Introduction
Every lease carries its own billing settings, in the section headed Billing settings on its Lease screen: Billing basis, Billing day and Aggregation mode. Together they decide on which night the app raises the lease's next invoice, and whether that invoice belongs to the booking alone or is shared with the customer's other leases. Lower down the same screen, Calculated price per cycle of 30 days previews what a cycle costs, and Next invoice says when the next invoice is due — or, in Reason, why none is expected. The screen warns you at the top of the section: Warning: changing the billing settings impacts billing behavior.
You will use this when:
- a customer wants to pay at the start of each month rather than after it
- a customer with several vans wants one invoice a month, not one per van
- a lease did not invoice last night and you want to know why
- a customer asks what a month will cost before the first invoice arrives
- you look over a lease now and then to see when its next invoice falls
Words these screens use
| The screen says | It means |
|---|---|
| Advance | Each cycle is invoiced before, or as, it starts |
| Arrears | Each cycle is invoiced once it has begun |
| Individual | One invoice per lease booking |
| Combined | One invoice per customer, covering their leases due the same night |
| Auto invoice expected | Whether the nightly run expects to invoice this lease on its next invoice date |
A new lease takes its billing basis and day from the customer's own terms, or else from your company's — see Set up a lease. This page is about changing them afterwards and reading what they will do.
How to use
Configuration
The company-wide lease settings sit together. From the main menu open Settings, click Operational, then the Lease tab, change what you need and click Save:
| Setting | Starts as | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Lease invoice manual validation | No | Yes: the nightly run does not issue a lease invoice; it marks the booking as waiting for somebody to issue it |
| Continue lease invoicing | Yes | When the next cycle would run past the lease's End date, Yes keeps invoicing and No stops |
| Lease first cycle 30 days | No | For an Advance lease not yet invoiced: No invoices it the night the vehicle goes out; Yes waits for the billing day |
| Lease payable amount first invoice | Invoice | Whether the payment link on a lease's first invoice asks for that invoice, or for the booking's whole Balance |
| Lease billing basis | Arrears | Given to every new lease |
| Lease billing day | 1 | Given to every new lease |
The first four take effect for every lease from the next nightly run. The last two only reach leases created afterwards; existing leases keep their own values.
Before you start: opening Settings needs the Company admin role. Changing the billing settings on a lease is open to every staff role that can work on bookings.
Using the Billing settings
Open the booking and click Lease in its row of buttons. The booking screen has no Save button — a switch such as Auto checkout is stored the moment you change it — so go straight to Lease without touching anything else. On the Lease screen:
- Under Billing settings, set Billing basis to Advance or Arrears.
- Type the Billing day: a whole number from 1 to 28. Anything else marks the box, and Save changes does nothing until you correct it.
- Choose Aggregation mode: Individual or Combined.
- Click Save changes. Nothing under Billing settings is stored before this, and Cancel does not put back a value you have changed, so change it back yourself if you leave without saving. Invoices already issued are not touched; the next nightly run uses the new values.
- Open Lease again and look at Next invoice to check the result.
Key details
When invoicing can start
The nightly run only looks at lease bookings that are confirmed or already picked up, and then only on the billing day:
| Billing basis | The first invoice can come |
|---|---|
| Advance | On a billing day from 30 days before the contract pickup, or the night the vehicle goes out |
| Arrears | On the first billing day after the contract pickup has passed |
Take a contract pickup on 20 October with Billing day 1. An Advance lease is invoiced on 1 October, nineteen days ahead, and again on 1 November. An Arrears lease is not invoiced on 1 October — pickup is still ahead — and gets its first invoice on 1 November.
The billing day, and days 29 to 31
After the first invoice, the next invoice date is this month's billing day if it has not passed yet, otherwise next month's. The app finds that day by counting forward from the first of the month, so a day the month does not have spills into the next month — and by then the date has already moved on. The invoice for that month never happens.
With Billing day 30 in February 2027, Next invoice date shows 2 March all through February; on 1 March it shows 30 March. There is no February invoice. Billing day 31 skips February, April, June, September and November in the same way.
That is why the Lease screen only takes 1 to 28. The company Lease billing day accepts any number and a customer's own billing day accepts up to 30, and a new lease copies those without the check.
One invoice per booking or per customer
With Individual, every lease booking gets its own invoice. With Combined, all of a customer's Combined leases that are due on the same night go onto one invoice. A lease that is not due that night, or is set to Individual, is invoiced on its own. Give a customer's leases the same billing day if you want them on one invoice.
Previewing a cycle's price
Calculated price per cycle of 30 days takes the booking's current price lines and scales each one to 30 days: the line's amount times 30, divided by the number of days in the contract. A lease with a 30-day contract, rent of 900.00 euro and insurance of 150.00 euro excluding VAT at 21% shows Subtotal 1,050.00, VAT 220.50 and Total 1,270.50. Override that contract to 45 days, priced 1,350.00 and 225.00, and the preview still shows the same 1,050.00. Every line is scaled alike, including any that do not depend on the number of days, so treat the figure as a guide.
Reading Next invoice and Reason
When Auto invoice expected is Yes, the section shows Next invoice date and Total days, with Invoice from and Invoice to for the first cycle or Invoice month for later ones. When it is No, Reason says why, in this order:
| Reason says | It means |
|---|---|
| Booking is pending invoice. Please issue this invoice first. | An invoice from an earlier run is waiting to be issued |
| Booking not in Confirmed / Pickedup status | The booking is a draft, unconfirmed, returned or cancelled |
| Not in lease status | is lease is set to No |
| Will become active in the future | Arrears before the contract pickup, or Advance more than 30 days before it |
The section is worked out when the screen opens; click Refresh to work it out again.
What to do next
Check Next invoice the day after changing a setting. If the booking still needs confirming, see Confirm a booking.
Q&A
Why did a lease skip a month's invoice? Look at Billing day. 29, 30 or 31 misses every month too short to have that day (see The billing day, and days 29 to 31). Set it to 28 or lower and click Save changes.
Why does Save changes do nothing on a lease I have not touched? Its Billing day came from your company or customer settings and is above 28, which the Lease screen does not accept. Change it to 28 or lower. Then lower the company Lease billing day, or the customer's, so the next lease does not inherit it.
Why did no invoice go out, when Auto invoice expected said Yes? Three things the preview does not check. Lease invoice manual validation may be on, so the invoice is waiting to be issued. The lease may have passed its End date while Continue lease invoicing is No. Or it was invoiced within the past hour, and the run will not invoice it twice.
Why did a Combined lease get an invoice of its own? No other Combined lease of the same customer was due that night — usually because their billing days differ, or the other leases are set to Individual.
I changed the company Lease billing day. Why did my leases not follow? The company value is copied onto a lease when it is created and never again. Change Billing day on each existing lease's Lease screen.
Why did typing in Subtotal or Total change nothing? Those boxes only show the preview. Prices are changed on the booking, not here.
Where do I set a customer's own billing terms? On the customer's Financial tab — see Set a customer's payment and invoicing terms.