Introduction
When a speeding ticket, parking fine or toll bill arrives for one of your vehicles, it is addressed to you as the owner. Find out who had the vehicle at that moment, record the fine, and bill the customer, with or without your own handling fee.
Two screens do the work:
- The screen headed Fine lookup (the main menu calls it Fine finder). At the top is a Fine date box; below it, a list of every rental that was running at that date and time.
- The screen headed Fine, reached from the Fines tile. It lists every fine you have recorded, with a New Fine button top left and Bulk process to invoice top right. Opening a fine shows its details, a list of Attachments and the Fine portal URL.
You would be here because:
- A fine from the Central Fine Collection Agency (CJIB) lands on the desk and you need to know which customer had the car on that date.
- You want to bill the fine, plus your admin fee, to the customer.
- A pile of fines came in this week and you want to invoice them all in one go.
Terms used on this screen
| The screen says | It means |
|---|---|
| Asset | The vehicle |
| Fine issuer id | The reference or name of whoever issued the fine, such as the fine number or the authority |
| Fine amount | What the authority is charging you |
| Invoiced amount | What you pass on to the customer for the fine itself |
| Charge handling fee | Whether your own admin fee is added to the customer's invoice |
| Fine portal URL | A web address where the customer can see the fine or object to it |
Every way to do this task
| Route | What you get | Covered here |
|---|---|---|
| Main menu Bookings, then Fine finder | The list of rentals running at a date and time | Yes |
| Main menu Bookings, then Show more, then the Fine finder tile | The same list | Yes |
| The Fines tile under Financials or under Bookings, then Show more | The list of recorded fines, where you record and invoice them | Yes |
Use this page whenever a fine or toll bill arrives for a vehicle you rented out.
How to use
Configuration
Three things decide what ends up on the customer's invoice. Set them up once.
1. The handling fee amount
- From the main menu, open Admin, then Settings, then click the Other tile. The screen is headed Financial setup.
- On the Fine handling fee row, click Setup. A window headed Edit Fine Handling Fee Option opens.
- Fill in the two fields and press Save. Cancel closes without saving.
| Field | Default | What it does | What it will accept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Default Amount | 15 | Your admin fee per fine, before value-added tax (VAT) | Any amount; decimals allowed |
| Description | Fine handling fee | The text on the invoice line | Any text |
2. Two entries on your list of invoice items. The fine line and the handling-fee line take their wording and VAT rate from your Invoice items list (main menu Financials, Invoice items tile; how to add one is in Raise an invoice by hand). You need:
| Entry | Category | What to set |
|---|---|---|
| The fine itself | Fine | A description such as "Traffic fine"; is tax set to No, since a fine is passed on without VAT |
| Your admin fee | HandlingFee | is tax Yes with your VAT rate, and pick your fee in the Fine handling fee option box that appears |
3. The fine portal address. Open Admin, then Settings, then the Financial tile. In Financial settings, fill in Fine portal URL, for example the CJIB's website, and save. Every fine you record from then on starts with this address filled in. Fines already recorded keep the address they had.
Before you start: recording and invoicing fines needs a company administrator account. The Fines tile shows for everyone, but other accounts cannot open it. The fine lookup list works on any staff account. If the Fine or HandlingFee invoice item is missing, the invoice line comes out with no description and no VAT. Ask your company administrator to add it.
Using the fine screens
Find who had the vehicle
- From the main menu, open Bookings, then Fine finder. The screen is headed Fine lookup.
- In Fine date, enter the date and time printed on the fine. It starts at the current date and time, so change both parts.
- In the filter above Registration number, type the licence plate. The list shows the rentals that were running at that moment.
- Click the row, or its pencil icon, to open the booking and see the customer and driver.
The list shows rentals with the status PickedUp, DroppedOff, DroppedOffNotification or Draft. Confirmed bookings that were never collected, cancellations, quotes and no-shows are left out. is internal marks use of the vehicle by your own staff.
Record the fine
- From the main menu, open Financials and click the Fines tile. The screen is headed Fine.
- Click New Fine. The screen headed Fine opens.
- Fill in the fields below. Enter Offence date and Asset first: as soon as both are filled, the app looks up the customer for you. Skim the table once; come back to a row when you need it:
| Field | Default | What it does | What it will accept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offence date | Empty | Date and time of the offence | Required; must be in the past |
| Asset | Empty | The vehicle | Required; pick from the list |
| Fine issuer id | Empty | The fine reference or issuing authority; printed on the invoice | Required |
| Fine amount | 0 | What the authority charges; printed on the invoice | 0 or more |
| Invoiced amount | 0 | What you bill the customer for the fine itself | 0 or more; leave 0 to charge only the handling fee |
| Customer | Filled by the lookup | Who gets the invoice | Required before invoicing; pick from the list to change it |
| Fine type | Traffic | Traffic, Parking, Toll, Fuel or Other; printed on the invoice | One choice |
| Charge handling fee | Yes | Adds your admin fee to the invoice | Yes or No |
| Fine portal URL | Your company address | Printed on the invoice as "Refer to ... for more information." Leave it empty to leave that line out | Any web address |
- To attach the scan of the fine, click New Fine document above Attachments. In the window that opens, choose the file, add Notes if you like, and press Save. The pencil icon on an attachment row opens it again; the bin icon removes it.
- Press Save to keep the fine without invoicing it yet, or go on to the next step.
Invoice one fine
- Press Save and Invoice (bottom right; only there while Fine status is New). The app checks the fine, creates a draft invoice and opens it, on the new invoice screen if your company uses it (Use the new invoice screen).
The draft invoice holds:
- a fine line for the Invoiced amount, if that is more than 0;
- a handling-fee line, if Charge handling fee is Yes;
- a copy of every attachment;
- the note "Fine by:" followed by the Fine issuer id, and a due date 14 days away.
The fine's status changes to Processed.
Invoice fines in bulk
On the Fine list, click Bulk process to invoice. The app takes every fine that is still New and has something to charge, creates a draft invoice for each, and opens the invoice list. Incomplete fines are skipped, stay New, and are counted in one message at the end (see Q&A).
Key details
Worked example. A speeding fine of €109.00 from the CJIB, with the fine line set to no VAT and a €15.00 handling fee at 21% VAT:
| Line | Excl. VAT | VAT | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traffic fine (Invoiced amount €109.00) | €109.00 | €0.00 | €109.00 |
| Fine handling fee | €15.00 | €3.15 | €18.15 |
| Invoice total | €127.15 |
With Invoiced amount 0 the customer pays only €18.15.
The customer lookup only finds a booking for that vehicle whose pickup is before, and drop-off after, the offence, with the status PickedUp, DroppedOff or DroppedOffNotification. It takes the first one, fills in its customer and links the fine to it. It runs each time you change Offence date or Asset; if it finds nothing, it empties Customer. So choose the customer by hand last.
The invoice total is the sum of its lines. Fine amount is printed for information only.
Fine status cannot be changed by hand. New is not invoiced yet; Processed is invoiced. The app never sets Archived.
What the invoice shows. Besides its lines, the invoice has a Fine information block with the licence plate, Offence date, Fine issued by, Fine type, Fine amount and, if filled in, the portal address. To get back to the fine, click Fine at the top of the classic invoice screen, or the Fine row in the Documents card of the new invoice screen.
What to do next: send each draft invoice to the customer; see Send an invoice. When the customer pays, record it; see Record a payment.
Q&A
Why does Save and Invoice say "Link the fine to a customer before invoicing it"? The lookup found no booking, so Customer is empty. Check the time on Fine lookup, then pick the customer by hand in Customer and press Save and Invoice again.
Why did my fine disappear after pressing Save and Invoice? If Invoiced amount is 0 and Charge handling fee is No, there is nothing to bill. The screen closes without creating an invoice, and a fine that was never saved is not kept. Press Save instead for a fine you only want on record.
Why is Customer empty, even though the vehicle was rented out? The lookup did not find a matching booking. The booking may still be Confirmed, because the pickup was never registered, or the offence time falls outside the booking's times. Check the time on Fine lookup, then pick the customer by hand in Customer.
Why did Save and Invoice do nothing? The fine already has an invoice. Open it from the invoice list. To correct it, credit it; see Credit an invoice.
Why were some fines left out of the bulk run? Fines that are not New, and fines with Invoiced amount 0 and Charge handling fee No, are left out without a message. A fine missing its customer, issuer, vehicle or offence date is skipped. The run ends with one message that counts them: … fine(s) were not invoiced because they are incomplete: a customer, the issuer, the amounts, the vehicle and an offence date in the past are needed. Open a fine and use Save and Invoice to see what is missing. Open it from the Fine list and press Save and Invoice: the warning names the missing field. Fill it in, then invoice it there or run the bulk again.
Why does the handling fee line show no amount or description? There is no HandlingFee entry in Invoice items, or it has no Fine handling fee option picked. Ask your company administrator to set it up, as described under Configuration.
Which branch does a fine invoice belong to? The branch of the booking's pickup location, or the vehicle's own branch when the fine is not linked to a booking.
How does a fine invoice look in Exact? If your company sends invoices to Exact Online, a fine invoice arrives with the description registration | fine issuer id | invoice number, for example 12-ABC-3 | CJIB-8812 | AMS-2026-1043, and the fine and the handling fee go to their own ledgers. See Send invoices to your accounting package.
Why can't I open the Fines tile? It needs a company administrator account. See Add an employee and set their permissions.
Why is a rental missing from Fine lookup? Check the time in Fine date, not only the date. A rental collected at 10:00 does not show for a fine at 08:30 the same day.
Which customer does the lookup find for a vehicle on a shortlease contract? The lookup checks three things, in this order, and stops at the first match:
| Order | What it looks for | Customer it fills in |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A regular rental of the vehicle at the time of the offence | That rental's customer |
| 2 | A shortlease contract (beta) that had the vehicle on the day of the offence, the most recent first | That contract's customer |
| 3 | A shortlease booking on the vehicle at that time | Its customer, unless the contract had another vehicle that day |
During a temporary vehicle swap, a fine on the replacement goes to the shortlease customer; a fine on the original vehicle finds nobody, because the customer did not have it that day. On the day of a swap both vehicles count, because swaps are recorded by the day, not by the hour: check on the contract who had the vehicle at the time of the offence, and pick the customer by hand in Customer if needed. See Change or swap the vehicle on a shortlease contract.