Sustainably clean with full steam

So does Hertz therefore want to do without disinfecting or even cleaning the rental vehicles in future? Not at all! Because we don't want to make any secret of the fact that a rental car can sometimes be quite dirty when it is returned after rental. Depending on the cleanliness and hygiene standards of the people who have rented the vehicle, there can indeed be less than appetising residues in the interior. And these residues can be both visible and invisible. But there is no cause for concern: Every rental car from Hertz Switzerland also continues to undergo a thorough cleaning process when it is returned so that subsequent renters can look forward to an impeccable and hygienically clean vehicle interior.

The cleaning professionals at Hertz have used various professional cleaning agents to date to prepare the vehicles and to achieve an all-round good result. It is obvious that this does not only have benefits. Apart from the fact that individual agents can be mistaken for one another during cleaning, minimal residues of them on the surfaces cannot always be avoided, which can cause allergic reactions from sensitive skin. And such cleaning agents are not really environmentally friendly either. Starting with the production (and the transport), the vapours that result when they are used and their professional disposal, a typical cleaning agent does indeed cause some problems.

Hygiene without chemistry

How could they be solved? Is there the possibility of getting the interior of a rental car hygienically clean with fewer or even no chemical products? There is now! The formula for this is called dry steam and comes from the Swiss start-up Vaporex. Co-founder Alexandre Faddoul explains: "We know that pathogens, bacteria and viruses that occur in nature die at temperatures of over 80 degrees. That is why the interior of a vehicle becomes hygienically clean through cleaning with dry steam – and does so entirely without chemicals!" There is thus no question that the managers at Hertz led by the Operations Manager responsible for this area, Anthony Flament, did not have to think long about whether they should give this concept a chance.

"Germs, bacteria and viruses are going full steam ahead!"

Last year, the Vaporex system was thoroughly tested at Hertz. For the reasons known, there was sufficient time for this, which also meant that the training of the cleaning staff at Hertz could also be carried out with the necessary intensity. "You don't need a university degree to use the cleaning devices correctly but you do need to take the one or the other special feature into consideration – particularly with a car or its interior respectively," says Alexandre Faddoul. Not every area can be cleaned in exactly the same way, for example buttons and switches or also leather seats. "Thanks to the right technology, however, it is easy – with a constantly hygienically clean result and above all without any chemicals!"

Full steam ahead at all locations

Hertz Switzerland is already opting for interior cleaning with dry steam today at various stations throughout Switzerland and will be successively introducing it at all locations. For this, the car rental company has concluded a subscription agreement with Vaporex, in which the servicing of the devices is also included, plus any necessary repairs. "Our devices are not throw-away products but instead have a lifetime of at least ten years and can be repaired in the unlikely event that they become defective. As Alexandre Faddoul emphasises, "Anything else is not sustainable". Another factor that fits with this philosophy is that they are produced in Europe and 95 per cent of the parts used come from Europe.

And what impact is the use of the devices now having at the rental stations? In brief: The daily requirement of other cleaning agents is at an absolute minimum. At locations that already work with Vaporex, it has been possible to reduce the use of such cleaning agents by just under 90 per cent. Anthony Flament is not only enthusiastic about this: "It is really remarkable how well this system works. And also, how quickly. Compared with the cleaning methods we have used up to now, we only need around half as much time per vehicle." Thanks to the collaboration with Vaporex, the cleaning process is therefore not only much more sustainable, but also substantially more effective. And customers renting vehicles from Hertz benefit from this directly – in the form of improved availability of hygienically clean rental vehicles.