Introduction
Every rental agreement, quote, invoice, deposit receipt and pickup or drop-off form the app produces is filled in from the booking. A few company-wide switches decide which extra blocks appear on those PDFs and how some values are shown. They cover the header and footer layout, a highlighted-terms block on the agreement and a list of payments. They also cover the VAT percentage on each price line, whether the customer's bank account is partly hidden, and a QR code the customer can scan to pay.
Most of these switches sit on one tab: the screen headed Operational settings, tab Documents. That tab is a column of yes/no choices, then three dropdowns (Template style, Header style, Footer style) and one large text box (Highlighted rental agreement text). Two further pieces live elsewhere: the highlighted terms list (under Legal) and the QR code switch (on each branch).
You come here when:
- A customer asks why their invoice does not list the payments they already made.
- The accountant wants the VAT rate shown on every line, or wants it gone.
- You are adding a rule to the rental agreement that every customer must see, such as "No smoking — cleaning costs €250".
- A customer paid by bank transfer and asks whether they could have just scanned a code.
- You are just checking how your documents are set up before the busy season.
Terms used on these screens
| The screen or PDF says | It means |
|---|---|
| Own risk | The excess (also called deductible): the most the customer pays towards a damage |
| Secured IBAN | The customer's bank account number with all but the last five characters hidden |
| Pricing lines | The table of prices on the document |
| Branch | One of your trading units; each has its own bank details, logo and footer text |
The logo, brand colour, trading name, bank details and terms-and-conditions files are covered on Letterhead and branding. Which language a PDF is written in is on Choose the language of a customer's documents and emails. This page covers the rest of what prints.
How to use
Configuration
Documents tab. From the main menu open Admin, then Settings, then click the Operational tile. The screen is headed Operational settings and has a row of tabs across the top; click Documents. Skim the table below once; you will come back to particular rows as they come up:
| Setting | Starts as | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Always show pricing lines | Yes | On No, the price table and totals are left off an agreement or quote whose total is €0.00. On Yes, they always print. |
| Show including mileage | Yes | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Show VAT % per item | Yes | Adds the VAT percentage to each line of the price table. |
| Show secured IBAN | Yes | Hides all but the last five characters of the customer's bank account where it is printed. See Key details. |
| Show address and postalbox | No | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Show mileages | Yes | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Show fuel percentages | Yes | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Show payments | No | Adds a Payments section listing every payment on the booking. |
| Hide booking settlement shortlease | No | On Yes, the settlement block (what was paid, what is refunded) is left off documents for lease bookings. Despite the name, ordinary short rentals are not affected. |
| Show pickup images | No | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Show ext ref as booking number | No | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Use location data | No | Has no effect on your normal documents. Leave it as it is. |
| Template style | Original | Original or Styled. At the moment both produce the same document. |
| Header style | A | A: your logo, with the branch name, address, phone, email and website beside it. B: your logo only. |
| Footer style | A | A: one line with CoC, VAT, IBAN and BIC. B: a fuller footer with the branch name and subtitle, VAT number, registration number, bank and IBAN, address, representatives and BIC. |
| Highlighted rental agreement text | Empty | Free text printed in the Highlighted terms block of the rental agreement and pickup form. |
Press Save at the bottom right of the screen when you are done. Back at the top left leaves without saving.
Highlighted terms list. Besides the free text above, you can keep a list of short terms, each printed as its own line starting with a dash. From the main menu open Admin, then Settings, click the Legal tile, then the Highlighted Terms tile. The screen is headed Highlighted terms.
- Click New Highlighted terms.
- Type the rule in Item, for example No smoking — cleaning costs €250. Order is a whole number that sorts this list on screen.
- Press Save.
Change a term with the pencil icon at the end of its row. Remove it with the bin icon; it disappears at once and there is no undo.
QR code switch, per branch. From the main menu open Admin, then Product design, and click the Branches tile. Click the pencil icon at the end of the branch's row; the screen is headed Branch. Open the Financials tab. Two switches there decide the QR code:
| Switch | Starts as | Needed for the QR code |
|---|---|---|
| Accept payments | No | Must be yes, on every invoice |
| Invoice display QR | Yes | Must be yes on a booking's invoice; no effect on an invoice raised by hand |
Because Accept payments starts at no, a new branch prints no QR code until someone turns it on. Press Save on the Branch screen.
Before you start: the Operational, Legal and Branch settings screens are for the Company admin role only. With a normal staff account you can still produce and send every document, but ask your company administrator to change what prints on them.
Using the document settings
These settings are read each time a PDF is made. There is nothing to do on the booking itself; you see the result the next time you print or send a document. Documents you already sent or saved are not changed. To get a document in the new layout, produce it again; see Find a document and send it again.
- Change the setting as described under Configuration, and press Save.
- Open a booking you know well, and produce the document you want to check, such as the rental agreement. See Find the documents the app makes for a booking for where each document's button is.
- Open the PDF and check the block you changed. If it is not there, check the conditions in Key details. Most blocks only print on certain documents or when the booking is in a certain state.
Key details
Which block prints on which document.
| Block | Prints on | Only when |
|---|---|---|
| Highlighted terms | Rental agreement, pickup form | Always on those two. The heading prints even when the list and text are both empty. |
| Payments list | All booking documents | Show payments is yes and the booking has at least one payment |
| Pay-by-bank block with QR code | Invoices | Money is still owed; the branch switches are both yes (only Accept payments for an invoice raised by hand); the customer is not paying by direct debit |
| Refund line with the IBAN | Booking documents | The vehicle has come back and the customer paid more than the total |
| Own risk | Documents with vehicle details | The booking has an excess filled in |
The masked bank account. When a customer has paid more than the rental cost, the document states where the refund goes: "The to be refunded amount will be transferred to your bank account *****64300." With Show secured IBAN on yes, only the last five characters print. With it on no, the full number prints. If the customer has no bank account recorded, the line reads "Please provide us with a bank account to refund the outstanding amount." The bank account comes from the customer's own financial details; see Set a customer's payment and invoicing terms.
Worked example. A customer paid a €1,000 deposit and €450 rent. After the rental the total came to €420 including VAT. The €1,030 difference is to be refunded, so the drop-off form prints the refund line, showing the customer's IBAN NL91ABNA0417164300 as *****64300.
The QR code. It sits in the Pay via bank transfer block on an invoice, next to Reference, Pay before, Invoice amount, Total outstanding, Deposit and Bank. Scanning it opens an online page where the customer pays what is still owed on the booking. For a lease, it opens the payment page of the latest invoice instead. If the customer pays by direct debit (SEPA), the block is headed SEPA Payment instead and carries no QR code.
Deposit and own risk. The deposit that prints is the booking's own deposit: in the payment block as Deposit, and on a deposit receipt as Deposit due. The Own risk line prints the excess set on the booking. It is left off entirely when no excess is set; an excess of 0 prints as 0. For how the booking gets its deposit and excess, see Set up the insurance a customer can choose.
"All mileage free". The document does not look for an "unlimited" tick. It divides the kilometres included in the booking by the number of rental days. If that comes to more than 998 km a day, it prints All mileage free; otherwise it prints the included kilometres (per month for a lease). A five-day rental with 4,990 km included is 998 km a day and prints 4990. With 4,995 km included it is 999 km a day and prints All mileage free. The same rule applies to extra-kilometre price bands: a band whose top is above 998 km prints +++ instead of an end figure.
The currency symbol. Every amount on the documents prints with the euro sign (€). This is fixed; no setting changes it. A few figures, such as Own risk and the amount after Deposit due, print as a plain number without the sign.
What to do next: turn on only what your customers need. Start with Show payments if customers regularly ask what they have already paid. Then set up the branch QR code so invoices can be paid on the spot. Leave the switches marked "no effect" alone.
Q&A
Why does an invoice have no QR code, even though Invoice display QR is on? Accept payments on the same Financials tab of the branch must also be yes, and it starts at no. On an invoice raised by hand, Accept payments is the only switch that counts (see Set up your branches). The branch that counts is the branch of the booking's pickup location. The QR code also stays off when nothing is owed any more, or when the customer pays by direct debit.
Why does the Payments section not appear on a document? Either Show payments is still on no (the starting value), or no payment has been recorded on that booking yet. Turn the switch on under Admin → Settings → Operational → Documents and produce the document again.
Why does a PDF sent last week still show the old layout? A PDF is fixed at the moment it is made. Changing a setting only affects documents made afterwards. Produce the document again; see Find a document and send it again.
Why does a booking with a daily limit of 1,000 km print "All mileage free"? Anything above 998 km a day counts as unlimited on the documents. If you sell such a package, make sure the customer knows the real limit, for example by writing it in the booking's Contract notes, which print on the agreement.
Why does the Own risk line show a different amount from the booking? When the excess on the booking is exactly 2,150, the document prints the excess of the insurance option chosen on the booking instead. Any other amount prints as it is.
Why is the Highlighted terms heading on the agreement with nothing under it? The heading always prints on the rental agreement and pickup form. Add a term under Admin → Settings → Legal → Highlighted Terms, or text in Highlighted rental agreement text, so the block has content.
Why are my highlighted terms not printed in the order I numbered them? Order sorts the list on the settings screen only; the document is not guaranteed to follow it. If the order matters, put the terms in one piece of text in Highlighted rental agreement text instead.
Can I print amounts in pounds or dollars? No. The euro sign is fixed on every document.
Why can I not open the Operational tile? It needs the Company admin role. Ask your company administrator.
Related pages:
- Letterhead and branding — logo, colour, bank details and the terms-and-conditions files that frame these blocks
- Choose the language of a customer's documents and emails — when a PDF comes out in the wrong language
- Find the documents the app makes for a booking — which document is made when, and where its button is