ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Paperless rental agreements and curbside rental pick-ups will be among the new measures brought in by car hire firms post COVID-19.

Other plans include a thorough disinfection of high-touch vehicle areas between customers and "cleaning checklist" stickers placed on driver-side doors to instill confidence that the car has been thoroughly cleaned before use.

"Historically we may have assumed car cleanliness to be a fundamental expectation - one that we didn't need to inform our customers about in great detail," said an Avis Budget Group spokesperson. "But in light of the current pandemic we believe it is critical that our customers understand our process and the lengths we take to ensure a safe and healthy experience for our employees and customers."

The company has introduced new cleaning product requirements to ensure that all of its cars are being disinfected to the same level.

Enterprise has created a 20-plus-point cleaning checklist and introduced curbside rental pick-ups to avoid the need for customers to enter the firm's offices. The company is also limiting the number of passengers on airport shuttle buses to allow for social distancing and is sanitising these buses at least once a day.

And Hertz has its own 15-point cleaning checklist, while all newly-cleaned cars are marked with a "Hertz Gold Standard Clean" sticker over the driver-side door. This will only be broken when the new driver accesses the rental for the first time.

Meanwhile, paperless rental agreements and digital receipts will become the new norm for many companies to avoid the need for documents having to change hands.