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Application Processing Guide

Introduction

The general process of approving applications is performed by Member Service Specialists to confirm that members meet all requirements for HOURCAR membership.

'Applicants' refer to individuals that have not yet been approved. 'Members' are individuals that are approved to take trips.

Members approved for hub-based trips are also approved to take free-float trips. Process applicants in chronological order, with the oldest applications first. Include any email or phone correspondence on the ticket.

Typically, Member Services can process applications within 3 business days in the form of an email to the applicant. The follow up process is documented in the Application Flow Chart with the timeline as follows:

  • First email follow up

  • Final application notice email two weeks after first follow up email

  • 3 business days after final notice the application is closed. Can be reopened upon request.

Applicant Requirements

Up to date membership qualifications are listed in the Member Handbook.

Membership Qualifications

Vulog Users Page Overview

The users tab groups users by their status. For applications, we’ll be looking at the incomplete and pending applications.

  • Incomplete Applications: Users who have started signing up but have not added a payment method and/or are missing documents. We don't follow up with these users. We check these daily to move and archive incomplete applications.

  • Pending: Users who have completed applications and are awaiting review. We go through these daily to approve members and send follow-ups.

    • Pending applications include applications that have not yet been reviewed as well as applications that have received follow ups but haven’t yet been approved, denied, or timed out

Other categories on this page include:

  • Approved – applications that have been confirmed and can make trips with HOURCAR and Evie.

  • Rejected – applications that have been found to not meet our Membership requirements.

  • Suspended – accounts that have been timed out after 30 days of inactivity, temporarily suspended accounts, approved accounts that have been terminated, or accounts that have requested cancellation.

Processing New Applications

This section covers new applications that haven’t been reviewed yet. We’re answering these questions:

  • Has the registration fee been paid?

  • Is the application complete?

  • Does the member meet our qualifications?

  • Can we reasonably confirm the member’s identity?

  • Is the member appropriately enrolled and certified for the Access Plan?

  • Has this applicant applied or had an account with us before?

  • Are there any red flags or special circumstances?

Common Application Red Flags

Application Rejection

  • License or selfie look doctored in any way (photoshop/ AI generated)

    • Use Veriff notes to help identify document issues

  • License photo and selfie look exactly the same, like its photoshopped

Application Red Flags

  • Email address that doesn’t seem to match applicant’s name or is otherwise suspicious

  • Repeated calls/emails requesting that their application be processed same day (especially on a Friday)

  • Selfie is not actually a selfie but a photo from another person

  • Credit card info has a different name than the applicant

  • Payment method is prepaid card

  • Unable to provide international driving record

  • Multiple misspellings on application or in personal information

Clean Up Application Details

  • Ensure name and DOB have been entered

    • If either field is empty, enter based off of info on license

  • Clean up address or enter from ID if not filled out

    • Edit address section in the Identity portion

      • Make sure all boxes have been filled

      • If international address, make sure at least country is filled

  • Remove middle name

Check Payment Method

  • Ensure payment method name matches applicant name

    • If names do not match, this is a yellow flag

      • Someone else (like a parent or significant other) could be paying for trips on this account, which is allowed but may indicate fraud

      • If the name does not match, search the name on the card in Vulog and in the courts site to see if it matches a previous member/application

        • Note any red flags about the cardholder on the application ticket

  • Make note of this on an Application Follow Up ticket and take mental note in case of any further red flags

Access Plan Certification

We ask that individuals on the Access Plan self-certify that they meet the income requirements for the plan. We have a form linked on our website that individuals can complete to indicate their eligibility.

  1. When a member submits the self-certification form, the data is sent to a Cloudflare Worker to run the automation.

  2. The automation uses the Vulog API to look up the user based on their username / email address.

  3. It checks if the member has already been certified before, by looking at their Vulog documents for a pre-existing "Access PLUS Self Certification" entry in their account. Depending on the result:

    1. If it's their first time certifying, a $15 TRIP credit is added to their wallet, the self-certification document is added to their profile, and it's automatically marked as Valid. These members receive an automatic confirmation email letting them know their $15 credit was added successfully.

    2. If they've self-certified previously and this is just a recertification, their document is updated with today's date & no credit is added.

  4. If anything goes wrong (member is not found in Vulog, an API error, etc.) an email is sent to Member Services so they can process the self-certification manually.

    1. To manually process self-certification:

      1. Apply a $15 credit to their account with the note “Access Plan Certification Credit”

        1. If the account is ready to be approved, send an email letting the member know about their available credits. If the account is not yet ready to be approved, create a ticket to indicate follow up is necessary upon approval.

      2. In documents, select ‘Edit Custom’ and write “Self Certified Access x/xx”

Approval Process

If someone is on the Access plan but not yet self-certified, we do not have to wait for the certification form to go through before approving.

Selfie/Veriff

We have a comprehensive verification of selfie and ID through a system called Veriff. Applicants need to take photos of themselves and their driver's licenses inside the Veriff platform. It works best on an app but can be done on a browser as well. This means we won't get screenshots or old photos, as the photos will have to be taken live within the Veriff platform. Veriff also scans the license barcode to verify the info is correct.

With Veriff, temporary licenses and international licenses may not be accepted upon sign up. We still can upload a temp license for someone and process normally.

In the Info section of the application, we will need to review the Notes to see if Veriff lists any red flags regarding identity. It is also important to press ‘Compare Documents’ to confirm that the selfie taken matches the license photo.

If the selfie has one photo instead of multiple copies, this is an indicator that their selfie was not uploaded via Veriff and we will need to request a selfie holding their license.

License Verification

These steps apply to U.S licenses. See below for international licenses.

  • Navigate to Checkr and search for the applicant using their email address

    • Green, clear: no violations found. We should still review it.

    • Yellow, review: violations found. We need to look at violations.

    • No checkr report found: follow up needed, see Checkr invite instructions

  • Verify that the name, DOB, and license # match the license photo

  • Look at issue date on Checkr and license, was it issued less than 12 months ago?

  • Check if there are any disqualifying violations

  • If no follow up is needed, we can approve the document and proceed.

International Licenses

Checkr will not generate background reports for licenses issued outside the US (and Pennsylvania) and we will need to reach out directly to the member for assistance providing us their driving record. The process to get a record depends on the country of origin. If the member has to pay to receive their record, we can reimburse them with driving credit for up to $50.00.

  • Countries that list violations on the license and do not require additional documentation:

    • China

    • India

    • South Korea

    • Taiwan

    • Bangladesh

    • Pakistan

    • Iran

  • For other countries and Pennsylvania, see the international and out-of-state template folder. You can also search for the name of the country in the sent folder to find previous record requests.

  • International Driving Permits (also known as International Driving Licenses) have been known to be issued falsely. We cannot accept these documents and instead, require a license issued by the applicant's country of origin.

No Checkr Found

A Checkr invite won’t generate if an application was previously incomplete. If there’s no invite, we need to send one to anyone with a USA license, except for Pennsylvania:

  • Select order a background check at the top

  • Input the user’s email and hit next

  • Select “Motor vehicle Report” at the bottom. This should be the only option selected. The cost is “$4.94”

  • Select continue and confirm.

  • Once an invite is sent, make sure to create a ticket and send follow up.

    • Note: we should only send a Checkr invite if the registration fee has been paid. If the registration fee hasn’t been paid, make note of the missing Checkr report on the ticket but wait to send the invite until the fee is paid.

Twelve Month Verification

Our insurance requires members to have at least one year of licensed driving experience. If the user’s license was issued less than a year ago, we use the following decision tree:

  • Is the user under 21 years old?

    • If yes, verification is needed. Send under 1 year MVR template and create ticket.

    • If no, continue the decision tree.

  • Does Checkr include a first issued date less than a year ago?

    • If yes, verification is needed. Send under 1 year MVR template and create ticket.

    • If no, continue the decision tree.

    • If blank, may indicate a renewal

  • Does the applicant have driving with revoked license violations or other violations that would impact their license status?

    • If yes, verification is needed. Send under 1 year MVR template and create ticket.

    • If no, no verification needed. Document can be approved.

Driving with Revoked License Violations

'Driving with revoked license' violations are considered a major violation per our membership requirements and may be cause for rejection

Reviewing a previous license

Once a member sends us a previous license, we can use it to verify their driving history.

  • Check that the issue date of the previous license is at least one year ago.

  • If the document shared is an international license, we need to request their international driving record. See steps below.

  • Check that there are no time gaps between the previous license and the current license. With this step, we’re making sure that they’ve been licensed for the full year. This is most important for instances where the user had a previously revoked license.

    • If there are no gaps or there is no indication the member has had a previously revoked license, we can approve the document.

    • If the member has a gap in licensure between their previous and current license, we should reject. Members must demonstrate 12 consecutive months of licensure immediately prior to application.

Verify registration fee has been paid

The non-refundable registration fee covers the costs of application processing and helps us verify that the card on file is valid. This fee must be paid before a member can be approved.

  • Look for red “outstanding balance” on info page as a clear indication of an unpaid registration.

    • Make ticket for follow up.

  • Check for any credits that cancel out the registration fee. You can confirm this from the billing page.

    • Manually charge registration fee.

Member Uploaded Item in Student ID or Access Certification Field

  • We do not require anything to be uploaded in these fields

  • The expiration date should always be set to 2100. The system will send automated notices for expired ID cards, but we do not require people to keep these documents up-to date

  • If sensitive documents are uploaded to this field or other fields (Social Security cards, Passports, etc.), delete the photos by uploading the HOURCAR logo in their place and replacing the document number with “N/A”. Set expiration date to 2100 and approve.

Logo

Check for Duplicate Applications/Previous Accounts

  • Confirm that the applicant does not have a previous account with us. Members should only have one account with us, excluding business organization accounts.

    • You can find previous accounts by searching for their name and phone number.

    • Members need to complete any outstanding balances before any new accounts can be approved.

    • Send an email to all open accounts to confirm which account they would like to proceed with. Include any outstanding balances that need to be completed before approval. Create a ticket with both accounts tagged.

      • Incomplete applications and closed applications do not need to be considered.

  • If the applicant has a previous application that had red flags or was rejected, consider rejection based on the rejection reason.

    • Tag the previous rejected/timed out application on the ticket.

  • If the applicant has a previously terminated account, reject the application.

    • Tag the previously terminated account on the rejection ticket.

  • If the name on the payment method does not match the name of the applicant, search the payment method name in Vulog for duplicates

    • Search the payment method name in the court site as well

Approving Accounts

  • Resolve any application related tickets

  • Double check that all documents (including license, selfie, Access certification, and ID fields) have been approved

  • Set Status to Approved for both services

    • Avoid approving members near the end of the day and on weekends, we prefer to have first time trips occur during business hours

Rejecting Accounts

  • Resolve any application related tickets

  • Send rejection follow up email

  • Set Status to Rejected for both services

  • Follow Account Closure steps

Making a Vulog Ticket and Sending Follow up

  • If anything is required to be completed or sent to us by the applicant, create a Vulog ticket on the account under ‘Application Follow Up’ and set the status to pending.

  • Edit the ticket title to include an overview of what was requested (ex. Application Follow Up- selfie with license, 12 month verification).

  • Include any additional information on what was requested as well as the follow up date in the ticket description (ex. First follow up sent x/x, checkr shows license first issued x/x).

  • Send a single follow up email that includes all requests.

    • Use the Applications email templates to send follow up.

    • Copy/paste from multiple templates if multiple items are needed.

Sending Final Follow Ups

Per the Application Flow, applicants should receive a final email follow up 2 weeks after the initial follow up was sent.

  • Edit the ticket title to include the date that the application should be closed (ex. Application Follow Up- selfie with license, 12 month verification; close x/x)

  • Add another line to the ticket description stating that final follow up has been sent (Final follow up sent x/x, close x/x if no response)

  • Send the final follow up template

  • Applications are closed 3 days after this final follow up is sent, given that the applicant did not provide any outstanding documentation.