aspects of day-to-day operations. We’ve compiled them into a handy list to give you some ideas on how to get the most out of PoolCar.
Sometimes organisations have limited car parking facilities. This certainly presents a fantastic opportunity for employees to explore alternative transportation, such as public transport, active transportation, and carpooling. However, sometimes circumstances mean you just have to drive to work. When that occurs, you’ll want to make sure you have somewhere to park your car.
When parking spaces are limited, there’s generally a rush to try and capitalise on availability. But if someone misses the memo, it can lead to car frustration and arguments over who has access to an available space.
To combat this, we’ve seen organisations add their car parking spaces to PoolCar (we even do it for our own office!). They do this by registering all available car parks in PoolCar and adding them into a separate car park pool. Employees can simply log onto PoolCar and book a space either for the whole day or for a period of time. This eliminates any confusion as to who has access. Managers can also track individual employee car park utilisation, to make sure that no one is abusing car parking privileges.
Sometimes organisations have mission-critical assets that need to be tracked, such as keys to restricted areas or a shared piece of equipment such as a golf buggy or lawnmower. Rather than require a single employee to manage who should have the asset, you can manage bookings through PoolCar. If needed, the booking of assets can be restricted based on employee roles so that only authorised employees can request access.
You could even take asset management to the next level by pairing PoolCar with a KeyMaster cabinet. Keys or other small assets can be added to the KeyMaster and managed directly via PoolCar bookings. After making a booking for an asset, employees simply head to the KeyMaster and use their booking code to retrieve the asset. Late-return notifications will alert system administrators that the asset hasn’t been returned, and should something go missing, you know exactly who the last person was to check the item out.
PoolCar has a powerful feature that helps Fleet Managers keep on top of servicing and maintenance schedules. Simply register the date or odometer reading for an asset’s scheduled service, and PoolCar will send administrators reminder notifications as the date approaches. But the feature can be used for more than just service reminders.
It should go without saying that every vehicle in your fleet should have a first aid kit and emergency extinguisher. These are essential in case something happens while staff are on the road. Like most consumables, they also have a limited shelf life. PoolCar’s reminder feature can be used to set a regular cadence to test equipment such as fire extinguishers and check whether first aid kits have reached their used-by date. This ensures your staff will never be caught out with out-of-date equipment in an emergency.
Did you know that PoolCar has a feature to manage your booking’s passenger manifest? Employees can add additional passengers to a booking by simply entering their email addresses. This can encourage employees to seek out carpooling arrangements. It helps to minimise wasted resources and encourages the sharing of driving responsibilities on longer trips.
It is unfortunate, but Covid-19 has become a permanent part of our daily lives. With the rise of the far more infectious Omicron strain, it’s important that organisations accurately trace who has been using shared assets such as pool vehicles. In the event one of your employees tests positive for Covid-19, PoolCar provides a simple way to track who may have used the vehicle in the hours or days afterwards. By adding employees to the passenger manifest, it is an effective way to identify everyone who might have been exposed.
As you can see, PoolCar is an incredibly powerful pool booking solution. It also has a lot of unique tricks up its sleeve that provides flexible ways to manage the various assets in your organisation.
