The Charges option allows the management of the charge codes which are used as part of the rental agreement. Once the basic charge code has been created it may be manually added to an agreement, populate the agreement as a default (held against a hire group) or be generated from a number of other functions within the agreements such as Suspend contract or calculation of Fridge rates.
To access charge codes:
From the Master Menu, select the Vehicle rentals option and Company required.
The VEHICLE RENTALS menu is displayed.
Select Miscellaneous options.
The MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu is displayed.
Select the Charges option.
The Charges form is displayed.
The Charges form is displayed when the Charges option is selected from the MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu.
Users may do the following:
Create new Charge codes
Amend existing ones
Display the contents of a charge code record
Delete a charge record or search the file.
Warning: Care should be taken if these codes are amended or deleted while they are in use on current agreements. The agreement will not function correctly if these codes are amended without care.
The Amend option is covered below, during which the content of each of the fields held against the charge code record is explained.
There is no limit to the number of charge codes that can be stored on the charge file, although only ten may be utilized on any single rental agreement.
Code: Input the code required or use the
![[...]](Ellipsis.gif){kind=small}
search facility to locate it.
The following fields are displayed on the Details tab:
General
Description: The full description of the charge code being edited. It can be up to fifteen characters long.
Charge Type: This is the charge calculation basis. Enter O to charge Once only for each agreement, enter D to charge the amount once Daily for the hire duration or F to charge by a Factor. Other charge types that may be used are M which charges the value once per Monthly, W which charges the value once per Week, P which charges the value once per Period and S which is used for charges that may be unevenly spread across the period of the agreement (e.g. Suspension days). Other charge types are detailed below:
f: Charge Types using this code are used within the Rental Fines Management process.
%: Denotes Rental Percentage. Charge Types using this code are used in conjunction with the Use Price field immediately below. i.e. a Charge Type of % denotes that the charge is going to be calculated as a percentage of whatever is held within the Use Price field (this is typically Daily Rental Goods). For example. if the Charge Type = % and the Use Price = Daily Rental Goods then the system calculates the Daily value in the Amount field of the Prices Tab and multiplies it (as a percentage) by the value held in the Rates field below. The system is therefore calculating the charge as a percentage (held in the Rates field of this table) of the standard (typically Daily) rental goods value.
C: Denotes Charge Percentage. Charge Types using this code are used in conjunction with the Use Price field immediately below. i.e. a Charge Type of C denotes that the charge is going to be calculated as a percentage of whatever is held within the Use Price field (this is typically Daily Rental Price). For example. if the Charge Type = % and the Use Price = Daily Rental Price then the system calculates the Daily value in the Unit Price field of the Prices Tab and multiplies it (as a percentage) by the value held in the Rates field below ten multiplies it by the number of days for which the charge is applicable.
Use Price: Used in conjunction with a Charge Type (see field immediately above) of % (percentage). This field identifies what value is to be used within the rental system to apply to the percentage calculation (determined in the Type field above). For example. if the Charge Type = % and this field = Daily Rental Goods then the system calculates the Daily value in the Amount field of the Prices Tab and multiplies it (as a percentage) by the value held in the Rates field below. Alternatively, for example. if the Charge Type = C and this field = Daily Rental Price then the system calculates the Daily value in the Unit Price field of the Prices Tab and multiplies it (as a percentage) by the value held in the Rates field below then multiplies by the number of days for which the charge is applicable.
Unit: This is the description of the unit to enter against a charge that is being factored. If, for example, a charge is created for FUEL then this could be created as a Once only charge to be added at the end of the agreement; however, individual rental companies may wish to be more specific and record how much fuel was charged and at what rate; in this case the charge would be set up as a Factor and information entered as to how many litres and what price per litre. In this case Litres would be entered as the unit.
If F is chosen, the Prices form within an agreement will ask how many units should be charged when the agreement is being edited. A mileage charge for example would be a number of units per mile entered here, and then it would multiply this figure against the number of miles entered on the Agreement prices form in order to calculate the value to charge.
Users are only allowed to enter a value in this field if F is input in the charge type field above.
Charge sign: It is possible to ensure that a charge is always entered as either a positive or negative figure. A discount charge (e.g. STND or SUSP for example should always be negative. Users may forget to enter a minus sign in front of the numbers they type in to the prices form of the agreement. If the charges sign here is entered as a - (minus sign) then it always show as a minus sign on the agreement. A positive + symbol has the opposite effect, preventing negative amounts for this charge code. The field may be left blank to allow operator choice.
Inc in Util report: A checkbox which, if ticked, denotes that this charge is considered sufficiently important to be included on the utilisation report.
Accumulator: The analysis slot that records charges made using this charge type. The vehicle accumulator record is displayed for each individual vehicle in the marketing system and allows analysis of the sale of the various charge records and rental types. The
VAT code: The VAT code applicable to this charge type. The
VAT only charge: This field is customer bespoke and should not be used.
Post to fleet: If the Kestrel or Kompact fleet systems are being utilised in conjunction with the rental system then this checkbox may be ticked to denote that this particular charge record is posted to the maintenance history grid against the vehicle on the agreement. This may be suitable for Damage or Damage Recharge type charge codes.
Charge at end: If a charge is allocated against an agreement at the start of the rental then it will be invoiced on the first invoice that is produced for the agreement. However, some rental companies like to allocate the charge at the beginning of the rental so that they do not forget at the end of the agreement. These charges would typically be invoiced on the first invoice; however, if this checkbox is ticked, the system does not invoice the charge until the final invoice is produced (even if it is allocated at the start of the rental agreement).
Delivery Type: This flag facilitates a useful workflow type function. To assist in speedily taking a booking (particularly in broker type rental companies) a flag (Fast Driver Creation) has been included in the General 3 Tab of System Parameters; this ensures that a Create Driver form pops-up at the start of the rental booking/agreement. Within this Create Driver form this is the facility to quickly add a delivery or collection charge type (e.g. Airport Delivery) from a drop-down list box. The charge must already exist as a record in the charge file but only those charges that contain a D (Delivery type charge) or C (Collection type charge) appear in this drop-down list box. Once selected from the drop-down list box the charge and its associated charge rate are allocated in the Prices Tab.
Max days: Some charges may be set up with a Type of D or P to denote a daily charge i.e. is charged once for every day contained within the date range of the agreement. Some charges, particularly within brokerage type agreements, only require a charge to be levied for a set amount of days e.g. Registration Fee; in this case the amount of days levied may be capped by the value that is entered in this field.
Rate
Rates (1 to 5): The rate charged, split over five lines. In some cases, the charge may be the same on each line, in other cases it may differ.
The hire of a portable phone, for example, may only be charged at a single rate, regardless of the vehicle it is being hired with. A CDW charge on the other hand may be quite different when charged against vehicles in different groups.
If the charge is entered as a default against the hire group record, One of the five different rates (the most applicable to the hire group being edited) needs to be allocated against it. This can be seen on the Hire group charges form covered in the previous section.
Analysis
SL analysis code: Up to five analysis codes are allowed. The top code is the default code and is used whenever the other four cannot be matched. The codes are matched by comparing the Sales Ledger account type in the table with that recorded against the customer's sales ledger account code selected in the agreement. In this way internal CDW sales, for example, may be individually analysed against those used by customers. If this is not a requirement the sales account type should be left blank and the nominal analysis code, that all occurrences of this charge code will be analysed to, should be entered.
NL sales analysis: The nominal ledger cost code and expense code combination that are used when the postings are made in the nominal ledger for charge revenue. The
The following fields are displayed on the Details 2 tab:
Alternative Descriptions
Alternative Description (1 - 5): A series of 5 alternative charge descriptions.
Certain rental companies have a requirement to be able to hold alternative descriptions against rental charge codes; this enables rental operators to select an appropriate description relating to the Charge that is added to the customer Prices Tab. For example, if a charge code for an Abortive Charge is selected the invoice simply shows as Abortive Charge as standard with no reason as to why the customer has been charged for this. This tab of alternative charge descriptions for the main charge code allows the rental operator to select an alternative description when selecting the charge within the agreement which can then be printed on the agreement/invoice. When within the agreement and the rental operator adds a charge then the Enter Price Details form displays the basic charge description but the Description field has a
button enabling selection of one of the five alternative charge descriptions held within this tab against appropriate charges.
COMMAND BUTTONS:
Exit: Returns to the MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu.
Save: Saves the charge type record along with the new values just edited.
Cancel: Aborts the amendment process and returns to the initial menu without establishing an amended charge type record.
