Introduction
When a customer brings a vehicle back on their own, without anyone at the desk, they finish the rental in the self-service app on their phone. At that moment RentVisie asks the vehicle's tracking box how the car is standing — where it is, whether the engine is off, whether the doors are shut, whether the key is back. If one of those checks fails, the return is refused: the car does not lock, the booking stays at Picked up, and the customer is left standing next to it, often on the phone to you.
No screen in RentVisie shows the refusal; you hear about it from the customer. This page explains each reason, what the customer can do on the spot, and what you do when they cannot.
You would be here because:
- a customer phones to say the app will not let them return the car;
- a customer reads out a single word from the app, such as Ignition or Doors;
- a booking that should have ended is still at Picked up the next morning.
How to use
Configuration
Before you start: nothing on this page needs setting up to help a customer. Checking the vehicle on the map needs an Employee or Company admin account. Changing a tracker or the company setting below needs a Company admin. Taking the vehicle back yourself needs any counter role — Employee, Employee (minimal) or Company admin.
The checks themselves are fixed. You cannot switch one off, loosen it, or add your own. What decides whether they run is set elsewhere:
- The vehicle's Self service switch, on the Web & Images tab of the vehicle record. See Unattended pickup and return.
- The tracker linked to the vehicle, and its Tracker type and Platform. See Link a tracker to a vehicle and follow it on the map.
One company setting decides what a successful return does to the booking: open Settings from the main menu, click the Operational tile, then the Self service tab on the screen headed Operational settings. Self service manual inspection control starts on No. Set it to Yes if you want to inspect every self-service return yourself before it counts as finished, and press Save.
Using the self-service return checks
When the customer presses the button to end the rental, RentVisie works through the checks below in this order and stops at the first one that fails. The customer only ever hears about one problem at a time, so after fixing it they may hit the next.
Skim the table once; come back to the row the customer reads out to you.
| # | The customer is told | What it means | What the customer does |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Please settle outstanding amount first | The booking still has more than €0.05 unpaid, rent and deposit together | Pay what is open |
| 2 | Not all required images have been taken | Your company asks for photos at return and some are missing | Take the missing photos in the app |
| 3 | Geofence | The tracker does not report the vehicle inside a return area | Park inside the return area |
| 4 | Ignition | The engine is still running | Switch the engine off |
| 5 | Doors | A door is open | Close every door, boot included |
| 6 | Key | The tracker does not detect the key in its holder | Put the key back in its place |
Checks 2 to 6 only run for a vehicle with Self service switched on. Checks 3 to 6 also need a tracker from the supplier Traci, and checks 4 to 6 only run when that tracker's Tracker type is Vehicle — a trailer is checked for position only.
When every check passes, RentVisie takes the mileage and fuel from the tracker, locks the doors and the engine, and ends the rental:
| Self service manual inspection control | The booking becomes | The customer gets |
|---|---|---|
| No | Dropped off, as if you had done the return | The return receipt |
| Yes | DroppedOffNotification — returned, waiting for your inspection | A "dropped off" notification email |
Mileage and fuel the customer types in
In some versions of the customer's app the customer reads the mileage and fuel off the dashboard and types them in. These are never a reason to refuse the return:
- A mileage lower than the one recorded at pickup is quietly not saved. The customer sees no error, and the booking is left without a return mileage.
- Any fuel figure from 0 up is accepted.
- If either figure differs from what RentVisie expected — the tracker's reading, or the last recorded mileage and a full tank when there is no tracker — a warning is written on the booking. Open the booking and click Notes: Internal notes then starts with "Warning: user adjustments during self service (Dropoff) Mileage expected: … Fuel% expected: …".
That warning replaces what was in Internal notes. Anything your colleagues had written there before is gone. If a booking's internal notes suddenly contain only this warning, that is why.
When the customer calls
- Ask which word or sentence the app shows, and find its row in the table.
- If it is Geofence or Ignition, check the car yourself: from the main menu open Assets, click the Track and Trace tile, and click the vehicle's marker. The popup shows ignition and the latitude and longitude — enough to tell a customer "you are one street too far" or "the engine is still on". Click Refresh first; the map does not update on its own.
- Talk the customer through the fix, then ask them to try again. There is no limit on attempts.
- If it is the payment row, take the payment — see Record a payment a customer has made, or Send a customer a payment request so they can pay from their phone.
- If the customer still cannot finish, tell them to leave the vehicle safely and take the vehicle back yourself: open the booking, click the Inspection tab, then the Inspection tile, as described on Take a vehicle back at the end of a rental.
Taking it back yourself does not lock the car. Nothing at the desk sends a lock instruction to the vehicle. If you finish the return from the office, someone has to lock the car and collect the key by hand.
A worked example
Mrs de Vries returns a Peugeot 208 at 22:40 to your Utrecht lot and phones: the app says Doors. You open Assets, Track and Trace, click Refresh and the Peugeot's marker: ignition is off and it is on the lot. She walks round the car and finds the boot not quite shut. She tries again and the app now says Key — she still has it in her pocket. She drops it in the key holder, tries a third time, and the car locks.
The booking moves to Dropped off with a fuel level of 100. She had filled up for €54.30, so that is right — but check it against the return photos anyway, for the reason below.
Key details
Fuel and mileage are never a reason for refusal. Nothing checks whether the tank is low or the mileage is higher than agreed; a car returned nearly empty goes through. The readings are recorded as drop-off readings and any charge is worked out afterwards, like any other return. See Record mileage and fuel readings.
The fuel the tracker records is rounded to full or empty. A tank a little over half full is stored as 100, a little under half as 0. Before you charge or waive fuel on a self-service return, check the level on the dashboard or the photos and correct it on the booking.
A moving vehicle is not refused. That check exists but is switched off.
Being in a return area is enough. The position check passes if the tracker places the vehicle inside any return area your tracking supplier has drawn, not necessarily the one on the booking. The vehicle's location is still set from the booking's drop-off location.
Trackers from Conneqtech skip every vehicle check. For those, the app only sends the lock instruction and ends the rental. No mileage or fuel is recorded either.
A vehicle with Self service switched off skips the photo and tracker checks. The return goes straight through on payment alone, and nothing locks the car.
What to do next: once the booking is Dropped off (or DroppedOffNotification, if your company inspects every self-service return), open Notes for any mileage warning, check the mileage and fuel on the booking, then invoice as usual.
Q&A
The customer says the app just shows "Geofence", but they are standing in our car park. The tracker's last reported position is outside every return area. Open Track and Trace, click Refresh, and look where the marker is. If it is in the right place on the map, the return area itself is drawn wrongly at your tracking supplier; that is a call to them. Take the vehicle back yourself in the meantime.
The engine is off, but the app keeps saying "Ignition". Some cars keep the ignition live for a minute after the key is out, or while the lights or radio are on. Ask the customer to switch everything off, close the car, wait a minute and try again. RentVisie asks the tracker for a fresh reading on every attempt.
The key is in the holder, but the app still says "Key". The tracker is not detecting it. Ask the customer to take it out and put it back firmly. If it still fails, the holder or the tracker needs attention: take the vehicle back yourself and report the vehicle to whoever maintains your trackers.
The customer gets "No linked Tracker found", "Unsupported platform" or "No traci connection". Those are set-up problems, not something the customer can fix. Take the vehicle back yourself, then have a Company admin fix the tracker as described in the Q&A on Link a tracker to a vehicle and follow it on the map.
The customer gets "No traci position obtained", or a message that looks technical. The tracker did not answer in time, or refused the lock instruction. Ask the customer to wait a minute and try once more. If it happens again, take the vehicle back yourself.
I cannot see the refusal anywhere on the booking. It is not recorded. A refused attempt changes nothing on the booking — the status stays Picked up. The only trace is a booking that stays open after its drop-off time, which shows on the Overdue list described on Take a vehicle back at the end of a rental.
The car was returned nearly empty and the booking says fuel 100. The tracker's fuel reading is rounded to full or empty, and a missing reading is also recorded as full. Correct the drop-off fuel level on the booking before you invoice.
Can I let a customer end the rental without the key check, just this once? No. The checks cannot be switched off per booking. Take the vehicle back yourself instead.
The customer returned the car hours ago and did everything right. Why is it still Picked up? Their last attempt was refused and they left without trying again. Ask them what the app said, check the car on Track and Trace, then take the vehicle back yourself.
A self-service return went through, but the booking has no return mileage. The customer typed in a mileage lower than the pickup reading, which is dropped without telling them. Read the mileage off the dashboard or the return photos and record it on the booking, as described on Record mileage and fuel readings.