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Using BookandManage

Rent-to-own contracts

Setting up a contract, the payment schedule, arrears and late fees, paying off early and ownership transfers.

Rent-to-own lets a customer pay for a car in weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments and own it at the end. In BookandManage it lives in the Contracts area, alongside your ordinary hires, so the car, the customer and the money are in one place.

If you don't offer rent-to-own, answer "No, we only hire cars" in the setup wizard and it stays out of the way.

The Contracts overview shows active contracts, instalments due this week, overdue instalments and transfers pending.

Before you start

Set your rent-to-own rules in Settings, Rent to own:

  • Default term, minimum deposit (a percentage of the price, 5% unless you change it) and which payment frequencies you allow.
  • Late fee ($25 by default), the grace period before it applies (3 days) and when a contract is at risk (after 3 missed instalments).
  • The transfer fee charged at ownership transfer ($150).

Then add your rent-to-own terms in Settings, Terms and conditions. They print after the contract summary on every rent-to-own agreement.

Give each model a rent-to-own weekly price in Car models so it can be offered.

Setting up a contract

Most contracts start from an approved rent-to-own application, with Set up rent-to-own contract. You can also start from a customer, a car, or Contracts, New contract.

  1. Customer: usually filled in from the application. They need an emergency contact on file.
  2. Vehicle: only cars that are free for the whole term are offered. Set the handover date.
  3. Plan: how often they pay (weekly, fortnightly or monthly), the term (52, 78, 104 or 156 weeks), the deposit, and how instalments are paid. Card or bank account means direct debit.
  4. At the counter: sign the agreement now, and take the deposit and hand over the car. Add internal notes if you need them.

The contract page

A rent-to-own contract one instalment behind, with progress, what's left to pay and the payment schedule.
  1. 1The agreement PDF.
  2. 2Record payment: whole instalments.
  3. 3How far behind, and what to do about it.
  4. 4Paid so far, out of the sale price.
  5. 5The payment schedule, instalment by instalment.

The page shows how much has been paid out of the sale price, instalments paid out of the total, what's left, the next instalment, when it ends and the term. When the customer is behind, a banner says by how much.

Buttons: Agreement (PDF), Take deposit & start for a new contract, and Record payment. Under More: sign the agreement, pay out early, email the customer, suspend or reinstate (needs Suspend or cancel contracts), and cancel contract.

Contract statuses: Application, Approved, Awaiting Deposit, Active, Payment Overdue, Suspended, Completed, Ownership Transferred and Cancelled.

The payment schedule

Every instalment is listed with its due date, status and what was paid. On each row you can take payment, send a reminder, charge a late fee, or waive it (needs Approve money decisions). Instalments are Upcoming, Due, Paid, Failed, Overdue or Waived.

Automatic reminders for instalments are set up in Payment reminders.

Payment plans

Contracts, Payment plans lists every instalment across every contract, so you can work through the day's collections in one place. It shows what's due today, due this week, in arrears and failed.

Paying off and ownership transfer

When the last instalment is paid, or the customer pays out early, the contract moves to ownership transfer. Contracts, Ownership transfers has a checklist for each one:

  • Final payment
  • Settlement letter (a PDF showing the total paid, the payoff date and no encumbrance)
  • Transfer form
  • Inspection
  • Keys and papers

Transfers are Eligible, In Progress, Awaiting Documents or Completed. Paying off raises an invoice for your transfer fee. Completing the last step takes the car out of your fleet.

Documents

Contracts, Documents is the library for every file in the business, sorted into customer, vehicle, agreements, invoices, inspections and maintenance. Upload a document with its type and, for things like licences, passports, rego, insurance and inspection certificates, its expiry date. Open, download, edit or delete documents from here.

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