Set up a damage fee, young driver surcharge or other special add-on

Introduction

Most add-ons are simple: the customer takes a child seat, the child seat goes on the bill. Some charges only make sense when something has happened — a damage fee if the car comes back damaged, a surcharge if the driver is young. You set this up with one box on the add-on's own screen, headed Extra: the Option special dropdown. It tells the app when to charge the add-on. The price itself is still set the normal way.

Every add-on starts as General, which means "charge it whenever it is on the booking". Choose one of the other values and the app holds the charge back until its condition is met. You come here when:

• you want a fixed handling fee on every rental that comes back with new damage, without anyone having to remember to add it;
• your insurer asks you to charge drivers under a certain age extra;
• you charge AdBlue on vans by the kilometre and want it worked out from the mileage;
• you are introducing cancellation fees or selling cancellation cover;
• you are checking why an add-on shows Yes under is special on a booking.

Terms used on this screen

In English the types appear as single words, such as YoungDriver; the table under step 3 also gives the Dutch labels.

For the name, price and category of an add-on, see The three kinds of add-on. To link it to a vehicle class so bookings get it, see Offer an add-on and add it to a booking.

How to use

Configuration

Three of the types depend on a setting somewhere else. Set these up first, or the add-on never charges anything.

Young driver age (for YoungDriver). From the main menu open Admin, then Settings, then click the Operational tile. On the General tab, fill in Young driver age. It takes whole years only and starts at 0. With 0, nobody is ever charged the surcharge. A customer whose age is equal to or below this number pays it.

Cancellation fee bands (for Cancellation). The fee a cancelling customer pays is a percentage of the booking. You set it per price list, in bands of hours before pickup: see Set up cancellation fees.

A price per kilometre (for AdBlue). The Price type on the Extra screen only offers Per day and Per rent. To charge per kilometre, open the price list's Option pricing tile, add a price for the AdBlue add-on and set Extra price type to PerMileage. See The three kinds of add-on.

Before you start: the Product design item in the Admin menu, the Optionals screen and the Extra screen are for a Company admin account only. The same goes for the Operational tile. Other staff can see and add special add-ons on a booking, but cannot change what type they are.

Using the Option special box

From the main menu open Admin, then Product design. Click the Optional options tile. The screen headed Optionals opens, with a table of all your add-ons.

1. Open the add-on. Click New above the table for a new one, or click a row (or the pencil icon at its end) to change an existing one. The Extra screen opens on its Optional option tab.

2. Find Option special. It is the second box in the left column, just below Link to all asset groups. It shows General for a new add-on.

3. Pick the type. Skim this table once; come back to a row when you need it:

   Pick	Dutch label	Use it for	When the app charges it
   General	Algemeen	Anything the customer simply chooses: child seat, bike rack, snow chains	Whenever it is on the booking
   Damage	Schade	A fixed damage handling fee	Once the vehicle is back, and only if a damage was recorded at return
   Cancellation	Annulering	The cancellation fee	Only if the booking is cancelled or the customer does not show up
   CancellationInsurance	Annuleringsverzekering	Cancellation cover the customer buys	Always, like General. If the booking is cancelled, it is the only thing charged
   YoungDriver	Jonge chauffeur	The young driver surcharge	Only if the customer's age is at or below Young driver age
   AdBlue	AdBlue	AdBlue on diesel vans	Once the vehicle is back; per kilometre driven if priced PerMileage
   RefuelingAdministration	Administratie tanken	A handling fee for refuelling a vehicle	Once the vehicle is back, and only if a refuelling charge is on the booking's Fuel tab
   ServiceFee	Administratie kosten	A booking or administration fee	Always, like General
   NonReturnFee	Niet terugbreng kosten	A charge for an item that was not brought back	Always, like General
   PostUpsell	—	Items your website offers after the booking is made	Always, like General
   CheckoutPurchase	—	Items your website offers at the checkout	Always, like General

4. Fill in the rest of the screen as for any add-on. Leave Non return fee as it is (see Key details).

5. Click Save. If the box is empty you get Option special is empty.

6. Put it on the bookings. A conditional add-on only works if it is already on the booking when its condition comes true. For Damage, YoungDriver, AdBlue, RefuelingAdministration and Cancellation, link it to each vehicle class and tick both isSelected and isCharged. That way every new booking gets it. See Offer an add-on and add it to a booking.

When it worked, a booking of that class shows the add-on, under Optionals in the window headed Other, with Yes in the is special column. Its tooltip says Items may be charged differently, depending on the special type.

Key details

An example. Your van class has four add-ons, all ticked isCharged: a Damage handling fee (Damage, €75 per rent), a Young driver surcharge (YoungDriver, €12 per day), AdBlue (AdBlue, €0.02 per kilometre, PerMileage) and a Booking fee (ServiceFee, €15 per rent). Young driver age is 24. Amounts are before value-added tax (VAT).

Young driver: both edges. With Young driver age at 24, a 24-year-old pays and a 25-year-old does not. The age is taken from the Date of birth on the customer record of the booking, not from any extra driver. It is worked out on the day the bill is worked out, so a customer who has a birthday during the rental can drop out of the surcharge. A customer with no date of birth is never charged.

Damage: at return only, and only once, however many damages were recorded at return. Damage recorded at pickup does not count. See Record damage during an inspection.

AdBlue: at return only. At return it is charged per kilometre driven if its price type is PerMileage, otherwise per day or per rent.

Cancellation and cancellation cover. While the booking is running, a Cancellation add-on costs nothing. If the booking is cancelled or the customer does not show up, the app looks first for a CancellationInsurance add-on. If there is one, the customer pays the price of that cover and nothing else. If there is none, the Cancellation add-on is charged using the price list's fee bands. The full sequence is in Cancel a booking.

The Non return fee box does not charge anything. It sits in the right column of every Extra screen, starts at 100 and refuses a negative number (Please fill in). The app only passes it to your website. To charge for an item that was not returned, use an add-on of type NonReturnFee and add it to the booking.

Upsell items. PostUpsell and CheckoutPurchase are charged like any add-on. The type lets your website ask for them separately, to show them after booking or at checkout.

Changing the type later also changes open bookings that already carry the add-on, the next time their price is worked out.

What to do next. For YoungDriver, fill in Young driver age first — at 0 nothing is charged. Then link the add-on to your classes with isCharged and test it on one booking.

Q&A

Why was a customer not charged for damage, although a damage was recorded? The damage was recorded as pickup damage, or the booking does not carry the Damage add-on. Only damage recorded after the vehicle came back counts. Open the booking, click Optionals and check the add-on is ticked. If it is missing, tick it and click Save. To add it to every future booking, tick isCharged on the class; see Offer an add-on and add it to a booking.

Why is a 21-year-old customer not paying the young driver surcharge? Check three things. Young driver age under Admin, Settings, Operational must be filled in; at 0 nobody is charged. The customer record must have a Date of birth. And the age is the customer's own, not a second driver's: if the young person is only an extra driver, the surcharge is not added.

Why does a cancelled booking show only the cancellation cover and no fee? The booking carries a CancellationInsurance add-on. When one is there, the customer pays only for the cover. This is how cancellation cover is meant to work. If the cover was added by mistake, remove it under Optionals before cancelling.

Why was a cancelled booking charged nothing at all? The booking carried neither a Cancellation nor a CancellationInsurance add-on. Tick the Cancellation add-on under isCharged on each class so future bookings get it; see Set up cancellation fees.

Why is AdBlue charged per day instead of per kilometre? The price list has no PerMileage price for it. Open the price list's Option pricing tile and set Extra price type to PerMileage for the AdBlue add-on.

Why is the AdBlue or damage fee missing from a booking that is still out? That is normal. AdBlue, Damage and RefuelingAdministration add-ons wait until the vehicle is back before they are charged.

Why can I not find "Young driver" in the Option special list? The English list shows the type names as single words. Look for YoungDriver, ServiceFee or NonReturnFee.

Why can I not change Option special? The Extra screen is for a Company admin account only. Ask your administrator.

Related pages:

• The three kinds of add-on — the price, price type and category of an add-on
• Offer an add-on and add it to a booking — link it to a class and add it to bookings automatically
• Set up cancellation fees — the bands behind the Cancellation type
• Set up the insurance a customer can choose — damage cover sold as an insurance option rather than as an add-on
• Set the price you charge for fuel — the refuelling charge that triggers RefuelingAdministration