Feb. 19, 2010
Q: During the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend I observed no less than four Navy Exchange (NEX) rental vans being used by base facilities workers as work vans.

After inquiring, I learned that these vans have been continually re-reserved and rented as work vans from the NEX for continual periods of more than 100 days each.

As these vans are continually in high demand for families (especially during holidays), can anything be done to give priority to families when reserving these rental vans ahead of facilities workers?

There are few other viable options for families trying to rent vehicles here.

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A: There are three vans that we currently have out as long term rentals.

All three of these vehicles were reserved and rented by authorized patrons.

As of now, we do not have a policy in place that limits the period of time that any vehicle can be rented.

We operate on a first come, first served basis.

It is recommended that authorized patrons wanting to rent a vehicle make a reservation as far in advance as possible.

This is especially important during holidays and long weekends.

The size of our fleet is not based on the needs for holiday weekends.

The number of both vans and sedans is established based on overall occupancy percentage for the year.

How does this answer the question? Are these facility workers paying the daily rental fee for these vans? I seriously doubt it. I cant say for 100%, but if these base workers are Japanese, are they even eligible to rent a vehicle from the NEX?

As has been said in the past, all of these answers are so vague that I usually come out with a "wtf" type feeling once I get to the end of their answer...

I guess they need to define what 'authorized patrons' are.

Hoff, I sometimes agree with you about the WTF, but atleast we have a way to voice our opinions now when things don't make sense. Before you just got the A: and that was it. Not anymore... That's just the beginning for them.
www.japanbases.com

Oh, I am totally onboard with having a venue to voice our complaints/BZ's... Its the person that is answering these questions that I am unsure about... They would make a damn good politician, I will say that...

Yeah there is no way that anything in that answer really even comes close to answering the question. Most of those Seahawk answers been that way for a while now.

wait a second, didn't we learn anything from the other thread? we need to quit victimizing these poor navy exchange workers. we're such a mean bunch of spoiled military people. who the hell do we think we are, expecting these benefits?

So like, how are those vans 'spose to be rented to families when they said so their self they have no "policy in place that limits the period of time that any vehicle can be rented"? The Navy is just going to keep renting and renting and renting them... time to buy new cars or give more rentals for the families. Renting has never worked out for us. :|

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a POS van to use as a work van?
How much is a rental for 100+ days?

It's between $500-600 a week... so yeah, it'd be cheaper to buy something off the lemon lot.

I would expect your rental agreement says the vehicle is for personal use only, NOT for business use. Thus, NEX usage should be illegal.

So at say $500 a week, 7 days a week times 100 days that equals $7,142.85 every 100 days per vehicle.
Someone can check the math, maybe I'm wrong but I can see how that is justified.

Well, here's a question --is the NEX paying the normal fee, lower, maybe not at all?

Wow, for $7k every 100 days, they may as well buy a new van...

Whole thing seems like a huge waste of money, and of course the Seahawk Answer guy gives a crap answer. I hate reading those things because 99% of the time the answer is a complete waste of space.

So this really got me thinking, and I thought I'd use some of the comments here and ask ICE to follow up.  As usual, I got a BS answer that doesn't really address the problem- shocker.  Maybe the questions would be better sent off to the commands using the vans.  Oh well. 

Customer Comments:
I've read the Q&A in the Seahawk last week about rental vans being on long term rentals to base facility workers, I have a few questions.  A van rental is over $500 per week.  Assuming only $500/week, the cost to rent a van for 100 days equals $7,142.85.  Certainly, the office for which the base facility workers are under could PURCHASE a van off the lemon lot for less than that.  Since there are at least 3 vans out, it is costing over $21,000 for them to use rentals as work vans every 100 days.  That is over $60,000 a year- you could buy 3 very nice vans for that price.  This is massive waste.

Also, are these workers being charged regular rental rates? Reduced rates? Or no rate at all?

Additionally, are renters even authorized to use these vans for business or solely for private, personal use per the lease agreement?


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Thank you for taking the time to comment regarding the long term uses of the vans at our Rental Center.  We do not question the reasons an authorized customer chooses to rent any vehicle, be it short or long term.  Further, these patrons are in full compliance of the Rental Agreement.

If you have additional questions or concerns, feel free to contact me directly.
   
v/r

MIKE McGRIFF
Services Operations Manager
Navy Exchange, Japan District
PSC 473 Box 70
FPO AP 96349-00

INTL TEL: 011-81-46-816-6626
INTL FAX: 011-81-46-816-4044
LOCAL TEL: 046-816-6626
LOCAL FAX: 046-816-4044
DSN TEL: 243-6626/4561
DSN FAX: 243-4044

Hey Tirani, let us know if you hear back. There is a checkbox on the ICE site to check if you want a reply. I've sent them like 3 things that I wanted a reply and they've never, ever gotten back to me. Maybe I should submit an ICE to complain about ICE!

OOPS - Never mind... I just read your complete post. So ICE says "dont worry about it, huh?" So much for the bit about using for business purposes.