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>> JACEY BIRCH [ANCHOR]: It’s no secret many businesses have taken a real hit during
the recession, but some rental car agencies may have been hit the worst. That’s because
some customers have simply driven off with their cars, never to return. But as the local
10 Sasha Andrade reports one rental agency has taken matters into their own hands.
>> SASHA ANDRADE [REPORTER]:Returning a rental car is part of the deal, right? Not according
to some of Ari Weingrad’s customers. He says at least once or twice a month, part
of his fleet disappears.
>> ARI WEINGRAD: They rent a car for say a week and then we never hear from them.
>> SASHA: Insurance won’t cover the theft. >> ARI: We’ve given the cars, so it’s
not really considered a theft. >> SASHA: And so Weingrad has designed his
own version of peace of mind, with the help of a company called Skypatrol.
>> JEFF HANFT: Put a little box into the car, and it has a GPS module, which pulls
down the satellite signal,
>> SASHA: This in car device allows him to:
>> JEFF: Be able to see where the vehicles are, how fast it going, and a lot of other
information. >> SASHA: And just days ago, Weingrad put
Skypatrol to the test when one of his customers fails to return a Toyota Camery.
>> WEINGRAD: We didn’t hear from her, we tried calling her, her phone was disconnected.
>> SASHA: A few clicks later, he could see a satellite image of it at the Aventura Mall.
>> WEINGRAD: We sent two employees over with a spare key to the car. Jumped in and recovered
it, brought it back to home base, rented it out to somebody the next day.
>> SASHA: He says this tiny device has rescued his company.
>> WEINGRAD: If I lose like a few vehicles a month I’m out of business. It gives me
confidence that I can find the car, and I’m not as stressed.
>> SASHA: Skypatrol can be formatted to meet any company’s needs. It can tell you things
like how fast the car is going, it can send you an email any time the vehicle is in motion,
and of course it can tell you all of this in real time.
That means if you have to track time at one of your vehicles, you can do so right away.
Reporting from northwest Miami Dade, I’m Sasha Andrade.