Record odometer readings and charge extra kilometres on a shortlease

Beta: shortlease contracts are new in RentVisie and are released as a beta.

Introduction

A shortlease customer gets a number of kilometres a day included. Kilometres above that are charged from odometer readings, on the next lease invoice, and settled exactly at the end. All of it is on the card Kilometres on the right of the contract screen, with Add reading in its top right corner. The card shows, from top to bottom, the kilometres a day included, the total driven, the kilometres included so far, the excess and what has been invoiced; then one block per vehicle the contract had; then every reading with its vehicle.

You would be here because:

• the customer sends a photo of the dashboard every month and you want to record it
• you want to see whether a customer is driving more than agreed before the bill surprises them
• a customer asks why their invoice has a line for kilometres
• the lease ends and the last reading has to be in before the final invoice

Words this screen uses

How to use

Configuration

The kilometres included come from the booking: the vehicle class's free kilometres, as set on its rates (see Set rates and mileage prices for a vehicle class), plus any kilometre package on the booking (see Sell extra kilometres to a customer). There is nothing to set on the contract.

Before you start: only a company administrator sees Add reading and Remove.

Using the Kilometres card

Open the contract: on the booking click Shortlease contract, or open it from the Shortlease overview (see Read a shortlease contract and its billing schedule).

1. On the Kilometres card, click Add reading. The pop-up Odometer reading opens.
2. Check Date of the reading. It starts at today; it cannot be in the future or before the contract started.
3. Type the reading in Odometer (km), in whole kilometres.
4. Click Save. The reading appears in the list, with the registration of the vehicle the contract had on that day. The totals and the next invoice update at once.

To remove a reading you added, click Remove beside it. The pickup and return readings have no Remove; change those on the booking.

Key details

Where the readings come from. The pickup reading, the return reading, the readings taken at a vehicle swap, and the ones you add here. Readings you add are stored on the booking too, at noon of the chosen day.

How the allowance builds up. Kilometres a day included × the days from the start to the last reading. Total driven, all vehicles is, for each vehicle, its highest reading minus its lowest while it was on the contract, added up. The odometers of two different vehicles are never subtracted from each other.

A worked example. 100 km a day included. The contract started on 1 March at 12,000 km. On 30 April you add 19,500 km: 7,500 km driven, against 6,000 km included over those 60 days, so 1,500 km over the allowance. The card shows 1500 km over the allowance:, the cost, and of which how much is already invoiced. The cost goes on the next lease invoice as a line of kind Kilometres, at the class's prices for extra kilometres: at €0.20 for every kilometre above the free ones, 1,500 km is €300.00 excluding VAT. If the customer then drives less, nothing is paid back until the end. Add a reading of 21,000 km on 31 May: 9,000 km driven against 9,100 km included over 91 days, so the card shows no excess, and the €300.00 already invoiced waits for the final reading.

How the extra kilometres are priced. The same way as on a regular booking: the kilometres of any kilometre package come off first, then the rest is charged through the class's price steps, from the lowest up. Kilometres above the last step are not charged. The line carries the high VAT rate, or 0% when the contract has reverse-charged VAT or fiscal unity.

The line is planned again until it is invoiced. Each new reading, and each recalculation, replaces the planned Kilometres line. Before the end only an increase is invoiced.

With fewer than two readings, the card says Kilometres are counted per vehicle from two readings in the days it was on the contract, and names where they come from.

At the end of the contract a reading on or after the last day is needed. Then the card says Final reading in: the actual excess is settled on the next invoice. That final line can be a credit, if the customer was charged for more than they drove overall. Until that reading is in, the contract stays open after its end date, so the return reading taken when the vehicle comes back is still settled by the nightly run. It stays open for at most 60 days after the end date; after that the contract ends, and the kilometres are not settled beyond the last reading. The contract's last-run note then says Ended without a return odometer reading ...: the kilometres over the allowance were not settled., so you can settle them by hand.

After a vehicle change each vehicle has its own block: its registration, its days on the contract, first km to last km and km driven. A vehicle with one reading says Starts at that reading, waiting for a second reading. Enter the old vehicle's last reading and the new one's first, or record the swap with an inspection (see Change or swap the vehicle on a shortlease contract).

No double billing. The booking's own charge for extra kilometres is left off a shortlease booking's invoices; the contract bills them.

What to do next

Add a reading at least once a month, so the excess is invoiced as it builds up. At the end, make sure the return reading is in before the final invoice.

Q&A

Why does Save say "An earlier reading of this vehicle is higher."? The number is lower than a reading already recorded for that vehicle on this booking. Check the dashboard photo and the list; a mistyped earlier reading you added can be removed with Remove.

Why does Save say "The contract has no vehicle on that date."? The date falls outside every vehicle period on the Vehicles card. Pick a date on which the contract had a vehicle.

Why does the card show no excess although the customer drives a lot? There are fewer than two readings for a vehicle, or the kilometres are still within the allowance. The card says waiting for a second reading when one is missing.

I removed a reading. Is the kilometre charge already invoiced taken back? Not straight away. What was invoiced stays invoiced; the final reading at the end settles the exact amount.

Why can I not remove the pickup reading? Pickup and return readings belong to the booking. The message says The pickup and return readings are changed on the booking. Correct them there (see Check and correct a vehicle's odometer and fuel readings).

Related pages: Invoice shortlease contracts and follow up failures.