Charging for fuel used at return (refuel fee)

Some rentals, such as gas bikes or boats, go out with a full tank and come back with less. You can bill the customer for the fuel they used. You choose which items charge for fuel and set a price per gallon, and your staff type in the gallons used when the rental comes back.

Where to find it

• Turn it on for an item: Fleet → open the item → Pricing step → the Charge for fuel used at return card.
• Enter the gallons at return: Bookings → open an active booking → Finish → the Additional Charges step.

How it works

Setting it up on the item 1. Tick Charge for fuel used at return ("Staff record the gallons used when the vehicle comes back"). 2. Type the Price per gallon ($), for example 6.50. A price above zero is required. 3. Tick Taxable if sales tax should be added to the fuel charge. It is off by default. 4. Press Save fuel charge. This card saves on its own, not with Save changes, and you see Saved when it works. A new item has to be saved first ("Save the item first, then set its fuel charge.").

To turn it off, untick the box and press Save fuel charge again. Items with no fuel charge, such as electric ones, are left alone.

At return

• In the Additional Charges step of the return checkout, each vehicle on the booking that has a fuel charge gets a Gallons used box with its name, for example "Gallons used - Trail bike". Next to the box Renta shows the price and the result, for example "@ $6.50/gal = $9.75".
• Type the gallons. Up to two decimals are used. Leave the box empty or at zero and no fuel is charged.
• Gallons above 100 are refused with "Gallons used must be 100 or less - no fuel will be charged until you correct it." A typo such as 150 for 1.5 is never charged.
• The amount is gallons times your price, rounded to the nearest cent. Renta works it out again from the item's current setting when you finish, so the line always uses the price saved on the item.
• The charge appears as a line such as "Fuel (1.5 gal @ $6.50) - Trail bike". There is one fuel line per item on the booking, so if a booking has two of the same machine, enter the combined gallons in that one box.

Billing and the deposit The fuel line is part of the return's additional charges, the same as a late fee or a cleaning fee. It is added to the booking when you press Finish rental. In the Deposit step it counts toward "Additional charges this dropoff", so you can take it with Capture from deposit. If the charges are more than the deposit, the part not covered stays on the booking as money owed. See Finishing a rental.

Example

A dirt bike is set to Price per gallon $6.50 with Taxable off. The customer returns it and your staff find it took 1.5 gallons to fill. In Additional Charges they type 1.5 in Gallons used - Dirt bike. Renta shows "= $9.75" and adds "Fuel (1.5 gal @ $6.50) - Dirt bike" for $9.75. At the Deposit step they capture $9.75 from the deposit and release the rest.

Good to know

• Renta does not read the tank. Staff measure and type the gallons. The charge only shows up if someone enters them.
• Fuel is a per-item setting, not a shop-wide one. Set it on each item that needs it.
• If your return checkout is turned off, there is no Additional Charges step. See Finishing a rental.
• For a fee when the rental comes back late, see Charging a late return fee.