Introduction
A quote is a booking the customer has not said yes to yet. It has the normal booking screen, with the status Quote, plus a quote block of its own: Quote status, Date of quote and Quote valid until, then the buttons that produce and send it. The booking also carries Accept quote and Deny quote. Every sent quote also appears on the screen headed Quotes, which has two tabs, Outstanding and Expired.
You would be here because:
- A customer wants the price in writing before they commit.
- A company needs its manager to approve the hire, so you send an offer rather than a booking.
- The customer phones to say yes, or no.
- A customer says the link in their quote email no longer works.
- You are checking the quotes that ran out without an answer.
Words this screen uses
| The screen says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Draft | The quote exists but has not been issued |
| Send | The quote has been issued, by email or as a document |
| Accepted / Denied | The customer's answer, as recorded by you |
| Expired | A tab on the quotes list, for sent quotes whose date has passed |
Every way to create, send and accept a quote
| Route | What happens | Covered here |
|---|---|---|
| Quote on a row of the availability search | A new quote, valid for seven days | Yes, from step 1 |
| Quote on an existing booking | The booking becomes a quote | No, see Correct a booking's details |
| Create and send quote, Create quote, Create draft quote | Issue the quote | Yes |
| Accept quote | You confirm the booking for the customer | Yes |
| The accept link in the customer's email | The customer confirms it themselves | Yes |
| The signing link in the customer's email | The customer signs, which confirms it | No, see Send the rental agreement for signing |
Use this page from the moment a quote exists until the customer answers.
How to use
Configuration
Quotes have no settings of their own. The email sent by Create and send quote is written by your company's quote email template, and that template decides which link the customer gets: an accept link, a signing link, or both. If no active template exists, the quote is still issued but no email leaves; see Confirm a booking for how the templates are chosen.
Before you start: any staff account can create, send, accept and deny quotes.
Using the quote screen
Search for the dates and click Quote on the vehicle class you want, as described in Search for an available vehicle. The quote screen opens straight away. To come back to a quote later, open Quotes from the main menu, or open Bookings and click the Quotes tile, then click the open icon on its row.
- Check Quote valid until. A new quote is valid for seven days. If the customer needs longer, change the date here; it is saved when you press one of the buttons below.
- Press Create and send quote to issue the quote and email it with the PDF. You see Quote sent.
- Or press Create quote to issue it without an email. You see Quote created. Please find the quote under the document tab.
- Or press Create draft quote to download a draft PDF and check it first. The quote stays a draft.
- Press Accept quote on the booking when the customer says yes. It asks Are you sure?; press Proceed. The booking becomes Confirmed, the rental agreement is emailed, and the booking reopens.
- Press Deny quote on the booking when the customer says no. It asks the same; press Proceed.
Working the quotes list. Open Quotes from the main menu, or Bookings then Quotes, or click Quotes overdue on your daily overview; that tile starts on, and its switch is called Qoutes overdue, as described in Change which tiles your dashboard shows. Outstanding holds sent quotes still in date; Expired holds sent quotes past their date. The icon at the end of a row opens the quote; the other icon denies it, after Are you sure?
Key details
Draft, created and sent are different.
| Button | Status afterwards | Document | On the quotes list | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Create draft quote | Draft | Draft PDF, downloaded | No | No |
| Create quote | Send | Official PDF, under documents | No | Yes |
| Create and send quote | Send | Official PDF | Yes | Yes |
The seven days run from when the quote was made, not when it was sent. Pressing Create and send quote again updates Date of quote but leaves Quote valid until where it was. A quote is never marked expired on its own either: its status stays Send, and the Expired tab and the Quotes overdue tile only compare the date.
When the customer's accept link works. All three must be true:
| Condition | What to check |
|---|---|
| The booking is still a quote | Its status reads Quote |
| The quote has been issued | Quote status reads Send, not Draft |
| The date has not passed | Quote valid until is still ahead |
A quote made on 1 September at 14:00 is valid until 8 September at 14:00. Resent on 3 September, it is still valid until 8 September. If the customer clicks the link on 8 September at 15:00, it is refused. Change Quote valid until to 15 September and press Create and send quote, and the new email's link works.
What accepting does and does not check. Accept quote confirms the booking whatever the date, and without the customer checks that Confirm runs, such as a blocked or blacklisted customer, or a check that the vehicle is still free. The customer's accept link confirms the booking too, but leaves Quote status at Send rather than Accepted.
Denying leaves the quote in place. The status becomes Denied and the quote leaves both tabs. The booking is not cancelled and stays at Quote.
What to do next: once accepted, the booking is an ordinary confirmed booking; see Confirm a booking for resending the agreement, and Run the pickup inspection for when the customer arrives.
Q&A
I accepted a quote for a customer who turns out to be blocked. Accept quote does not run the customer checks. Open the customer record and deal with the block; if the booking should not go ahead, cancel it with Cancel in the booking's top bar.
Two bookings now sit on one vehicle after I accepted a quote. Accepting does not check availability. Move one of them on the Scheduler.
The customer says the link shows "Offerte is verlopen." The quote is past its date, or was never sent. Change Quote valid until and press Create and send quote.
The customer says the link shows "Offerte is niet meer geldig." The booking is no longer a quote: somebody accepted it, or it was turned back into a booking. Open it from Bookings and check its status.
Why is a quote I made not on the quotes list? It is still a draft, or it was denied or accepted. The list also only shows quotes whose pickup and return branches you are allowed to work in. Open the quote from Bookings and press Create quote or Create and send quote.
I resent a quote but it is still on the Expired tab. Resending does not move the date. Change Quote valid until first, then press Create and send quote.
The customer accepted online, but Quote status still says Send. That is normal for the accept link. The booking itself reads Confirmed.
The customer never received the quote email. Check that your company has an active quote template, and see the email question in Confirm a booking.
Old expired quotes keep piling up. Nothing clears them. Deny each one with the icon on its row on the Expired tab.
Related pages: Search for an available vehicle for starting a quote, Send the rental agreement for signing for the signing link, and Correct a booking's details and check its history for turning an existing booking into a quote.