Car Reservation Requirements and Guidance
Reservations can only be made for state employees, so we can’t reserve a pool car for a hired driver to go pick up clients. Drivers would need to either drive their own vehicle or one owned by the agency. This includes field staff, so if you need to transport a client & you don’t have the time, and won’t be needing the vehicle, you could let the drive use your state car. You would need to provide them with the PIN number for fuel and provide them with information regarding mileage logs, etc. Remember every person providing transportation for IDB must submit a copy of the front of their Iowa Driver’s License to be approved. If a driver has an out of state driver’s license, they would need to request a copy of their driving record to send to us.
Reserved vehicles can be picked up during the following times.
Monday 6:30 am — 4:30 pm
Tuesday 7:00 am — 4:30 pm
Wednesday 7:00 am — 4:30 pm
Thursday 7:00 am — 4:30 pm
Friday 7:00 am — 4:30 pm
Closed weekends & state holidays
If you need a vehicle outside these hours, you will need to make arrangements to pick it up at a different time. For example, if you are leaving at 5:30 am, you would need to pick up the vehicle late the afternoon before, preferably after 3 pm. You can return vehicles at any time, as you do not need to take items back to the motor pool office. You drop the keys in the drop box located in the 3rd floor lobby of the parking ramp.
The motor pool will charge penalties for the following:
No show/No pick up = $50.00 + daily rate for vehicle
Late returns = $50.00 penalty + costs
Vehicles return dirty = $115.00 charge for cleaning
As you can see, penalties are fairly costly. If you find you no longer need your vehicle, you must notify someone in accounting. If you cannot reach a person in accounting, please send an email to Mariah.flowers@iowa.gov and copy me so that we have proof it was cancelled prior to pick up time. If you find you will be late returning, again, please contact us so that we can see if the reservation can be extended. Do not worry about this is you scheduled to return at after 4:30 and will have the vehicle returned by midnight.
Also, just a suggestion, since DAS only has a limited amount of vehicles that can be rented and about 10,000 employees who could be using them, planning your trips early are your best guarantee of getting a state car. Last minute reservations are always questionable.
One last item, we are now hearing that some of the staff travel is being allowed as a Pre-Ets expense. We are working out details, but to help assist us, when doing a reservation, will you please indicate if your trip is for Pre-Ets or VR client visit, or both. If Pre-Ets, please let us know the purpose (training, IEP meeting, etc.). This will start giving us the data to try to allocate a portion of the costs to Pre-Ets.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask or check the DAS Fleet Services website at https://das.iowa.gov/procurement/fleet-services.
Thanks!
Joyce